A moving geyser that forced a road to bend – News 11’s Arlette Yousif reports
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - A moving geyser or mud-pot is inching its way closer to the Salton Sea, causing some damage along the way. First discovered in 1953, initially, didn’t pose much of an issue. More than 60 years later in 2016, it inched closer to Union Pacific Railroad and State Route 111. Both had to be relocated.
The geyser currently sits between the state route and the railroad in Imperial County near Niland. It moves an average of 10 feet per month.
“This is the only known, that I know of, moving geyser or mud pot in the United States, and maybe even the world. The theory is that it s moving along a dormant or unknown fault. The San Andreas Fault runs just to the south of here and it goes into the Salton Sea. So, there are a lot of faults that spider and radial off of the San Andreas Fault,” says CalTrans District 11 Acting Division Chief Shawn Rizzutto.