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Miami Herald
10-06-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
California's Salton Sea is emitting foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas, triggering health concerns
LOS ANGELES - On scorching days when winds blow across the California desert, the Salton Sea regularly gives off a stench of decay resembling rotten eggs. New research has found that the shrinking lake is emitting the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide more frequently and at higher levels than previously measured. The findings document how the odors from the Salton Sea add to the air quality problems and health concerns in communities near the lake, where windblown dust drifts from exposed stretches of lakebed and where people suffer from high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. "The communities around the Salton Sea are on the front lines of a worsening environmental health crisis," said Mara Freilich, a co-author of the study and assistant professor in Brown University's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. The Salton Sea is California's largest lake, covering more than 300 square miles in Imperial and Riverside counties. Hydrogen sulfide is released as a byproduct of decaying algae and other organic material in the lake, where accumulating fertilizers and other nutrients from agricultural runoff and wastewater feed the growth of algae. Hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, is toxic and studies have found that health effects of exposure at certain levels can include dizziness, headaches, vomiting, cough, chest tightness and depression. Although being exposed to high levels in the workplace is a widely known health hazard, less is known about the health effects of chronic exposure to the gas at lower levels. People who live near the Salton Sea, many of them farmworkers, have complained for years that the stench, which tends to emerge most strongly in August and September, can give them headaches, nausea and nosebleeds. Freilich and other researchers analyzed existing air-quality data from three monitoring stations maintained by the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Indio, Mecca and the reservation of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. They worked with the local nonprofit group Alianza Coachella Valley to install an additional air-quality sensor on a wooden piling protruding from shallow water near the north shore. The sensor has often detected hydrogen sulfide at high levels. Examining data from different monitoring sites between May 1 and July 25, 2024, they found a striking contrast. Although the monitor on the Torres Martinez reservation detected hydrogen sulfide at levels exceeding the state air-quality standard for only four hours during that time, the sensor over the water found 177 hours with levels above the threshold. The scientists said their results indicate that a significant portion of the gas that's being released by the Salton Sea isn't being measured, even as the stench drifts through the area's predominantly Latino communities. "These findings highlight the need for improved air quality monitoring and more effective environmental management policies to protect public health in the region," the researchers wrote in the study, which was published May 31 in the journal GeoHealth. The Salton Sea lies about 242 feet below sea level in the Salton Trough, which over thousands of years has cycled between filling with Colorado River water and drying out. The lake was formed most recently in 1905-07, when the Colorado flooded the region, filling the low-lying basin. In the 1950s and '60s, the Salton Sea became a popular destination where tourists flocked to go fishing, boating and waterskiing. Celebrities including Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball visited the lake during its heyday. But lakeside communities deteriorated after flooding in the 1970s. Fishing waned as the lake grew too salty for introduced species such as corvina, and people stopped boating as the water quality worsened. The lake has for more than a century been sustained by water draining off farms in the Imperial Valley, but it has been shrinking since the early 2000s, when the Imperial Irrigation District began selling a portion of its Colorado River water to growing urban areas under an agreement with agencies in San Diego County and the Coachella Valley. The lake's level has declined about 13 feet since 2003. Its water is now about twice as salty as the ocean and continues to get saltier with evaporation. Bird populations have declined. Hydrogen sulfide builds up in the lower, oxygen-deprived layer of water in the lake as decaying algae and other material decompose. During the hottest times of year, a warm upper layer of water forms. Then, when winds churn up the lake, some of the deeper water can rise to the surface and release the stinky gas into the air. California's ambient air-quality standard is 30 parts per billion, averaged over one hour. The study found that under certain wind conditions, hydrogen sulfide levels were on average 17 parts per billion higher at the newly installed sensor over the water compared with an existing monitor near the shore. Sometimes, the sensor detected levels as high as about 200 parts per billion. People can detect the smell of the gas, however, at levels as low as 1 or 2 parts per billion. "Residents