Item — HN Reader

Outside of sci-fi and some very arid environments, rapid extreme heating of large quantities of soil will produce big steam explosions. Which might spread some relatively unheated, termite-laden clods of earth over a wide area.

In a different context (limited quantities of soil with extremely heavy chemical contamination), I have seen serious proposals to drive heavy electrodes deep into the soil, gradually apply very large currents (avoiding steam explosions), and let the heat & electricity destroy the contaminants in-place.

2 comments

What about pressure? Would it be possible to apply either a violent pressure wave, or some sort of compaction technology to basically crush everything 30m down?

If the termites could be living ~30m down...pressure at that depth, just from the weight of the overlying soil, is already about what you'd experience under a 300m-tall skyscraper. So suitable crushing equipment might be rather large and expensive. A violent-enough pressure wave would require a very large explosion...let's just say that senior political leaders would have to sign off, and those folks would smell too much potential for career-ending scandal and ridicule to do so.

How about microwaves? If the soil is moist, perhaps microwaving the area could sterilize it thermally. Slower rate of heating should prevent explosions.