Geology, geography, meteorology, climatology, chemistry — whatever you call it, reality always trumps fiction.
From the headline, “Ventura County hot spot puzzles experts,” I wondered whether a caldera was sending a telegram. Probably not.*
The ground smokes, but there is no fire. Experts’ best guess: Drought causes the ground to dry out, and crack. Petroleum stuff (in gas form) bubbles up from underground, into the cracked earth. Oxygen from the surface mixes deep. Somewhere underground the hydrocarbons meet the oxygen and the resulting combustion heats the ground to 800° Fahrenheit.
It’s a dry land analog of the methane hydrates warming and bubbling up in the ocean. The waste products contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, but so would the emissions if they didn’t burn first.
Cause or effect of climate change? Significant?
- Update, 9:23 p.m. Central: The usual suspects from Watts Up are huddled around the story, hoping for some fire to break out, to clear the smoke if nothing else. All they’re sure of is this: The experts are all wrong. It’s fun to recall when we were young and knew everything. The Ventura County Star notes geologists think these things are fun puzzles, rather than bafflements.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] it be global warming? … after all for the last 16 months global temperatures have been on a dramatic downturn, but […]
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I appreciate the analysis. Slight drought? I had thought you were affected by the same drought that is hammering much of the territory east of you, in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, no?
Yes, I assumed swelling soils where the article doesn’t mention it. Too long on the blackland prairie, you can see. The natives here called the stuff “soil that bucks like a horse,” though I’m sure it’s been doing that longer than humans have had horses here.
You may want to check out Watt’s Up. They’re treating this as a grand mystery with all the scientists completely befuddled and probably covering up the truth. Your brand of information would be a breath of fresh air — not that they appreciate fresh air, but you might find it entertaining.
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This is true: drought will cause soil cracks and will reduce the weight of the soil by the weight of evaporated water. The mild drought we are experiencing is causing desiccation cracks in the clay rich soil of the DFW area. The evidence for that is in my yard. However, in the case of the burning hydrocarbon seep the more plausible explanation is extensional cracks caused by the landslide. The geologist quoted in the article you link to says as much. From the head scarp to a point near the midpoint of any mass wasting feature one will observe extensional features extending to the failure surface. It is likely that these fissures only provided a conduit for oxygen to an already hydrocarbon saturated soil. Shallow hydrocarbon traps often do not have the seal capacity to retain gas and buoyancy pressure will cause leak off into the overburden, including the soil. (The original use for GoreTex was to detect these types of seeps.) Additionally, my reading of the LA Times article says nothing about swelling clays sealing the hydrocarbon seep. It does state that “when water and mud plug the fissures” which I interpret to mean: Water and sediment carried by said water fill the fissures. I would also add that these are desert soils to begin with and not the prairie soils of North Texas. In all my traipsing around the Utah, Nevada and California deserts I rarely observed drought induced soil fissures. Where I did it was only in seasonally-wet, low-lying areas such as playas and wadis. Southern California is largely a tectonically active, landslide-prone, hydrocarbon-rich desert. Occam tells me climate change nee drought is not the most plausible mechanism for this phenomenon. I hope they get some rain soon; wildfires in that part of the world move wicked fast.
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Thanks for the agreement on the Alpine Loop, Geolub.
No, it’s not a perfect analogy. I was working off of a report I saw that quoted a soils or rock guy as saying that a good rain would cause the ground to swell, sealing the cracks and ending the problem. If climate change causes or worsens the drought, if the drought causes the cracks, if that cracking and soil shrinkage cause the escape of gases, then it’s sorta like the reduction in pressure OR warming causing the hydrates in the ocean to sublimate to gas.
What effect in climatology/geology/hydrology/soils science is perfectly correlative, and perfectly direct?
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I beg to differ with the analog to gas hydrates and the suggestion of “cause or effect” of this seep to climate change. Falling sea level is thought to be associated with the release of hydrates; lower hydrostatic pressure leads to the breakdown of the gas hydrate stucture and release of methane into the water column. (Although, significant warming of benthic waters would have the same effect). Also, the news article clearly states that the seep is associated with a long active landslide which is not likey a result of seasonal drought. California is after all a tectonically active region where landslides are a common occurance. Addionally, burning seeps are common in areas with prolific hydrocarbon systems like California and much of Central Asia (tales of hell fire and brimstone have a naturalistic explanation).
I beg to agree regading your post on the Alpine Loop. The aspens and oaks are great but they tend to obsure the view of the spectacular geology along the roadside.
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That was interesting. I’ve heard of similar phenomenon, but not on this continent. More like underground natural gas fires that have been burning forever, with no end in sight.
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