exposed to hydrogen sulfide are impacted not only in their physical health - experiencing respiratory irritation, headaches and fatigue - but as well in their quality of life," said Diego Centeno, the study's lead author, who conducted the research while studying at Brown University and is now a doctoral student at UCLA. "If you want to be active outside, go on a run or do something, and it smells like rotten eggs, you'd be more inclined not to," Centeno said. "Especially during summertime, nobody wants to go outside." Centeno grew up within sight of the Salton Sea in the low-income community of North Shore. He said he was always fascinated by the immense body of water, not knowing why he never saw anyone bathing or boating in it. "As water levels continue to decline, if nothing is done, this hydrogen sulfide gas really has the potential to grow," Centeno said. "So the more we understand, the more we can learn how to mitigate and restore the Salton Sea." The researchers said their findings highlight the need for increased air-quality monitoring around the Salton Sea, and for regulators to focus on hydrogen sulfide as a pollutant that affects people's health. Freilich said regional water regulators should prioritize setting of water-quality standards for the Salton Sea, a step that could lead to efforts to treat or reduce the nutrient levels of water flowing into the lake. "The water quality in the sea is affecting the air quality," she said. "It requires the attention of multiple agencies, because it is something that connects water quality and air quality, which are typically handled separately." The South Coast Air Quality Management District, or AQMD, regulates air pollution in the Coachella Valley, including the northern portion of the Salton Sea. In May, the agency installed a fourth monitor for hydrogen sulfide on the northeastern side of the lake. "This H2S monitoring network is very comprehensive," said Rainbow Yeung, an AQMD spokesperson, adding that there are currently only a few other monitors reporting such data in the country. Yeung said in an email that the sensor installed by the researchers is of a different type than the agency's monitors and "may have higher H2S readings as the location of the sensor is over the source of likely emissions, which can be dispersed and therefore may not be representative of levels experienced by the community." AQMD issues alerts whenever hydrogen sulfide levels reach the state standard of 33 ppb at any of the monitoring sites. (Residents can sign up to receive these air-quality alerts at The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has established a chronic exposure threshold for hydrogen sulfide of 8 parts per billion, a level at which long-term exposure over many years may begin to result in health effects. The highest annual average concentration at any of the AQMD monitoring sites since 2016 has been 5.5 parts per billion, and annual averages have typically been less than 3 parts per billion, levels at which health effects are not expected, Yeung said. The water that drains from Imperial Valley farmland and feeds the sea comes from the Colorado River. A quarter-century of mostly dry years compounded by climate change has prompted difficult negotiations among seven states over how to use less water from the dwindling river. As these talks examine water-saving solutions, Freilich said, policymakers should "account for the health impacts on communities" and prioritize steps that will help mitigate the problems. California officials recently sent water flowing from a pipe onto hundreds of acres of dry lake bed near the south shore, filling a complex of shallow ponds in an effort to create wetland habitat for fish and birds, and help control lung-damaging dust. It's not known how these new wetlands might affect emissions of hydrogen sulfide, and Freilich said she and her team plan additional studies focusing on wetlands and shallow-water areas. Consuelo Márquez, a Coachella resident who has helped with the research, said she lived for several years as a child in North Shore, where she got nosebleeds and experienced the rotten egg odor, a "really strong fishy smell." "I would wake up with blood on my pillow," she said. When she asked her father about it, she recalled him saying: "This happens because of the lake, because of the air." She said the study's results validate the concerns many people have been raising for years. Aydee Palomino, a co-author of the study and environmental justice project manager for the group Alianza Coachella Valley, said the study shows people are "breathing in pollutants that are under the radar of traditional monitoring systems." "This has the potential to have really far-reaching ramifications if it's not addressed," Palomino said. Funding for the research came from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Google's Environmental Justice Data Fund and NASA. But Freilich learned in March that the Trump administration had terminated the NASA grant under an order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The researchers have an ongoing appeal of that decision, which Freilich said has been disruptive to ongoing work. "The community is who's going to suffer at the end of the day," Palomino said. "And it is unfortunate because now it comes back to us to fill in the research gaps." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Salton Sea is emitting foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas, triggering health concerns
