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    lruuiz
    four circular unknown features in a so cal estuary
    Topic posted December 16, 2011 by lruuizMember, last edited January 19, 2012
    635 Views, 2 Comments
    Title:
    four circular unknown features in a so cal estuary
    Content:

    Hi, Im was looking at these aerials, and these four circular features come up during the years 1927, 1938, 1947, and 1956. The area is in Huntington Beach, CA and appears to be part of an estuary. 

    Image:
    File:
    HB, CA AERIAL.pdf (448KB)

    Comment

     

    • Heatherc
      posted December 16, 2011 by HeathercMember

      Those appear to be old oil storage tanks or wells, which were very prevalent in the Huntington Beach area during that time frame. I would recommend to cross check using the Oil and Gas map database. I did a quick search and it looks like the Bay View Oil Company "Sunset 1" (W1-6, 133, 30) site, just north of Warner Avenue, but I could be wrong. I have an 11 month old tugging on my leg at the moment. You could also zoom in and out of the NETR aerials, and see that they were actually located on what appears to be land or possibly marshy wetland... Not uncommon.

      http://www.historicaerials.com/api/img-server.php?op=fetchHistoricPhotograph&bbox=-118.065553970151,33.7149049385917,-118.059761970151,33.7091289385917&year=1952&stamp=true

      Hope this helps.

    • PWoloszyn
      posted December 16, 2011 by PWoloszynContributor

      Heather has the right idea. Assuming these features are on your current subject site, during this time period in Huntington Beach, you must make sure that these are not related to oil industry activities. CA DOG wells maps must be reviewed and telephone inquiries to the applicable DOG field office should be considered. In additon, USGS maps for this time period, if available, must be reviewed (these can be found online from USGS). I would also check with City of Huntington Beach regulatory agencies to see if there is a specific department with current/historical records specific to the oil industry. If I recall correctly, Long Beach has a department something like that.

      You may also wish to look for better resolution aerial photographs - there are many many resources for the Huntington Beach area. If not within your current schedule/budget estimate, and you cannot get this question resolved by other resources, then consider to make it a follow-up recommendation (assuming this is part of a phase I). 

      The one thing you may have in your favor is that there does not appear to be a lot of obvious oil industry related infrastructure in the nearby area. Maybe those are just little white dot blemishes on the photo .... there are little white dots all over that photo. :)