Mystery! landslide -> chemical reaction-> heat

Found this on the web. An area of landlside has stayed very very hot
for over a year. Geothermal processes have been ruled out. They are
trying to think of a chemical reaction that could do it? Oxidation of
oil shale, catalyzed by...? They are asking for help.

Updated: 584 Degrees F. Hot Rock Mystery Northeast of Santa Barbara,
California

© 2005 by Linda Moulton Howe

"We took a geiger counter out and there were no abnormal readings
anywhere on the landslide. So we did not pick up any indications there
is any radioactivity. We have also asked U.S.G.S. to check the samples
that are in there now being analyzed for any signs of radioactivity.
So, we're doing a double check on it. ... It's a very interesting and
mysterious site that we're really hoping we get some more definitive
answers on. But so far it has been quite, quite mysterious." - Allen
King, USDA Forest Service Geologist



Red X on map is east end of *** Smith Wilderness in Los Padres
National Forest
where a fire started on August 21, 2004, due to high temperatures in
3-acre region of 17-acre landslide.
Santa Barbara is about 18 miles southwest. Temperatures have remained
high for eleven months.


July 22, 2005 Updated - In this unusually hot July, the National
Interagency Fire Center based in Boise, Idaho, reports that right now
there are active large fires in 11 states - Alaska, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico,
Oregon and Utah. Nearly 4 million acres (3.9 million) have burned so
far this year.

In Arizona this date, 150 homes in Punkin Center northeast of Phoenix
in the Mazatzal Mountains, were evacuated when a 38,000-acre wildfire
was raging within two miles of the city.



Punkin Center northeast of Phoenix in Roosevelt Lake region. On July
22, 2005,
150 homes were evacuated when a 38,000-acre wildfire raged within two
miles
of the city. Map © 2005 by Ireland, Ltd.


July 14, 2005 Goleta, California - This week, brush fires in Rancho
Palos Verdes, California, were inflamed by harsh winds and threatened
multimillion-dollar homes. And in Colorado, nearly 13,000 acres burned
south of Denver, causing 5,000 people to run for their lives ­ until
firefighters got the flames back under control. Raging brush fires are
becoming a yearly problem in the west, especially California.

Now comes a science report about rocks so hot they started the August
21, 2004, fire in the Los Padres National Forest that burned up three
acres last year about 18 miles northeast of Santa Barbara. The fire
started on the surface of a landslide that covers 17 acres and probably
slid within the past five to ten years. The cause for the landslide is
unknown, and the source of all the hot rock is unknown. So far,
geothermal or volcanic magma have been ruled out.



Seventeen acre land slide at east end of *** Smith Wilderness in Los
Padres National Forest.
In the middle of the landslide are three acres that have the high
temperatures. Image courtesy Allen P. King, USDAFS.


This week I talked with a scientist who is going to present a paper
about the phenomenon at the Geophysical Society of America in Salt Lake
City, October 16-19. The scientist is Allen King, Southern California
Province Geologist for the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, based in Goleta,
California. The title of Mr. King's upcoming presentation is: "The
Landslide That Caused A Forest Fire: The Study of An Unusual Thermal
Anomaly."

I asked him about the beginning of the August 2004 fire and the
discovery of at least one temperature test area eleven feet deep that
measured 584 degrees F. Scientists are still uncertain about the
sustaining source of such heat over the past eleven months.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Interview:

Allen P. King, Southern California Province Geologist (Los Padres,
Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland National Forests), U.S.D.A.
Forest Service, Goleta, California: "The firefighters went out and
extinguished the fire, but still felt heat coming out of the ground and
they saw a number of fissures in the ground and areas with whitish and
various colored mineral deposits on the surface and a lot of heat
coming out.

So, after not being able to figure out what was going on, they brought
out a candy thermometer and stuck it down in one of the fissures and
the thermometer registered a temperature of 400 degrees F. which was
the maximum the thermometer could register.



Left to right: Bob Mariner, USGS; Jim Boles, UC Santa Barbara; Allen
King, USDAFS,
sampling hot rock and measuring heat in 2005. Photograph courtesy Allen
P. King.


At that point, they called me out to take a look at it as a forest
geologist. I made a visit to the site and was quite amazed at what I
was seeing there. We've measured heat at the surface initially ­ let's
say between the surface and down a couple of feet. The measurements we
got were initially just over 500 degrees F. Eventually we found a spot
that had a temperature of approximately 550 degrees F. down to a depth
of about 14 inches under the surface.