On scorching days when winds blow across the California desert, the Salton Sea regularly gives off a stench of decay resembling rotten eggs. New research has found that the shrinking lake is emitting the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide more frequently and at higher levels than previously measured. The findings document how the odors from the Salton Sea add to the air quality problems and health concerns in communities near the lake, where windblown dust drifts from exposed stretches of lakebed and where people suffer from high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. 'The communities around the Salton Sea are on the front lines of a worsening environmental health crisis,' said Mara Freilich, a co-author of the study and assistant professor in Brown University's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. The Salton Sea is California's largest lake, covering more than 300 square miles in Imperial and Riverside counties. Hydrogen sulfide is released as a byproduct of decaying algae and other organic material in the lake, where accumulating fertilizers and other nutrients from agricultural runoff and wastewater feed the growth of algae. Hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, is toxic and studies have found that health effects of exposure at certain levels can include dizziness, headaches, vomiting, cough, chest tightness and depression. Although being exposed to high levels in the workplace is a widely known health hazard, less is known about the health effects of chronic exposure to the gas at lower levels. People who live near the Salton Sea, many of them farmworkers, have complained for years that the stench, which tends to emerge most strongly in August and September, can give them headaches, nausea and nosebleeds. Read more: California turns on water to create new wetlands on the shore of the shrinking Salton Sea Freilich and other researchers analyzed existing air-quality data from three monitoring stations maintained by the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Indio, Mecca and the reservation of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. They worked with the local nonprofit group Alianza Coachella Valley to install an additional air-quality sensor on a wooden piling protruding from shallow water near the north shore. The sensor has often detected hydrogen sulfide at high levels. Examining data from different monitoring sites between May 1 and July 25, 2024, they found a striking contrast. Although the monitor on the Torres Martinez reservation detected hydrogen sulfide at levels exceeding the state air-quality standard for only four hours during that time, the sensor over the water found 177 hours with levels above the threshold. The scientists said their results indicate that a significant portion of the gas that's being released by the Salton Sea isn't being measured, even as the stench drifts through the area's predominantly Latino communities. 'These findings highlight the need for improved air quality monitoring and more effective environmental management policies to protect public health in the region,' the researchers wrote in the study, which was published May 31 in the journal GeoHealth. The Salton Sea lies about 242 feet below sea level in the Salton Trough, which over thousands of years has cycled between filling with Colorado River water and drying out. The lake was formed most recently in 1905-07, when the Colorado flooded the region, filling the low-lying basin. In the 1950s and '60s, the Salton Sea became a popular destination where tourists flocked to go fishing, boating and waterskiing. Celebrities including Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball visited the lake during its heyday. But lakeside communities deteriorated after flooding in the 1970s. Fishing waned as the lake grew too salty for introduced species such as corvina, and people stopped boating as the water quality worsened. Read more: In the dust of the Coachella Valley, residents push for a park along the shrinking Salton Sea The lake has for more than a century been sustained by water draining off farms in the Imperial Valley, but it has been shrinking since the early 2000s, when the Imperial Irrigation District began selling a portion of its Colorado River water to growing urban areas under an agreement with agencies in San Diego County and the Coachella Valley. The lake's level has declined about 13 feet since 2003. Its water is now about twice as salty as the ocean and continues to get saltier with evaporation. Bird populations have declined. Hydrogen sulfide builds up in the lower, oxygen-deprived layer of water in the lake as decaying algae and other material decompose. During the hottest times of year, a warm upper layer of water forms. Then, when winds churn up the lake, some of the deeper water can rise to the surface and release the stinky gas into the air. California's ambient air-quality standard is 30 parts per billion, averaged over one hour. The study found that under certain wind conditions, hydrogen sulfide levels were on average 17 parts per billion higher at the newly installed sensor over the water compared with an existing monitor near the shore. Sometimes, the sensor detected levels as high as about 200 parts per billion. People can detect the smell of the gas, however, at levels as low as 1 or 2 parts per billion. 