Salton Sea Mudpots / Mud Volcanoes - Part 1

A mudpot, mud pool or paint pot is a sort of hot spring or fumarole consisting of a pool of usually bubbling mud.

Seen near the Salton Sea outside the town of Niland.


I have several hundred Salton Sea photos - including many of what is seen in this video - on my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/slworking/sets/72157605264326878/

Grand reopening of the Salton Sea History Museum. Now located at 72-120 S. Lincoln Street (end of road across creek), Mecca, CA 92254

News video: http://www.kesq.com/video/30403959/index.html

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Salton-Sea-History-Museum/125597164130869

Museum homepage: http://www.saltonseamuseum.org/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• mudpot
• mudpots
• salton
• sea
• niland
• mud
• pot
• california
• volcano
• desert

[marcuelcajon]

Never heard of the place, and I have lived in Cali my whole life, FAIL on my part. Nice vid

[slworking2]

@marcuelcajon The mud pots - and other oddities around the Salton Sea - are surreal and awesome. You should definitely check them out. Let me know if you want directions to the mud pots.

[Aaendewy8D]

Its 2012

[slworking2]

bapyou: Will check out your vid now. Thanks for the info regarding the land. Whoever the owner is, it's nice of them to not chase the public away.

[bapyou]

If you feel like watching it, I've made my own video of visiting the mud pots (check out my channel). I show some fumaroles in the video, spitting out gases.

As far as land ownership, I have a BLM map of the Salton Sea area depicting public/private/government land classification, and it does show the mud pots located on private land, but the map's not speciifc about WHO owns the land. If you'd want to try and research it, the mud pot's legal location is SW 1/4, NW 1/4, sec 24, T11S, R13E.

[slworking2]

bapyou: True. I remember the fumaroles, too - just venting CO2, but not bubbling or spitting mud. :-)t

And yeah, this is a very cool place. Fortunately it seems that the visitors have been respecting the site so far. I haven't seen any evidence of littering, off-road activity, etc. Let's hope it stays that way. Do you have any idea who owns the land?

[bapyou]

Hello. Not to be too technical, but there are also fumaroles in this mud pot field, spewing only gases.

It is a cool place though, isn't it? I've been there. I hesitate to post stuff on the internet about the Mud Pots because, sooner or later I imagine, someone is going to catch on, put a fence around the place and start charging admmission. When that happens, the "coolness" and natural interest of the place will be lost.

[slworking2]

Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll need to update the description.

[bapyou]

A mud pot is not the same thing as a fumarole. A fumarole is a vent where gases are emitted. A mudpot is like bubbling spring with a muddy water pool.

[slworking2]

Thanks.