Fast Fiction

Here we go, the ultimate combination of things that interest me.

Candy and Plate Techtonics.

Yes, you heard right.

The story goes like this: There was a brush fire in the Los Padres National Forest last summer. As they put it out, they noticed a hot spot in the ground with fissures and felt the heat escaping.

Fire investigators went back to the canyon days later and stuck a candy thermometer into the ground. It hit the top of the scale, at 400 degrees.

Being from Pennsylvania I’m accustomed to hearing about fissures because of mine fires. And being in California I’m accustomed to hearing about hot springs. At the moment they think it may be heat from pressure caused by a fault line. That’s a lot of pressure to create that much heat without breaking.

I’m just wondering where they got the candy thermometer. If my spouse took mine and went and used it to test the temp of some rocks, I would NOT want it back.