What is going on at Cerro Prieto Volcano?

reply to post by Discotech


I have been advised this is tectonic in nature at the moment - but the the quakes almost appear to act volcanic in nature - which is how this whole thread got started in the first place.

What you just posted as far as being normal - well - the smaller ones yes because of the plant - if the plant wasn't there - no --- would we still have a larger average than quake in that area if the plant wasn't there - yes, it is an active area- that is why the plant is there.

reply to post by BobAthome


Hi BobatHome. Your first link opens to the Main page from Signs from Earth and your second link -well I get the heading in blue on the top of the page but the main part says not found - so it could just be my computer - I will look at it again tomorrow or the next day - when I am at a location that has high speed

I've been reading through more of the articles that I posted, and I suprised to find out it isn't the only one in Mexico. check out the map on the second page of this article.

There is one a bit south of Cerro Prieto and several across Mexico, but none of them sit right on the fault line like it does. Good map though, you should check it out.

Originally posted by Anmarie96
"Now, please anyone just jump right in here a dispel this thought because it is big.... Here goes.... So here we have what appears to be a Caldera - "

Cerra Prieto is actually just a rather small cone, not a caldera. It's basically sitting at the junction of the Pacific and North American plates, on the "ring of fire." It's doubtful it had anything to do with formation of the San Andreas, but the movement of the two plates certainly did. The "dirt drawings" are made by the locals by lining up rocks found at the site to form pictures or words, which does indeed qualify them as graffiti.

"How long will it take them to pull the red squares of the maps???? or, are they finally giving us a clue?????"

The suspicious red squares are always on the map, provided that you are viewing the map within an hour of the quake. The legend on the right side of the map explains why the squares are differently colored. Any given quake starts out as a red square, an hour later goes to blue, and after twenty four hours it's yellow. After one week they drop off the map.

I have watched this map daily for roughly the past ten years. There are swarms of quakes in the area periodically, sometimes lasting a few days and sometimes a much longer time. I live close enough to feel them if they are over about 3.4 or so.

For anyone able to spend some time searching and reading on it, there is plenty of info out there on the area and the geothermal activity (and power generation) as well. I don't believe there is anything secretive about it. The volcano see just seems to be waking up a little. There is a connection between the extraction of water from the geothermal fields and earthquake activity, but I'm thinking the latest activity is much more closely related to magma movement... just a presumption on my part.

I've known about some of the local Indian legends since I was a little kid (quite a long time ago) and my dad was in the Naval Reserves at the air station near El Centro, California. The story was, the earth would shake, cracks open up, and a fiery dragon would come out and devour everything. BTW, it's not uncommon at all for water or mud to shoot up out of the ground during quakes.

Now that it's in the news and more people are becoming aware of it, keep your eye on the area. I, personally, have a feeling that we're going to see something even bigger happen there. I've been waiting for it for the past few years.

reply to post by JanCee


Great info and local knowledge - thanks

When you say you expect a bigger event - do you mean quake or volcanic, or unsure?

[edit on 10-4-2010 by MoorfNZ]

Originally posted by JanCee

Originally posted by Anmarie96

I have watched this map daily for roughly the past ten years. There are swarms of quakes in the area periodically, sometimes lasting a few days and sometimes a much longer time. I live close enough to feel them if they are over about 3.4 or so.

For anyone able to spend some time searching and reading on it, there is plenty of info out there on the area and the geothermal activity (and power generation) as well. I don't believe there is anything secretive about it. The volcano see just seems to be waking up a little. There is a connection between the extraction of water from the geothermal fields and earthquake activity, but I'm thinking the latest activity is much more closely related to magma movement... just a presumption on my part.

I've known about some of the local Indian legends since I was a little kid (quite a long time ago) and my dad was in the Naval Reserves at the air station near El Centro, California. The story was, the earth would shake, cracks open up, and a fiery dragon would come out and devour everything. BTW, it's not uncommon at all for water or mud to shoot up out of the ground during quakes.

Lubricate a stressed fault with water & you get an earthquake.

More water is seeping deep into the earth in fault zones than ever before. That, combined with the tidal forces of the moon, which provide heat energy to magma, not to be confused with ocean tides. Of course ocean tide energy is dispersed rather quickly compared to solid rock undergoing tides.

Its not that the whole earth's crust is heaving & flexing, but that the focal points are where the geological faults & volcanos are. As the rest of the non-faulted areas become more stable, more energy is diverted to the fault areas & volcanos. Think of the earth as a sponge squeezing out water thru the faults, less water is under non-fault areas, making them more stable, while more heads toward escape fissures and concentrating the water which is a lubricant for earthquakes to happen. What keeps pockets of magama hot? The same, superheated water & friction of the earth as it flexes under the tidal forces of the moon. As a consequence of energy conserved, the moon moves away from the earth at about an inch per year.

There is a gravimetric disterbence in the earths crust itself, lower in the pacific area than the other areas. This is by satillite data from NASA. The evidence is also there in the pacific trenches which are very deeper than the ocean floor and would easily hold all the mountains of the whole world.

So picture this, hypothetically, the pacific area is the bottom of the hill, and the continents are stuck on the side of the hill wanting to slide toward the bottom if they get the chance.

This is also why the pacific trenches are in subsidence, while the atlantic rift has an increased mass bulging up. The crust creeps toward lower gravimetric areas at inches per year its trying to establish equilibruim. This isn't a long-term process, if it were millions of years it would have established equilibruim millions of years ago. Something happened recently in geological terms that the earth is still trying to recover from.

