When solid ground turns to sludge

Published: 10:00PM Friday September 10, 2010 Source: Close Up

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  • Geologists arrive to study liquefaction (9:17)

What a week for the people of Canterbury and what a week for the residents of Courtney Drive.

That's the street in Kaiapoi that was one of the hardest hit.

On Monday Lewis Joyce and Gary Counihan took us through what happened early Saturday morning; including how both their wives disappeared into a river of sludge that opened up right there in front of the house.

We are starting to learn more about what that sludge is. They call it liquefaction - when solid ground turns to sludge - and it turns out our liquefaction has international significance.

Today a group of American geologists flew into Christchurch to study our sludge. Michael Holland went along to find out a bit more about liquefaction.

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