The spectacular Lusi eruption started in northeast Java, Indonesia, on May 29th 2006, and it has been erupting mud, water, gas and clasts ever since. Lusi has provided the unprecedented opportunity to study a piercement structure from its birth. This hybrid system shares the characteristics of traditional piercement structures in sedimentary basin with hydrothermal systems affected by volcanic and seismic activity. Lusi is therefore an ideal natural laboratory for understanding analogue modern and paleo-piercement systems such as mud volcanoes, sedimentary hosted hydrothermal systems, and hydrothermal vent complexes. To this session, we welcome contributions on the Lusi eruption as well as complimentary contributions on geological, geophysical, geochemical, and biological field work, analyses, and modeling studies on active and paleo-piercement structures in sedimentary basins.