Thread: Underground Thermal Anomally Hits 800 F In CA

Ventura County hot spot puzzles experts




The hot spot in Los Padres National Forest is attended to by firefighters, who first responded the area a month and a half ago when observers noticed a haze of smoke, but no flames, rising from the parched scrub.
A two-acre patch of land north of Fillmore has heated up to 800 degrees, and firefighters and geologists are unsure why.

By Joanna Lin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 5, 2008

A patch of land in Ventura County's section of Los Padres National Forest where the ground recently heated up to 812 degrees continues to puzzle firefighters and geologists after weeks of monitoring.

"It's a thermal anomaly," said Ron Oatman, spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department.

Video: The Earth is Heating Up
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... ldnowvideo



Firefighters responded to reports of a blaze there a month and a half ago, when observers noticed smoke rising from the parched scrub. But when they arrived, they found no flames.

Firefighters and geologists who have surveyed the area in the Sespe Oil Field are uncertain what's causing the heat, but they do have a theory.

Allen King, a retired geologist with the U.S. Forest Service who went to the site Friday, said the smoking ground is "a normal occurrence" that does not appear to be the result of human activity.

The hot spot is in an area considered to be an active landslide that has shifted for more than 60 years. Several hundred feet below its cracked surface lie pockets of gas, tar and oil.

King said he suspects cracks along the landslide's slope allow oxygen to enter into the earth and hydrocarbon material to "seep out" of the fine-grain shale. The combination can create underground combustion, he said.

King said the depth at which hydrocarbon material can be found "varies tremendously" and that he does not know at what depth the combustion in the oil field is occurring. The 812-degree temperature was measured Friday about a foot below the surface, he said. No other temperature checks have been made since, according to Oatman.

During Friday's visit to the hot spot, smoke rose through five cracks in the ground. From a distance, it looked like "a small, smoldering camp fire," Oatman said. The smoke comes and goes, he said, and fire officials expect it will last until the next heavy rainfall, when water and mud plug the fissures.

The steep, rugged terrain is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and leased by Seneca Resources Corp. The area is gated off from public access and is free of equipment and buildings.

The hot spot is not considered to be a threat to public safety, Oatman said, and the Fire Department is monitoring the area daily.

The 3,000-acre Sespe Oil Field was discovered in 1887 and has since produced about 50 million barrels of oil, said David Christy, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. The field contains more than 300 oil wells, 210 of which are active. In January 2007, about 200 to 300 gallons of oil spilled into a nearby creek after a pipe containing a mixture of groundwater and oil burst.

Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch, said he had not heard of hot spots in the oil field but was concerned about their potential effect on the nearby Sespe Condor Sanctuary and the forest's fire-prone nature.

"It's just a disaster waiting to happen . . . regardless of what the cause is," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 9903.story

I think it's because the Hell Queen Nancy Pelosi is back in California on vacation

THIS IS SCARY AND INTERESTING AT THE SAME TIME.

I WONDER IF THERE ARE OTHER "HOT SPOTS" THAT JUST HAVE NOT YET BEEN DISCOVERED.

I NOTICE IN THE BAY AREA THERE ARE SOME WEIRD HEAT WAVES THE LAST FEW YEARS. NOT ONLY DOES IT GET HOTTER THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN IN THE PAST, BUT IT IS NOT EVENLY DISTRIBUTED.

WHAT I MEAN IS THAT HERE IN SAN FRANCISCO IT CAN BE LIKE 65 DEGREES...AND RIGHT ACROSS THE BAY (20 MINUTE DRIVE) IT CAN BE 107.

FOR ONE THING 107 IS REALLY UNHEARD OF (HISTORICALLY) IN THE BAY AREA, AND USUALLY IT IS ONLY LIKE 10-15 DEGREES HOTTER ACROSS THE BAY THEN IN THE CITY. SO 65 IN THE CITY WOULD MEAN 75 OR 80 IN EAST BAY. IF IT WOULD BE 107 IN EAST BAY, USUALLY IT WOULD BE ABOUT 90 OR 95 IN THE CITY.

I HAVE LIVED IN THIS AREA ALL MY LIFE AND THESE "HEAT WAVES" ARE NOT NORMAL FOR THIS AREA. AND CERTAINLY THE HUGE DIFFERENCE IN TEMPERATURE IN SUCH A SMALL AREA IS REALLY DISCONCERTING.