Salton Buttes Volcanoes: Not as Old as Once Thought & Still Active ?

photo by Cliechtenstein (Crawling Around Geology)

Salton Buttes Volcano field at the southern end of Salton Sea and northern reach of agricultural fields.

Image - L.A. Times

Note the location of the Salton Buttes Volcanic Fields. Also take note of the recent pattern of Earthquake incidents this past summer as numerous swarms of quakes shook the area this past summer. In fact it was heavily reported on back in August of 2012 this past summer as this L.A. Times article reveals

L.A. Times: "Earthquake swarm 'classic' activity for Brawley area, USGS says"

In some ways this is exciting. I've been to Salton Buttes Volcanic Field and the hissing bubbling hot mud pots and mini volcano mud domes fields. It's a really kool area. But it appears that geologists today are taking a fresh look & newer viewpoint on the actual age of this field as much younger than they first thought. It was once thought that this field was attributed to seismic activity along large well known San Andreas Fault Zones. They once thought the area last erupted about 30,000 years ago, but new information has come to light that has last eruptions as early as between 940 & 0 BC. That's like spitting distance in geologic deep time circles. The interesting thing about the alarm being given is that Scientists are now monitoring several potential live active volcanic fields and Salton Buttes is on that live active list. The seismic activity epicenters on that map back in August did not exhibit the typical main initial shock and aftershocks patterns which it would be were it on the tectonic faults. Note that the swarms of quakes are actually away from the Fault lines marked in red lines on the map. This is why they are taking a more serious monitoring approach to this area. Below is the full article from Live Science:

(Articles Source)

Salton Sea Volcano Mystery Solved 

Resolving the Obsidian Butte Riddle

"The revised age solves a long-standing archeological conundrum, said Steve Shackley, emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Artifacts created from one of the five buttes, Obsidian Butte, first appear in Native American villages around 510 B.C. to 640 B.C. The Kumeyaay people, whose territory ranged from the coast to the Coso Mountains, crafted projectiles from Obsidian Butte glass, he said. "The men produced some of the best in the world," Shackley told OurAmazingPlanet."

(Source: Scientific American)

Further Food for thought and discussion. Does anyone remember the great Indonesian Mud Volcano disaster and who and what caused it's existence ??? Seriously, Fracking and Energy Well Drilling. And what exists and continues to be explored down in this region of the Salton Sea and Imperial Valley ??? Could today's Geo-Thermal Exploration activities even slightly be responsible for recent earthquake swarms in the area ??? Well, who knows for sure. What we can be sure is that ideologues will climb out of the woodwork on all social media sites and argue and debate the point. Count on it!  😉

Indonesian Mud Volcano Was Man-Made, New Evidence Confirms

Just Something to Ponder

Image - Geology Magazine