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Mexicans wary of hot hole in the ground
Scientists examine the crater in El Ajusco, Mexico 'You don't think this is a way for God to punish us?'
April 30, 1998
Web posted at: 9:38 p.m. EDT (0138 GMT)From Correspondent Harris Whitbeck
EL AJUSCO, Mexico (CNN) -- Under the shadow of what was thought to be an extinct volcano, a group of peasants watch as scientists in masks and white coats study a hole in the ground from which pours intense heat.
"Imagine a pot of boiling gruel," says one woman. "That's what it looked like."
The peasants are frightened, thinking they are witnessing the emergence of a new volcano. Or, worse, the beginning of the apocalypse.
"I think God has just lost his patience with us," says another woman. "There have been so many things. You don't think this is another way for God to punish us?"
CNN's Harris Whitbeck examines a crater spewing intense heat that worries residents of Ajusco, Mexico
2 min. VXtreme video
In an improvised cantina near the hole, everyone has an opinion.
"It is like you have a gas tank and you just open it up and everything comes rushing out," a man says.
It turns out the world is not coming to an end, and the earth is not spewing poisonous gases. But in a way, the phenomenon does have a link to volcanic activity.
Lava tunnels trapped heat from forest fire
About 2,000 years ago, the Iittle volcano erupted, sending rivers of lava down the mountainside. As the lava cooled, it formed a system of tunnels that eventually became covered by soil, grasses and other vegetation.
One of the tunnels formed by lava when the Iittle volcano erupted about 2,000 years ago A few weeks ago, a forest fire raged through the area, which is south of Mexico City, and some of the heat it generated was trapped in the lava tunnels.
"We believe the tunnels extend to this area, and the heat they carried started to seep out," says Luis Wintergertz, local director of civil protection.
But the authorities wanted to make sure there was nothing else to the heat, so they used seismographs and radioactivity sensors to rule out any other possibilities.
There are still some people living on the mountain, however, who are not convinced. They expect to wake up one morning under the shadow of a new volcano.
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Volcano World -- The Premier Source of Volcano Info on the Web
- Volcanoes of the World
- Volcano Information Center (VIC)
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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