Naturally occurring geological event causes rock to smolder at popular Santa Barbara beach
An area about one mile west of Arroyo Burro Beach was roped off while hand crews with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department worked to clear nearby brush after a rocky cliff began smoldering Monday morning.
The white smoke that comes off from the rock gives the impression of a fire, however, that is not the case. This naturally occurring geological phenomenon is created when oil shale within sedimentary rocks spontaneously combust and begin to smolder when friction is introduced.
Santa Barbara County Fire spokesperson Mike Eliason says the heavy winds in the area are creating a constant influx of oxygen on the oil shales causing friction — similar to two sticks rubbing together to start a campfire. This, in turn, is causing the smoldering reaction.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/EliasonMike/status/935247026408669184″,”author_name”:”SBCFireInfo”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/EliasonMike”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;&#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Alisa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#Alisa&#lt;/a&#gt; Incident- SBC on scene of naturally occurring geological phenomena of shale oil smoldering. Approx 1 mile west of Arroyo Burro Beach. Small spot approx 4 feet. **Call Newsline For More Info** &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/eykRbltJjj”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/eykRbltJjj&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— SBCFireInfo (@EliasonMike) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/EliasonMike/status/935247026408669184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;November 27, 2017&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
An area of about three to four feet in size is being affected by this natural phenomenon. The smoldering section is approximately 10 feet from the beach.
The immediate area was flagged off as a safety precaution. Eliason said there is no safety hazard to the public, but fire crews are clearing the nearby brush regardless.
Eliason added that this geological event carries a distinct hydrocarbon smell that residents and passersby may smell.
Eventually, the smoldering will stop. Fire crews will just let the naturally occurring geological event run its course.
This is a common occurrence along the Santa Barbara County coastline in areas that contain oil shales.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/EliasonMike/status/935248680931573760″,”author_name”:”SBCFireInfo”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/EliasonMike”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;&#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Alisa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#Alisa&#lt;/a&#gt; Incident- SBC on scene of naturally occurring geological phenomena of shale oil smoldering. Approx 1 mile west of Arroyo Burro Beach. Small spot approx 4 feet. **Call Newsline For More Info** &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/VHC3XrTpfX”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/VHC3XrTpfX&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— SBCFireInfo (@EliasonMike) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/EliasonMike/status/935248680931573760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;November 27, 2017&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
