800 degree hotspot puzzles experts

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.

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.

(snip)

(A geologist) 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.


www.latimes.com...

Wouldn't lava seeping out be a more likely explanation?

Yeah I like the lava theory better , not sure how close that is to yellowstone but that whole area is in for a big bang.
in fact the whole west coast is doomed sooner or later it will happen .

reply to post by Fathom


No. If Lava were entering a field like that, there would likely be some sort of large explosion. A slow burn of the coal or oil beneath the ground makes some sense, but the temperature compression is what's making me scratch my head. It should be spreading. Unless the burning fuel is slowly seeping through a cracked granite superstructure of some kind, and being contained there...

This is in the Sespe oil field one of the richest oil fields in California.In some areas the oil literally seeps out of the ground.There is no known volcanic activity in the area but there are known hot springs to the northwest of this area.There is also a lot of gold known to be in the streams in this area also.
BTW, this whole mountain range is moving westward at about 3mm per year.



[edit on 8-8-2008 by calcoastseeker]

[edit on 8-8-2008 by calcoastseeker]

[edit on 8-8-2008 by calcoastseeker]

[edit on 8-8-2008 by calcoastseeker]

The area in question is above the 126 symbol in the picture the green outlined triangle is the hot area.