00:51 A Moving Geyser on the San Andreas Fault in California Meteorologist Heather Tesch says some residents in California are concerned about a geyser that has changed locations along the San Andreas Fault.

At a Glance A mud geyser in Imperial County, California, that has been moving for 11 years recently sped up.

It moved 60 feet in one day and threatens railroad tracks and a state highway.

Officials in Imperial County declared an emergency this summer because of the mud pot.

A California mud geyser that moved 60 feet in one day is threatening railroad tracks and a major highway, Imperial County officials say.

The county declared an emergency this summer, the Los Angeles Times reported, to speed up efforts to prevent the geyser from reaching Union Pacific's tracks, a stretch of State Route 111, a petroleum pipeline, and fiber optic telecommunications lines.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/mudpot4_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/mudpot4_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/mudpot4_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > A mud geyser, or mud pot, near Niland, California, that moved 60 feet in a day is encroaching on railroad tracks. Union Pacific built a steel wall, but the mud spring opened up on the other side of the wall. Trains are using alternate tracks now. (Union Pacific Railroad via Imperial County) (Union Pacific Railroad via Imperial County)

The geyser, also called a mud pot or mud spring, has been in existence near Niland, California, since 1953, an Imperial County fact sheet says. It has moved slowly for the past 11 years, but recently, that movement has accelerated.

It's near the southern end of the San Andreas Fault, but the movement is not seismic activity, U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Ken Hudnut told the Los Angles Times.

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According to the Seismological Society of America, mud pots are "geothermal features produced when water or gas is forced upward through soil and sediments." They resemble sinkholes and can contain gas seeps, bubbling water or thick mud. They can also be full of water, like the one in Imperial County. Carbon dioxide that is created deep beneath the Earth's surface rises up through fractures in the surface and causes the water in the mud pot to bubble.

Union Pacific is leading efforts to prevent the geyser from reaching the tracks and the highway.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/mudpot2.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/mudpot2.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com/util/image/w/mudpot2.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > The Union Pacific Railroad is leading efforts to prevent the geyser from reaching the tracks and the highway. Efforts including trying to drain water from the mud basin and building a steel wall. (Imperial County) (Imperial County)

Earlier this year, the railroad dumped stone into the basin and built a steel wall 75 feet deep and 120 feet long between the mud pot and the tracks, the Southern California Earthquake Center said in a report. The railroad also drained the basin and set up wells to release pressure on the mud spring.

In October, however, the muddy mess seeped under the steel wall and moved even closer to the tracks.

Union Pacific has built alternate tracks, called a shoofly. Trains are using that track and are moving at a slower pace. A company spokesman told the Los Angeles Times a bridge may have to be considered.

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Ed Joyce, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, told KYMA.com, "Caltrans will have to close State Route 111 if that mud pot advances to a point where it impacts the state road. We obviously have to divert traffic."