Gas sample tube on the wellhead. Maximum temperature measured was at
11.5 feet underground
at 584 degrees F. Photograph courtesy Robert H. Mariner, USGS.


Then we also installed some monitoring wells, just some pipes that were
driven down into the ground that went down about 12 to 15 feet. We
measured a maximum temperature at about 11.5 feet of 584 degrees F.



Landslide Is Eocene Epoch Shale -
Reaction With Oxygen Creating Heat?

[ Editor's Note: The Eocene epoch is part of the Tertiary
Period in the Cenozoic Era, and lasted from about 54.8 to 33.7 million
years ago. ]

WHAT EXACTLY IS CAUSING THAT MUCH HEAT?

That's what we are still trying to figure out. The exact cause is still
unknown, but again our theory ­ or working hypothesis is that the
sulfide minerals in the shale body are reacting with oxygen and giving
off an exothermic reaction that is producing the heat. But so far, it's
not at all proven because the quantities of the sulfide minerals and
organics within this rock body are so small that we're just not sure
there is enough there to support our hypothesis. So, we're still
looking for other possibilities.

BUT THIS IS HEAT HOT ENOUGH TO HAVE PROBABLY STARTED THAT AUGUST 2004
FIRE?

That's right.



Steam fumaroles in the hot section of the landslide.
Photograph courtesy Robert H. Mariner, USGS.


THAT MUST BE OF GREAT CONCERN. I MEAN, CALIFORNIA IS OFTEN LIKE A
TINDERBOX.

Absolutely. The real curious part about it is there are lots of
landslides out in that country. It's very steep and rugged country. So
far, this is the only landslide we've recognized that has had this heat
develop in it.

It's still somewhat of a mystery exactly what the cause is. We do
anticipate that since there was some vegetation that re-grew this
winter and spring, that there is a possibility that another fire could
be ignited. But the vegetation is very sparse in that area, so it's not
a major concern at this point.



Landslide Hot Region Causing Fire Is Unique

HAS THERE EVER BEEN A PRECEDENT FOR A LANDSLIDE THAT WOULD CAUSE A
CHEMICAL REACTION IN ROCKS THAT WOULD BE THIS HOT AND CAUSE FIRE?

Not that we're aware of. We've done some literature search and talked
to many scientists in both the academic and government agencies. Nobody
we've contacted or talked with so far or people they've networked with
so far have come up with any other features of this sort.

We made a visit back to the site about a week and a half ago and took
some more rock samples where we dug down into a couple of the hottest
areas and down to a 2-foot depth, we were able to sample the rock that
was over 400 degrees F. We pulled the rock out and let it cool. then we
shipped that rock off for additional testing. We're hoping that this
rock that was right in the middle of the hot areas will give us some
more clues about the chemical reaction or what the cause of the heat
actually is.

WHAT ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF UNDERGROUND GEOTHERMAL OR MAGMA OR
SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

We've considered those possibilities and so far have not found any
indicators that geothermal Nor volcanic actions are involved at all.
None of the gas testing has indicated anything of that nature.

WHAT ABOUT JULY SO FAR ­ ANY MEASUREMENTS?

No, we haven't been back out there since June 29.

BUT THE IMPLICATION IS THAT WHATEVER IS CAUSING ALL THIS HEAT IS NOT
GOING AWAY.

That's right. The hottest areas have cooled down a little bit ­ for
example, down from 584 degrees F. down to 565 degrees F., which is not
major cooling over the span of about six months.



Next Research - Infrared Thermal Flights Over Hot Area

THIS FIRE WAS IN AUGUST 2004 WHICH WAS NEARLY A YEAR AGO. THAT MEANS
THE ROCKS HAVE BEEN SUSTAINING THAT HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR A YEAR. IS
THERE ANYBODY WHO HAS AN IDEA EVEN AT THE CHEMICAL REACTION LEVEL WHAT
WOULD SUSTAIN HIGH HEAT LIKE THIS IN ROCKS FOR SO LONG?

Not any specific ideas, no. We're testing this hypothesis and trying to
get more laboratory results that might give us some more clues of the
cause of the heat. We hope to get some infrared thermal flights over
the area before too long to indicate if there is any relation to local
faults and heat, or other landslides in the area and any heat. So far,
we don't have that information.

I might add that the heat is not spread evenly over those 3 acres. It's
quite patchy, which is part of the reason we suspect the heat is not a
deep seated source, but it seems to be occurring within pockets fairly
near the surface scattered around the three acre area. It's a very
interesting and mysterious site that we're really hoping we get some
more definitive answers on. But so far it has been quite, quite
mysterious."

.