Carolina Liechtenstein Visits Active Volcano - Salton Buttes

Carolina Liechtenstein at Amboy Volcano

This is a trip I took out to Amboy volcano this last Sunday. I drove first to Palm Springs, CA to pick up a friend of mine, and then we drove along the old Route 66, which much of it is the Hwy 62 until you reach the town of Twenty Nine Palms. You then pick up the Amboy Road, and continue another fifty miles east and north. Once over Sheep Pass, there are no houses, ranches, gas stations....nothing.

If you go, you must carry a lot of water, a bit of non-parishable food, sat communications such as Spot, a first aid kit - and tell someone you love where are are going and for how long. I tell you, unless it's a weekend, there is nothing out there until you reach a town with two or three people in it! Oh yes and a chloride mine with a few people there.

In June, there were some European tourists on rented Harleys, for this is a favorite route for Europeans wanting to see the wildest of the wild west. Indeed.

The Amboy volcano is a part of the Mojave Young Volcano System, and is a part of the 7000 mile long Mid-Oceanic ridge that in theory extends from Vancover Island on down through the Sea of Cortez and beyond. This is within an area where the tectonic plates are pulling apart from one another, and this is a rifting zone.

In this blog, several times I have mentioned this rifting zone in the eastern part of California, and this video shows you what is very typical of rifting zones. You'll see plenty of basalt lava rock and signs of basalt magmas, just like in this video within rifting zones through out the world. Iceland has landscape like this, as does the Great Rift Valley of Africa.

So enjoy the video! I make it trippy and strange during the first minute or so, then dive into science. The music is mine and that of the Navajo band Lunar Drive.

http://youtu.be/btWM80_fAjA

New Quake Swarm at Salton Buttes Volcano in Southern Californa

Today, there has been a renewed series of small earthquakes at Salton Buttes Volcano, on the south end of the Salton Sea, in Imperial County near Niland,  in Southern California. There is also a slight flurry of scattered micro-quakes though out the southern California desert region, included a pair of small EQ events at Covington Flats Volcano, just south of the Black Rock Canyon camp ground, near Yucca Valley, CA.

On another note: Just the other day, I had hiked up White Water Creek, near Palm Springs, CA, and discovered a narrow line of talc. A ranger and others confirmed that this line is indeed at the line where the San Andreas Fault passes. Talc is a soft slippery rock that is often found along strike slip and transform faults, and it is believed to serve a kind of lubricant for the tectonic plate bounderies. (sp). Pardon my English. It isn't my first language. Anyways, this talc indicated to me even before conformation by experts and local rangers on the exact location of the San Andreas Fault. It's cool to actually see the seam between two, quite enormous thousands of square miles large, tectonic plates of rock! Look for talc, and you just might see such!

Here is the link to the current swarm at Salton Buttes Volcano, as well as a pair of EQ events at Covington Flat Volcano.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/

Past 48 Hours of Intense Earthquake Activity. Why?

Please click and read this article, and then go out on your own, research and find facts. Is the USGS covering something up, or are alarmists ringing the bell and crying wolf? I stand neutral on this one, and will research it. Just something to read just so you know where to kick off some objective research one. Okey, enough said.

http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Around_the_World/2012-04-15/26423/Quake_Expert:_Earth_Cracking_Up

Small Earthquakes Rattle Indio, Near San Andreas Fault

//www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012204120313

Over the last few days, I have been experiencing little creaks and rattles in the house, and my paintings are all crooked. This semi-swarm, or perhaps even a swarm, is well north of the great San Andreas fault, under Inspiration Point, at Joshua Tree National Park, but a bit to the south-east.

Many associate this series of micro-quakes with the geothermal volcanic system of the Salton Trough, and Salton Buttes Volcano.

Intuitively, and via watching patterns in swarms and micro-quakes, I see a connection between the Salton Trough system and Covington Flat Volcano, and a connection between the Salton Trough spreading zone and the Landers spreading zone. That being said, I see this current swarm as activity associated with the connection between the two rifting zones.

Eventually there will be a series of earth movements and venting events that will open up this area, and making for a truly connected rifting zone, and eventually, over a period of ten million years - we'll possibly see California completely broken off from the mainland, as Baja is broken off of Mainland Mexico.

Take a look at the map from the USGS and note the swarm just north of Indio.

Just a Trip Down The Road to Pipes Canyon Volcano

This is me getting rather technical. It's funny and pretty laid back. I wrote and performed the last song.

Pair of Strong Earthquakes in Baja California

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/12/world/americas/mexico-earthquakes/index.html

Just a couple of hours ago a pair of strong earthquakes hit near San Isabel, Baja California Norte, Mexico. There is to tsunami warning in effect at this time. This is one the rifting zone that I blog about a lot. This spreading zone is what I primarily blog about.

I felt a slight rolling sensation and some hanging things moved slightly.

Over the past couple of days there has been more strong earthquakes than normal, including a 8.8 just off of Sumatra.