A reader by the name of Paul sent in the following link about the discovery of a mystery hot spot near Santa Barbara. It was first noticed last year after fire crews were putting out wild fires. “When I heard about the candy thermometer, I was amazed,” Mariner said, noting that the temperature of the volcanic vents he studies is typically 200 degrees, around the boiling point of water. “I thought these guys were pulling my leg.” With the help of an air reconnaissance flight and thermal infrared imaging, scientists found that the hot spot covers about three acres. The hottest spot was 11 feet underground, at 584 degrees.
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5 comments
Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 3:55 pm
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Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Paul
Thanks for posting that article.. I’ve never heard of any such thing. Any ideas on what the cause could be? I lived there for a while and to my knowledge there isn’t any hydrothermal or volcanic activity in that area.
Saturday, July 30, 2005 at 11:39 pm
Tony
Does anybody know the Latitude & Longitude of the hot spot or it’s proximity to the fault or Fort Tejon?
Sunday, July 31, 2005 at 5:45 pm
Dave
I’m not sure exactly where it is. This article says that it’s about 15 miles north of Santa Barbara (which puts it quite a ways from Fort Tejon), in the Dick Smith Wilderness. That article also does a better job explaining the story than the article I linked to up above in the original post.
One interesting thing to note from this article: “Mariner says it’s definitely not a volcano. But one theory is that a recent landslide exposed a unique combination of rocks to the air, triggering a chemical reaction.”
Definitely interesting. Though I wonder what kind of rocks/minerals would do that sort of chemical reaction?
Sunday, August 7, 2005 at 9:15 pm
Jack
A friend of mine claims that he was told about Gov’t vehicles dumping stuff out of 50 gallon barrells in that area.