'Residents exposed to hydrogen sulfide are impacted not only in their physical health — experiencing respiratory irritation, headaches and fatigue — but as well in their quality of life,' said Diego Centeno, the study's lead author, who conducted the research while studying at Brown University and is now a doctoral student at UCLA. 'If you want to be active outside, go on a run or do something, and it smells like rotten eggs, you'd be more inclined not to,' Centeno said. 'Especially during summertime, nobody wants to go outside.' Centeno grew up within sight of the Salton Sea in the low-income community of North Shore. He said he was always fascinated by the immense body of water, not knowing why he never saw anyone bathing or boating in it. 'As water levels continue to decline, if nothing is done, this hydrogen sulfide gas really has the potential to grow,' Centeno said. 'So the more we understand, the more we can learn how to mitigate and restore the Salton Sea.' Read more: As California farms use less Colorado River water, worries grow over shrinking Salton Sea The researchers said their findings highlight the need for increased air-quality monitoring around the Salton Sea, and for regulators to focus on hydrogen sulfide as a pollutant that affects people's health. Freilich said regional water regulators should prioritize setting of water-quality standards for the Salton Sea, a step that could lead to efforts to treat or reduce the nutrient levels of water flowing into the lake. 'The water quality in the sea is affecting the air quality,' she said. 'It requires the attention of multiple agencies, because it is something that connects water quality and air quality, which are typically handled separately.' The South Coast Air Quality Management District, or AQMD, regulates air pollution in the Coachella Valley, including the northern portion of the Salton Sea. In May, the agency installed a fourth monitor for hydrogen sulfide on the northeastern side of the lake. 'This H2S monitoring network is very comprehensive,' said Rainbow Yeung, an AQMD spokesperson, adding that there are currently only a few other monitors reporting such data in the country. Yeung said in an email that the sensor installed by the researchers is of a different type than the agency's monitors and 'may have higher H2S readings as the location of the sensor is over the source of likely emissions, which can be dispersed and therefore may not be representative of levels experienced by the community.' AQMD issues alerts whenever hydrogen sulfide levels reach the state standard of 33 ppb at any of the monitoring sites. (Residents can sign up to receive these air-quality alerts at The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has established a chronic exposure threshold for hydrogen sulfide of 8 parts per billion, a level at which long-term exposure over many years may begin to result in health effects. Read more: Meager snowpack adds to Colorado River's woes, straining flows to Southern California The highest annual average concentration at any of the AQMD monitoring sites since 2016 has been 5.5 parts per billion, and annual averages have typically been less than 3 parts per billion, levels at which health effects are not expected, Yeung said. The water that drains from Imperial Valley farmland and feeds the sea comes from the Colorado River. A quarter-century of mostly dry years compounded by climate change has prompted difficult negotiations among seven states over how to use less water from the dwindling river. As these talks examine water-saving solutions, Freilich said, policymakers should 'account for the health impacts on communities' and prioritize steps that will help mitigate the problems. California officials recently sent water flowing from a pipe onto hundreds of acres of dry lake bed near the south shore, filling a complex of shallow ponds in an effort to create wetland habitat for fish and birds, and help control lung-damaging dust. It's not known how these new wetlands might affect emissions of hydrogen sulfide, and Freilich said she and her team plan additional studies focusing on wetlands and shallow-water areas. Consuelo Márquez, a Coachella resident who has helped with the research, said she lived for several years as a child in North Shore, where she got nosebleeds and experienced the rotten egg odor, a 'really strong fishy smell.' 'I would wake up with blood on my pillow,' she said. When she asked her father about it, she recalled him saying: 'This happens because of the lake, because of the air.' She said the study's results validate the concerns many people have been raising for years. Aydee Palomino, a co-author of the study and environmental justice project manager for the group Alianza Coachella Valley, said the study shows people are 'breathing in pollutants that are under the radar of traditional monitoring systems.' 'This has the potential to have really far-reaching ramifications if it's not addressed,' Palomino said. Funding for the research came from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Google's Environmental Justice Data Fund and NASA. But Freilich learned in March that the Trump administration had terminated the NASA grant under an order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The researchers have an ongoing appeal of that decision, which Freilich said has been disruptive to ongoing work. 'The community is who's going to suffer at the end of the day,' Palomino said. 'And it is unfortunate because now it comes back to us to fill in the research gaps.' This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
