USA, California: Chance to Visit a Mysterious Moving Geothermal Mud Pot

A Moving Mystery (ACSE)

A GRC fieldtrip will visit the Wister mud pots mentioned in the article

The time series from Google Earth shows the appearance of W9 and the first detection of the moving mud spring (in 2016) as a southwestern elongation in W9. (images adapted from Google Earth by David K. Lynch)

Along the southeastern edge of California's Salton Sea, there are several areas that contain geothermal mud pots and mud volcanoes—geological features that may change shape, but never location.

In 2016, a large, muddy CO₂ -driven mud spring in Imperial County, California, developed—and in a completely unexpected way, began moving southwest. By early 2018, the mud spring threatened local infrastructure, including a railroad, a pipeline, and a state highway.

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A GRC fieldtrip will visit the Imperial Valley on September 18 & 19 from the GRC Annual Meeting & Expo in Palm Springs, California, USA. The trip will include a stop at the Wister mud pots mentioned above.