Natural History in the Making
While it may not look like much, there is a traveling mud pot in Imperial Valley, California, headed toward the Salton Sea. I went down there in November 2018, when the LA Times ran an article on it (https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-niland-mud-pot-20181101-story.html). At that time I couldn’t see it since the Union Pacific Railroad had guards protecting their work site as the mud pot (geyser) threatened their main line through the area (former Southern Pacific line).
The mud pot has been known to exist since the 1950s, but in 2015/16, it started moving at the rate of approximately 20 feet per year (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/11/bubbling-pool-mud-moving-california-dont-know-why-geology/)! It is the only known moving mud pot.
In the Times article you will see an excellent map & an illustration showing its travel path and how the railroad installed a metal barrier in the ground, trying to stop it. The geyser just dove underground and came back up on the other side of the barrier.
Last week I went again and took these photos. The mud pot is now about 35 feet from the asphalt edge of State Highway 111. Traffic is now routed on a bypass, just to the west (https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-11/current-projects/sr111-nilandgeyser). I was able to park just north of the bypass and walk down the “real” highway to the site of the mud pot. Although there are three low concrete barriers, you can easily walk around them.
Will it continue it’s journey to the west? Into the Salton Sea? Only time will tell.
This year has been a struggle for many of us; I am hoping to get back to HistoryTrove more often. This post is a change of pace, but needing to get out and go somewhere that I wouldn’t meet anyone, this trip was perfect.
HistoryTrove.com 
Thanks for an interesting article.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s really interesting!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is amazing and a bit scary too, wow! I’ve been to the Salton Sea just once about four years ago, it was a smelly experience… Good to see you back here, have a blessed Christmas. 🙏🏻😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another of the mysterious wonders of this amazing desert we love and call home!
Hopefully, we will enjoy some naturally occurring benefit from this wandering well-spring of mud.
Most of all, that it happens in our lifetime!
Thanks for the post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very interesting post! And glad to see you back! I understand completely the need to get out in a little solitude at times!
LikeLiked by 1 person
informative , I wouldn’t meet anyone, this trip was perfect. What time is it? The corona is a sad event, a human being is a social animal, but the effects and pain of the corona can be felt in this line.
LikeLike