10-06-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
Salton Sea is emitting foul-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas, triggering health concerns
On scorching days when winds blow across the California desert, the Salton Sea regularly gives off a stench of decay resembling rotten eggs. New research has found that the shrinking lake is emitting the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide more frequently and at higher levels than previously measured. The findings document how the odors from the Salton Sea add to the air quality problems and health concerns in communities near the lake, where windblown dust drifts from exposed stretches of lakebed and where people suffer from high rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. 'The communities around the Salton Sea are on the front lines of a worsening environmental health crisis,' said Mara Freilich, a co-author of the study and assistant professor in Brown University's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. The Salton Sea is California's largest lake, covering more than 300 square miles in Imperial and Riverside counties. Hydrogen sulfide is released as a byproduct of decaying algae and other organic material in the lake, where accumulating fertilizers and other nutrients from agricultural runoff and wastewater feed the growth of algae. Hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, is toxic and studies have found that health effects of exposure at certain levels can include dizziness, headaches, vomiting, cough, chest tightness and depression. Although being exposed to high levels in the workplace is a widely known health hazard, less is known about the health effects of chronic exposure to the gas at lower levels. People who live near the Salton Sea, many of them farmworkers, have complained for years that the stench, which tends to emerge most strongly in August and September, can give them headaches, nausea and nosebleeds. Freilich and other researchers analyzed existing air-quality data from three monitoring stations maintained by the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Indio, Mecca and the reservation of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians. They worked with the local nonprofit group Alianza Coachella Valley to install an additional air-quality sensor on a wooden piling protruding from shallow water near the north shore. The sensor has often detected hydrogen sulfide at high levels. Examining data from different monitoring sites between May 1 and July 25, 2024, they found a striking contrast. Although the monitor on the Torres Martinez reservation detected hydrogen sulfide at levels exceeding the state air-quality standard for only four hours during that time, the sensor over the water found 177 hours with levels above the threshold. The scientists said their results indicate that a significant portion of the gas that's being released by the Salton Sea isn't being measured, even as the stench drifts through the area's predominantly Latino communities. 'These findings highlight the need for improved air quality monitoring and more effective environmental management policies to protect public health in the region,' the researchers wrote in the study, which was published May 31 in the journal GeoHealth. The Salton Sea lies about 242 feet below sea level in the Salton Trough, which over thousands of years has cycled between filling with Colorado River water and drying out. The lake was formed most recently in 1905-07, when the Colorado flooded the region, filling the low-lying basin. In the 1950s and '60s, the Salton Sea became a popular destination where tourists flocked to go fishing, boating and waterskiing. Celebrities including Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball visited the lake during its heyday. But lakeside communities deteriorated after flooding in the 1970s. Fishing waned as the lake grew too salty for introduced species such as corvina, and people stopped boating as the water quality worsened. The lake has for more than a century been sustained by water draining off farms in the Imperial Valley, but it has been shrinking since the early 2000s, when the Imperial Irrigation District began selling a portion of its Colorado River water to growing urban areas under an agreement with agencies in San Diego County and the Coachella Valley. The lake's level has declined about 13 feet since 2003. Its water is now about twice as salty as the ocean and continues to get saltier with evaporation. Bird populations have declined. Hydrogen sulfide builds up in the lower, oxygen-deprived layer of water in the lake as decaying algae and other material decompose. During the hottest times of year, a warm upper layer of water forms. Then, when winds churn up the lake, some of the deeper water can rise to the surface and release the stinky gas into the air. California's ambient air-quality standard is 30 parts per billion, averaged over one hour. The study found that under certain wind conditions, hydrogen sulfide levels were on average 17 parts per billion higher at the newly installed sensor over the water compared with an existing monitor near the shore. Sometimes, the sensor detected levels as high as about 200 parts per billion. People can detect the smell of the gas, however, at levels as low as 1 or 2 parts per billion. 