Why do all the major rivers of the world have delta deposits that are 4500 years old or less?

I have read the Fragile Earth section of this forum for a long time but it was this thread that made me join.

I did a project on the Cerro Prieto and the Geothermal fields 22 years ago.

I wouldn't know where to find that project now but I am very surprised at the lack of information available on it now.

If memory serves me right, the area was compared to Iceland and the Volcano wasn't extinct then, it was dormant. I wrote about the magma chamber etc.

I wonder is it the plant that is causing the silence and secrecy.

Anyway. Thank you for this thread. It has gotten me thinking and thats good!

This article on volcanic activity in the Imperial Valley is incredibly interesting but this statement jumped out at me.

There are several experimental geothermal developments in the Imperial Valley, extending from the south shore of the Salton Sea into Mexico. The Salton Sea geothermal field is the largest and the hottest of the several fields in the Salton Valley, and has the longest history of development.

Across the Mexican border lies the Cerro Prieto geothermal field near Cerro Prieto Volcano. It is a large field and is economically productive.

I wonder where are the experimental developments? I will search.

On looking at geothermal plants in Imperial Valley. I came across something quite concerning. I could be concerned unnecessarily though.

Not only have we the Geothermal plant at Cerro Prieto and others on the Mexican end of Imperial Valley. We also have 10 along the Salton Sea.

What concerns me is these plants are built along the San Andreas.

Here is the map of the San Andreas.
Fault Map

Here is the map of the Imperial Valley.
Imperial Valley

Here is one of the links I came across that provided me with that information.
Geothermal

Would all that drilling in, near or on a fault line not be very risky business?

reply to post by Shazza70


Thank you so much for your imput....I think info coming from someone who studied the area is invaluable!

I am suprised to hear that it was considered in california, and i would really like to know if it was done or not. It seems to me that it has already been proven as a dangerous undertaking, and I was alarmed to find out that California was any way involved in purchasing this dirty energy from Mexico. Stinks of a cover-up to me.

I don't have time now to search, but maybe later. I would really like to know if they did any drilling, or especially if they went ahead with a geothermal plant in that valley.

reply to post by MoorfNZ


The "bigger event" I am expecting is an earthquake, although I can't be specific about where. Call it a premonition, for lack of another term, which I have a very long history of. I feel it will be the SoCal area, which would include the area we're talking about.

Usually the feeling goes away when the event occurs, and it hasn't gone, so I'm watching with interest. Honestly, I'd rather not be so close that my house gets tossed around like it did this time!

Jan

Did they drill a new hole or was there a call for more power?

MAP 4.7 2010/04/22 17:12:12 32.659 -115.803 6.9 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Seeley, CA

MAP 4.6 2010/04/22 14:22:03 32.668 -115.812 3.0 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Seeley, CA

reply to post by westcoast


Hi. I am new to this forum. I live in the area, and I can shed some light on the above post (regarding pollution):
"The New River’s flow is composed of waste from agricultural and chemical runoff from the farm industry irrigation in the U.S. (18.4%) and Mexico (51.2%), sewage from Mexicali (29%), and manufacturing plants operating in Mexico (1.4%)."

en.wikipedia.org...

It is one of the most deadly bodies of water, due to chemical and biological waste. Her is another informative link regarding this polluted body of water and it's proximity to Mexicali.
www.usborderpatrol.com...
It's well known in this area.

reply to post by Shazza70


to answer simply - yes. construction of these plants can trigger seismic events, however, once the fields are in place, there is no additional drilling necessary.

reply to post by JanCee


I live in the area as well. I have to agree with JanCee that the area is definitely waking up. We are experiencing activity unlike anything in my lifetime. Up until the 7.2 event, we had swarms of 3s for weeks. In fact, the morning before the event, there were several smaller (mostly undetectable) quakes. This (and the surrounding) area is full of hot springs and geothermal pools - quite common along the tectonic plates. Because the LA area has some more recently (in geologic terms) active faults, there isn't a lot of attention given to some of the "quieter" areas. Additionally, the 7.2 caused such slight damage to surrounding areas, due to the low population density.

hey guys i just stumbled upon this thread, i was looking for any info on a hella of a lot of earthquakes we've been having here, i live in mexicali, mexico right where cerro prieto is located, about a day after the 7.2 hit all the gov folks had a big meeting behind closed doors, it went on for hours, nobody outside the goverment was allowed in, they knew something was going on but they refused to say anything, reason for this being mexicali is the location of the new sillicon border industrial park, a lot of investment is going in to the project, they dont want to lose it; meanwhile we have above 3.0 quakes daily they feel strange, the weather is acting up, it feels like an ocean or beach climate, kinda crazy when you know where in the middle of the desert used to having 100 degree weather this time of the year, for some reason its freezing outside ** thanks a lot for all the info you have given me, it all confirms my theory on the matter, cheers!

Is the geo thermal plant at Cierro Prieto causing these earthquake swarms, you have to believe so, earthquake swarms are usually the precursor for a volcanic eruption, pumping water into a volcano is only increasing the pressure inside this volcano, waster does not compress and steam just creates pressure, this is bad all around...

Cerro Prieto watchers alert.

I didn't even know about that volcano. I've been watching the quakes in the Gulf of California and noticed they got larger (not smaller as in aftershocks). The last two days are mucho bumpy with many large quakes, the largest a 6.9. Check USGS. I looked at the growing quakes, the depths and such ... and started thinking "volcano?". Then, I checked up and found this thread.

Is Cerro Prieto on that spot that's percolating like an antique coffee pot?