Southern California Hot Spot Hits 812 Degrees, Baffles Experts
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
The ground is so hot in one part of Southern California it can melt the shoes right off your feet.
An unexplained "thermal anomaly" caused a patch of land in Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles, to reach a temperature of over 800 degrees on Friday, baffling experts who have been monitoring the area for weeks.
The anomaly was discovered after the land got so hot that it started a brush fire and burned three acres last month.
Firefighters were brought to the scene after reports of a blaze, but by the time they arrived only smoldering dirt and brush remained.
Firefighters took no chances with the smoking ground, clearing brush near the fumes and cutting a fire line around the area to prevent a blaze from igniting.
"We are a little perplexed at this point, to tell you the truth," the Ventura County Star quoted geologist David Panaro as saying. "This is not your usual geological detective story."
The area has recorded high temperatures at least five times since 1987, Allen King, a retired geologist with the U.S. Forest Service told the newspaper.
The hot spot is located in steep, rugged terrain a few miles north of the town of Fillmore on land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and leased by Seneca Resources Corp.
Officials who are familiar with the patch of land, which is near the large Sespe Oil Field, have come up with a few theories as to why the ground soared to 812 degrees fahrenheit on August 1.
One theory is that natural hydrocarbons, such as oil or gas, are burning deep in the earth and seeping out through cracks in the area, causing the surface to rapidly heat and generate smoke.
According to the Star, Allen King, a former geologist with the U.S. Forest Service recently stuck a thermometer into the ground and got a reading of 550 degrees — so hot that it melted the glue holding the sole of his boots together.
"After that we were more cautious about standing in one place for too long," he said.
• Click here for more from the Ventura County Star.
Here is an excellent example of the possibilities of geothermal energy. The ground at this site is 850* on government land. A geothermal plant could be constructed here with the resultant increase in electic supply lines to Southern California. Currently a large portion of electricity comes from Boulder Dam in Arizona and transmitted all the way to Southern Cal. A geothermal electric supply here could alleviate the brown out conditions by lack of electric supply. This site could supply all the power Southern Cal could need or use indefinitely without polution or toxic waste. These electric lines and available power, which currently supplies SC, could easily be transferred along the grid to other locations dependent of fossil fuels and alleviate that area of the country from pollution or carbon emissions. This reduction in fossil fuel could then be used elsewhere until other alternative energy sources become available and reduce costs in each location. Will the environmentalists propose or support such a geothermal plant? Not likely. Some desert rat or snake or bird or magma displacement would be disasterously impacted if a geothermal electric plant was constructed here. Yet, it is not only possible, but technologically do able with today's current engineering and materials. I wonder if we'll see if anyone proposes such a plant. Not likely, since this fact has been known for over decades and no one has proposed an electric plant here.