'Residents exposed to hydrogen sulfide are impacted not only in their physical health — experiencing respiratory irritation, headaches and fatigue — but as well in their quality of life,' said Diego Centeno, the study's lead author, who conducted the research while studying at Brown University and is now a doctoral student at UCLA. 'If you want to be active outside, go on a run or do something, and it smells like rotten eggs, you'd be more inclined not to,' Centeno said. 'Especially during summertime, nobody wants to go outside.' Centeno grew up within sight of the Salton Sea in the low-income community of North Shore. He said he was always fascinated by the immense body of water, not knowing why he never saw anyone bathing or boating in it. 'As water levels continue to decline, if nothing is done, this hydrogen sulfide gas really has the potential to grow,' Centeno said. 'So the more we understand, the more we can learn how to mitigate and restore the Salton Sea.' The researchers said their findings highlight the need for increased air-quality monitoring around the Salton Sea, and for regulators to focus on hydrogen sulfide as a pollutant that affects people's health. Freilich said regional water regulators should prioritize setting of water-quality standards for the Salton Sea, a step that could lead to efforts to treat or reduce the nutrient levels of water flowing into the lake. 'The water quality in the sea is affecting the air quality,' she said. 'It requires the attention of multiple agencies, because it is something that connects water quality and air quality, which are typically handled separately.' The South Coast Air Quality Management District, or AQMD, regulates air pollution in the Coachella Valley, including the northern portion of the Salton Sea. In May, the agency installed a fourth monitor for hydrogen sulfide on the northeastern side of the lake. 'This H2S monitoring network is very comprehensive,' said Rainbow Yeung, an AQMD spokesperson, adding that there are currently only a few other monitors reporting such data in the country. Yeung said in an email that the sensor installed by the researchers is of a different type than the agency's monitors and 'may have higher H2S readings as the location of the sensor is over the source of likely emissions, which can be dispersed and therefore may not be representative of levels experienced by the community.' AQMD issues alerts whenever hydrogen sulfide levels reach the state standard of 33 ppb at any of the monitoring sites. (Residents can sign up to receive these air-quality alerts at The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has established a chronic exposure threshold for hydrogen sulfide of 8 parts per billion, a level at which long-term exposure over many years may begin to result in health effects. The highest annual average concentration at any of the AQMD monitoring sites since 2016 has been 5.5 parts per billion, and annual averages have typically been less than 3 parts per billion, levels at which health effects are not expected, Yeung said. The water that drains from Imperial Valley farmland and feeds the sea comes from the Colorado River. A quarter-century of mostly dry years compounded by climate change has prompted difficult negotiations among seven states over how to use less water from the dwindling river. As these talks examine water-saving solutions, Freilich said, policymakers should 'account for the health impacts on communities' and prioritize steps that will help mitigate the problems. California officials recently sent water flowing from a pipe onto hundreds of acres of dry lake bed near the south shore, filling a complex of shallow ponds in an effort to create wetland habitat for fish and birds, and help control lung-damaging dust. It's not known how these new wetlands might affect emissions of hydrogen sulfide, and Freilich said she and her team plan additional studies focusing on wetlands and shallow-water areas. Consuelo Márquez, a Coachella resident who has helped with the research, said she lived for several years as a child in North Shore, where she got nosebleeds and experienced the rotten egg odor, a 'really strong fishy smell.' 'I would wake up with blood on my pillow,' she said. When she asked her father about it, she recalled him saying: 'This happens because of the lake, because of the air.' She said the study's results validate the concerns many people have been raising for years. Aydee Palomino, a co-author of the study and environmental justice project manager for the group Alianza Coachella Valley, said the study shows people are 'breathing in pollutants that are under the radar of traditional monitoring systems.' 'This has the potential to have really far-reaching ramifications if it's not addressed,' Palomino said. Funding for the research came from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Google's Environmental Justice Data Fund and NASA. But Freilich learned in March that the Trump administration had terminated the NASA grant under an order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The researchers have an ongoing appeal of that decision, which Freilich said has been disruptive to ongoing work. 'The community is who's going to suffer at the end of the day,' Palomino said. 'And it is unfortunate because now it comes back to us to fill in the research gaps.'
