Parking for this earthcache is located either up on the
bluff along PCH (free) or down by the shore in a paid parking
lot.
Swimming is a requirement. The vents are in between 6 and
35 feet of water depending upon the tide and how far you want to go
out. I was able to find the vent with mask and fins. This is a
popular SCUBA diving area not only for the vents but also for the
variety of sea life. Unfortunately, visability is typically
poor.
The coordinates are the best available after swimming to the
surface, so a little searching is required. Look for the white
bacteria around cracks in the sea floor.
The mudstones of the area have been folded (See White Point
Folding) into a series of parallel anticlines and synclines that
trend roughly north-south. This folding apparently has cracked the
rock forming joints for ground water to flow through. A seriesof
vents can be found in a line along these folds.
The vents are best identified by a white bacteria that grows
around them. When you get close you can see a shimmer in the water
from the difference in temperature and feel the warm (~28 deg C)
water. The sulfur smell you would have detected before you got in
the water.
Water flow is actually variable. During high tides, water enters
the shallower vents and then back out when the tide recedes.
Antidoctal reports indicate increased flow following rain fall
suggesting some water may come from the peninsula.
What warms the water remains a mystery. No detailed studies have
been completed to identify the source of the heat.
These vents are important because they are so close to the
surface. Most undersea hydrothermal vents are thousands of feet
below sea level and emit super hot water. Here studies of the
communities that develop around undersea vents can be studied with
relative ease.
As a historical note, these vents were once tapped for a resort
that was built at this site. In the 1950s an earthquake reduced the
flow of the vents. The resort was later damaged and the owners
taking off to an internment camp in World War II and the resort was
left to decay. (See website for info).
Special thanks to Dodi Meister, the widow of Paul Meister, who
made many research papers available to me. Paul successfully
brought recreational divers and researchers together to improve
off-shore research.
Logging requirements:
Send me a note with :
- The text "GC1576V White Point Hydrothermal Vents " on the first
line
- The number of people in your group.
- estimate the length of one of the vents;
- estimate the amount of bacteria surrounding the vent;
- give the relative temperature difference between the water
coming out of the vent and the surrounding water and water further
away from the vent (not in the enclosed bay.)
The above information was compiled from the
following sources:
- Michael Kleinschmidt and Richard Tschauder ,
SHALLOW-WATER HYDROTHERMAL VENT SYSTEMS OFF THE PALOS VERDES
PENINSULA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, BIOL. SOC WASH. BULL.
NO.6. 1985, pp. 48S-488