Moving geyser impacting major roadway in Imperial County

It's not something you normally see alongside a freeway, but, local Caltrans crews have been keeping a close watch on a geyser that's impacting both the Union Pacific Railroad and State Route 111 near Niland in Imperial County.

The challenge is that geyser is moving. Known as the Niland Geyser, it’s the only moving geyser in the world.

[SubPablum]

We don't have enough problems so earth come up with a moving geyser. Nice one, very creative.

[Ryvucz]

That's pretty wicked when you think about it. Imagine if all of Yellowstone moved 10 feet a month.

[thequickbrownfox]

Meanwhile... Officials with the San Diego County water works department report an unprecedented demand on their dwindling water resources. The sudden spike of 40, 000 gallons per day remains unexplained.

[SavageBunny]

Watch it moves away, they put the road back to normal, then it starts coming back 😄

[Stan_in_Shelton_WA]

OMG! it's releasing Co2.... TAX IT!

[himhim]

Imagine calling your boss to tell him you're gonna be late because a geyser opened up and ate the highways 😂😂

[michaelstuka]

1970 I was in a boat between Mullet Island and east shore and noticed strings of persistent bubbles surfacing in that area that is now dry. There are more active areas in addition to the moving mud pot. I found obsidian in the Salton Buttes area.

[Baynewsvideo]

What a stupid statement "The area is not open for public viewing"...who said? Just pull your car over and walk over to the site. The site is NOT closed off to anyone. Great day trip for the kids!

[kathyrogers]

Just goes to show how close to the surface the cauldron really is.

[juliebutler]

The Salton Sea needs more water...just drain it into there. Win-win! Or build a bridge over it. A bridge over troubled water. Haha.

[montiliusbeatty]

Camped at niland boat ramp campground. A deserted campground. Two years ago you had to go on dirt roads to get to Niland. It hurt the few businesses there.

[kingjames]

Just think, if they could channel all that water to the Salton Sea, it would give new life back to the area and maybe some year, reopen the lake to recreational activities once again.

[treasureplanet]

Even the geysers are trying to leave California! 😆

[jashanestone]

Earth: Excuse me.. But I've been planning this for 8 million years! Yall are in the way..

[tthappyrock]

So why is it moving? Highway department can keep playing traffic flow cat and mouse with it but that doesn't solve the long term problem of underlying safety.

[bosslady]

Big One's coming. San Andreas fault line. This is related to seismic activity.

[allenra]

Just so you know, this is the area where the East Pacific Rise runs into North America. It is spreading the Gulf of California wider and extends up into the Salton Sink. There are mud volcanoes at the south end of the Salton Sea and others under the water along the bottom of the lake. It is not a caldera, despite the use of that word in the video. Because of the heat of the upwelling magma under the area, there are many hot springs like this one in the region, but most of them are not eroding the seafloor sediments around them to move along a weak area in the sediment. The news people probably would not have known about it if the highway and the railroad were not right there. The water is running into the Salton Sea, because this is on the side of the valley formed by the spreading center. The Iceland eruption is taking place on a similar spreading center that runs through that island in its alignment along the center of the Atlantic Ocean.

[sbfhawk]

The earth Calls the shots and that is it.

[youangel]

WOO-HOO USA 🇺🇸

1st recorded moving geyser 🏆

[starcrib]

Amazing: a caldera, which will have more frightening surprises in the future- you can be sure.