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
How recently discovered giant magma 'cap' helps prevent eruption at Yellowstone National Park
MAMMOTH SPRINGS, Wyo. – Scientists found that a "cap" made of a supercritical fluid and magma stands between the magma reservoir underneath Yellowstone National Park and a volcanic eruption. In a recent article published in Nature, researchers were able to make this determination when they pinpointed the depth of the top of the reservoir for the first time, according to lead author Chenglong Duan. Duan and his team found the depth where the reservoir began by using a 53,000-pound vibroseis truck, a vehicle usually used for oil and gas exploration, to send seismic waves into the ground in Yellowstone. They then used more than 600 seismometers to record the signals from the truck. Based on the seismic readings, the research team determined that the reservoir began at just over 2 miles beneath the surface. Yellowstone National Park Gears Up For Summer Season "The motivation behind my research is to advance structural seismic imaging beyond the limits of conventional travel-time methods," said Duan, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Rice University. "Using a wave-equation imaging technique I developed during my Ph.D. for irregular seismic data, we made one of the first super clear images of the top of the magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone caldera." That image is featured below, with the magma reservoir cap noted with a black arrow. The research team also noticed something curious about the top of the reservoir. "Seeing such a strong reflector at that depth was a surprise," said co-author and Rice University Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences professor Brandon Schmandt. "It tells us that something physically distinct is happening there — likely a buildup of partially molten rock interspersed with gas bubbles." More accurately called "supercritical fluid" for their unique state in the magma chamber, Schmandt noted that those bubbles formed when volatiles, or small fractions of elements like hydrogen, carbon and sulfur, in the magma are released in the upper areas of the chamber. He likened the phenomenon to a soda can, which has bubbles that are dissolved in the liquid. When the can is opened, the bubbles come out of the liquid and rise to the top of the can. But also like the bubbles in a pressurized soda can, the bubbles dissolved in the magma underneath Yellowstone have the potential to build up and lead to a volcanic eruption. How To Watch Fox Weather However, researchers found that, in addition to the bubbles rising to the top of the magma chamber, the peculiar geology in the national park is preventing that from occurring. Schmandt noted that the park's systems of hydrothermal features provide passageways for the bubbles to escape the magma chamber and reduce the amount of pressure in the chamber. "Yellowstone's magma reservoir is a lively system that is not very far from the surface, just about 2 miles deep, and bubbles are rising through it," he said. "It's remarkable that we can get detailed information about the subsurface without directly breaking ground, and that technology is important for studying natural hazards and resources."Original article source: How recently discovered giant magma 'cap' helps prevent eruption at Yellowstone National Park
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
There's liquid on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. But something's missing and scientists are confused
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Scientists have known for a while that Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has rivers and seas of liquid methane on its surface. But it's strangely lacking in deltas, a new study suggests. On Earth, large rivers create deltas with sediment-filled wetlands. Deltas form when the mouth of a river empties into another body of water. Besides Earth, Titan is the only planetary body in our solar system with liquid flowing on the surface. Researchers recently looked for deltas on the big Saturn satellite but came up empty. "We take it for granted that if you have rivers and sediments, you get deltas," study leader Sam Birch, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University in Rhode Island, said in a statement. "But Titan is weird. It's a playground for studying processes we thought we understood," he added. Related: Titan: Facts about Saturn's largest moon The researchers were hoping to find deltas on Titan, because these landforms feature lots of sediment. The sediment in deltas tends to come from a large area, and deltas gather it in one place. Studying such sediment could reveal insights about Titan's climate and tectonic histories — and perhaps even possible signs of alien life. "It's kind of disappointing as a geomorphologist, because deltas should preserve so much of Titan's history," Birch said. We know that Titan's surface has flowing liquid methane, because NASA's Cassini spacecraft spotted evidence of the stuff on multiple flybys. Cassini used synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to look through Titan's thick atmosphere during these close encounters and found channels and large flat areas that are consistent with large bodies of liquid. But shallow liquid methane is largely transparent in Cassini's SAR data. Scientists have therefore had a hard time studying Titan's coastal features, because it's hard to make out where the coast ends and the sea floor starts. So, Birch's team came up with a computer model that simulates what Cassini's SAR would see when looking at Earth. But the model replaced the water in Earth's rivers and oceans with Titan's liquid methane. "We basically made synthetic SAR images of Earth that assume properties of Titan's liquid instead of Earth's," Birch said. "Once we see SAR images of a landscape we know very well, we can go back to Titan and understand a bit better what we're looking at." Related stories: — The Cassini-Huygens mission: Exploring the Saturn system — The search for alien life — Largest sea on Saturn's mysterious moon Titan could be more than 1,000 feet deep The synthetic SAR images of Earth that they created "resolved large deltas and many other large coastal landscapes," according to the researchers. They say that new analysis of the Cassini SAR data also revealed other mysteries. For example, Titan's coasts appear to have pits of unknown origin deep within lakes and seas, and deep channels cut across the moon's sea floors offer no clue to how they got there. "This is really not what we expected," Birch said. "But Titan does this to us a lot. I think that's what makes it such an engaging place to study." The new study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets on March 25.
