Professor Richard Robertson while on radio earlier this week put to rest the discussion of whether or not the current activity taking place at the La Soufriere volcano could be blamed on the drilling associated with the geothermal project.
Professor Robertson used the analogy of a human body to explain why.
“I look at it in the context of a human body; the source for the volcanism is like deep in your body, think of your heart, its right inside the core of your structure. While the way you’re tapping into geothermal is really tapping to the hot rocks.” He said.
He likened the tapping into the hot rocks by the geothermal project to sticking one’s skin with a needle and expecting it to reach your which is deep within your body.
“The point is that the geothermal activity was trying to get al circulating fluids at a very shallow depth compared to where the magma is coming from” Robertson said.
He said the material that is driving the current eruption of the La Soufriere volcano very far beneath the surface, approximately 10 km deep, while the depth at which was being tapped for the geothermal project was 3 km.
