Life On The Caldera!

The other day I was on a drive from San Francisco back to a small town I call home. I was on a highway that took me north/south near Redwood City, California. A clear whiff of pungent odor reminded me of younger days with visits to Eastern Washington. What was I smelling? Sulfur.

Sulfur goes hand in hand with volcanic activity. The marshland I was driving through seems to be a volcanic ecological wonder! Some call it Bair Island. Yes, I mean no!, waterfowl live near but did you know humans too are living on a volcanic caldera?

You see this San Francisco area geological phenomenon is widely unknown. However, for precedence of this flattened volcano we can look to the existence of another supervolcano--Yellowstone. Its magma hotspots have traveled underground for an unknown amount of time and made itself evident over Idaho and Montana landscapes. This I know from a museum visit at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve Idaho. Similarly, Hawaii is a supervolcano that has traveled underground and made numerous volcanic islands in its lifespan in the Pacific Ocean.

Realizing this geological occurrence is here makes me wonder who is studying local geology--and who knows it's here!?

Property values just went down! It's properly called the Long Valley Caldera Supervolcano. It erupted about 16,000 - 17,000 years ago. It's 20 miles long and 11 miles wide, and 3,000 feet deep--so they say, it seems bigger looking at the landscape. The U.S. Geological Survey lists its threat potential as "very high". (USGS.gov) I translate that meaning--any day now!!!

Song suggestion for your drive--"San Francisco Spirit" by adamthegirl!

And if you need a place to rest your head:

Courtyard by Marriott

600 Bair Island Road

Redwood City, CA 94063

650.216.9435