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geoffff
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Cucapah Fumarole
Here's a thread for info on the Cucapah (aka Cucapá) Fumarole (aka Geiser) I visited in March 2019. (GPS:32.3269,-115.4170)
   
According to this paper, it was created by (and appeared soon after) the April 4, 2010 magnitude-7.2 "El Mayor-Cucapah" earthquake.
-- Geoff
[Edited on 4-19-2019 by geoffff]
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David K
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Thanks Geoff  
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geoffff
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Here's my video of the steam vent: https://youtu.be/fl8rgEin-bY
Some Youtube videos from some other folks who have also gone out there:
-- Geoff
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geoffff
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From the paper, which refers to it as the Pescadores Fumarole:
| Quote: | Pescadores Fumarole
One of the most surprising rupture-related phenomena found along this segment is an active fumarole that appeared in a wide alluviated valley near the
southern end of the Pescadores fault (Figs. 11 and 13). The Pescadores fumarole constantly emits a prominent vapor cloud that can be seen from
distances of several kilometers, and the vapor cloud occasionally rises above nearby peaks before evaporating into the dry desert air. In addition to
vapor, the fumarole also extrudes a dusting of altered rock particles that blanket the ground around the vent (Fig. 13). The most active vent measures
1.5 m in diameter and steam was also emitted from fractures and through coarse clastic deposits within 5 m of the main vent. Penetrative ground
cracking was observed around the vent, which is located within 10 m of the coseismic rupture (Fig. 13). The fumerole is located along a subtle
right-stepping deflection of the rupture trace, and thus its location may be controlled by a releasing bend in the Pescadores fault. The fumarole site
is ∼16 km from the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, and magnetotelluric profiles demonstrate the existence of shallow geothermal anomalies that
approach the southeast margin of the Sierra Cucapah (Fig. 11; Cortes-Arroyo, 2011). Dilatation of rock volume associated with the rupture activity
(e.g., Morton et al., 2012) as well as the subtle releasing bend geometry of the Pescadores fault likely provided conduits and mobilized fluids to
produce the observed fumerole.
The Pescadores fumarole does not appear in long-distance photographs and was not otherwise observed in helicopter surveys performed in the days
immediately following the EMC earthquake. Therefore hydrothermal activity at the site might not have initiated for days or weeks after the rupture.
However, by 27 April 2010 the fumarole was vigorously active when field geologists (this study) first visited this section of the Pescadores fault.
Colleagues at the Comisión Federal de Electricidad associated with the Cerro Prieto geothermal field were informed of the fumarole within months of
its discovery and consider it to be a new geothermal field in Baja California (Alvarez-Rosales et al., 2012). Barnard (1968), who was the first to map
and name most of the faults in the Sierra Cucapah, reported that the ground was hot to touch in some of the fault-controlled valleys in the
southernmost part of the range. However, to our knowledge, historical activity of the fumarole has not been previously documented. Nonetheless,
hydrothermally altered rock particles similar to those seen on the surface are found entrained in late Quaternary alluvial deposits around the
fumarole, suggesting that it is a relatively long lived hydrothermal perturbation with previous periods of activity possibly related to other ruptures
on the Pescadores fault. |
-- Geoff
[Edited on 4-19-2019 by geoffff]
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David K
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How far from the fumarole was the ground hot? Does the road cross over to Hwy. 5 from where you camped?
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jedge42
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Lots of cool pictures and diagrams in that paper, thanks!
jake
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geoffff
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It's very visible in the Bing Maps satellite image, steam and all!
The ground is only hot for a region about 30 ft wide around the main steam vent, where there are a series of tiny additional steam leaks.
-- Geoff
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geoffff
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I've seen some talk online of people looking into that, but I haven't followed up.
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geoffff
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It looks like these youtube guys did it - got there from Highway 5 - seeing that they start next to a Ejido Nayarit sign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5De_VbQCYDA
Here's a Google Earth track I found.
[edit: this looks like it might be a hiking-only route]
-- Geoff
[Edited on 4-22-2019 by geoffff]
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David K
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Thanks Geoff
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Whale-ista
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Wow- I didn't know about these new vents. Thanks for the memories! I remember feeling that earthquake in 2010.
I was in San Diego- living in the Mission Valley area, over 100 mile away from Mexicali- chatting online in a discussion group with people from all
over the world. When I mentioned I was feeling a strong earthquake- and that the quaking was continuing for over a minute- people were fascinated and
worried about damage (there was none in SD).
We joked that it was probably the first live global announcement of a major seismic event. We beat CNN!
I remember seeing images and videos people posted of dust clouds, rising up from the areas around the Calexico-Mexicali area, maybe near these new
vents
How would you describe the smell of the steam? Strongly sulphur, as many of these thermal vents are? (I've visited similar geothermal areas in Costa
Rica and New Zealand- but those were near active volcanoes.)
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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David K
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During the Easter quake 2010, Elizabeth and I were at the San Diego Zoo's Safari (Wild Animal) Park in San Pasqual (near Escondido), waiting in line
for the tram ride... we didn't feel it! When we got on the tram, the lady doing the talk said that the animals were reacting to the "event" that just
occurred. The waiting area must have been 'shake proof' as nobody else in line reacted?. My son was at a bar in downtown San Diego, said bottles were
coming off the shelf! He was even on the evening news as a witness!
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geoffff
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I'd say there's a mild sulfur smell. I've smelled stronger.
-- Geoff
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StuckSucks
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VERY cool, gotta go there! Looks like a rough trip in, from either direction.
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David K
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Geoffff, have you been to the palm oasis in the same sierra as the fumarole? I went to the sulfur mine just south of the fumarole in 2017. I sure
would have gone on to it if I knew it existed. Thanks for the education!
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geoffff
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No, I haven't -- where is that?
-- Geoff
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geoffff
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Here's another Google Earth track I found.
(The one I posted earlier might not be driveable. This slightly longer one looks better for vehicles.)
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nandopedal
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Quote: Originally posted by geoffff  | Here's another Google Earth track I found.
(The one I posted earlier might not be driveable. This slightly longer one looks better for vehicles.)
[/rquot
Bingo, confirm with offroading friends from Mexicali. Good scanning Geoff! |
\"There are many dangers in Baja. The most serious of which is not going.\" Christophe Noel (EXPO)
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David K
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From Howard Gulick 1961 (Lower California Guidebook author):
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wilderone
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Wow - very interesting. Great Youtubes
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