[marktwain]

I think you have been watching too many Science Fiction movies. The amount of energy in the well drilling vs the amount released in the eruption is tiny. If such a small amount of energy could trigger such an event, it was on a knives edge and ready to go at any time.

[verum ago]

I think you have been watching too many Science Fiction movies. The amount of energy in the well drilling vs the amount released in the eruption is tiny. If such a small amount of energy could trigger such an event, it was on a knives edge and ready to go at any time.

I suspect that your idea that this upwelling being 'on a knife's edge' is correct. However, just because a small amount of energy was put into drilling compared to what was released doesn't mean that they're not related or even necessarily that the system was 'on a knife's edge'. For all we know the exploratory shaft could've breached an impermeable layer a mile thick; such a situation would actually be very stable until the breach. The relationship between energy in and out has nothing to do with the stability of the system. It's possible to put a relatively small amount of energy into a very stable system and get a huge return.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

I wonder if the tsunami earthquake might possibly figure into this.......