The primary objective of the U.S.-Mexico border project is to provide framework geology through geologic mapping activities to support border-wide science investigations including assessing and evaluating groundwater, energy and mineral, and ecological resources, and identifying and investigating natural hazards, including landslide, earthquake, wildfire, and flood hazards.
Active Project Task: Geologic investigations of the Upper Santa Cruz basin, Arizona
The Santa Cruz River is a bi-national watershed located in southern Arizona, U.S.A., and northern Sonora, Mexico. The headwaters of the Santa Cruz are in San Rafael Valley in Arizona, from where the river flows south into Sonora for 35 miles, and then it crosses back into the U.S. east of Nogales Arizona/Sonora. Much of the Santa Cruz River once had natural perennial flow, but with the influx of settlers in the 1800’s, anthropogenic and environmental stressors contributed to decreased flow and degraded the land and river through logging, overgrazing, mining, and ground-water pumping.
Objectives
The main objectives of the Upper Santa Cruz basin task (Fig. 1) are to carry out new geologic mapping and to compile existing geologic mapping and provide the geologic framework in the study area primarily in support of groundwater investigations. Geologic mapping is the fundamental dataset in understanding ground-water flow in the basin and in defining the geometry and thickness of the basin-fill and alluvial aquifers. The sister cities of Nogales Arizona and Nogales Sonora depend on the aquifers for safe drinking water supplies and other domestic, industrial, and agricultural uses. Anthropogenic and environmental stressors threaten the San Cruz aquifer, including effluent in Nogales Wash from the Nogales urban areas, and toxic metals from past mining activities in the Sonoita Creek and Patagonia areas (fig. 2). Rapid population growth and declining recharge to basin aquifers in the Nogales area has increased the demand for additional groundwater resources. this demand is predicted to escalate in the future due to higher seasonal temperatures, longer droughts, and decreased river baseflow. Geologic framework is also extremely important in studying and detecting concealed mineral deposits, and in understanding flood hazards in Nogales Wash and Santa Cruz River. Geologic framework studies contribute significantly in detecting and predicting the location of illegal tunnels beneath the international border. New mapping in the Upper Santa Cruz basin will also form the basis for evaluating landscape and habitat dynamics in this part of the Borderlands.
Our geologic mapping approach depends heavily upon existing geologic maps and reports in the region. New mapping will focus on basin-fill deposits of Quaternary and Tertiary age, which form the Santa Cruz aquifer. Studies will also focus on mapping and evaluating faults and fracture systems to better understand their control of ground-water flow, aquifer recharge and discharge, and contaminant transport.
Our project collaborates directly with Arizona Department of Water Resources, the City of Nogales Utilities Department, and the USGS Arizona Water Science Center in modelling, model calibration, assessment, and water resource evaluation in the basin. Our project was contacted by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Border Patrol who requested our geologic expertise to help detect and predict the location of illegal tunnels beneath the border, and DHS used our geologic map of the Rio Rico and Nogales quadrangles in building geologic models along the border.
Our project has developed a 3-D geologic model of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5' quadrangles to investigate groundwater resources in the upper Santa Cruz basin. Analysis of the model resulted in defining the geometry and thickness of the basin fill and alluvial aquifers, which provide water to Nogales and surrounding communities. We presented a poster at the 2016 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, describing the three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5' quadrangles, Upper Santa Cruz Basin, southern Arizona (Page. W.R., Bultman, M., Gray, F., Menges, C., VanSistine, P., and Pantea, M., 2016, Three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5' quadrangles, Upper Santa Cruz Basin, southern Arizona: GSA Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 7).
Completed Project Tasks: Big Bend National Park Geologic Map and U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative (Geology Component)
Big Bend National Park Geologic Map
Big Bend National Park is the 8th largest national park within the contiguous United States and hosts about 350,000 visitors annually. The Park contains a variety of world-class volcanic, structural, geomorphological, and paleontological sites. Mapping by Maxwell and others (Maxwell, R.A., Lonsdale, J.T., Hazzard, R.T., and Wilson, J.A., 1967, Geologic map of the Big Bend National Park, Brewster County, Texas: University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology Publication 6711, scale 1:62,500) synthesized earlier work, but updated mapping was required to investigate unresolved issues related to volcanic and surficial statigraphy as well as the volcanic, plutonic, and tectonic evolution of the park.
An updated map of the park provides the National Park Service with a digital geologic map dataset to address resource management issues. These issues include land use planning, surface and ground-water quality and quantity, wildlife and plant inventories and monitoring, habitat sustainability, and ecosystem and antiquities preservation.
Mapping of Big Bend National Park was a cooperative effort between federal, state and academic agencies, including the National Park Service, Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, and numerous universities. The project was funded by the National Park Service and the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program.
U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative (Geology Component)
The vast U.S.-Mexico Borderlands are a unique and extremely fragile region extending 1,952 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The Borderlands encompass a diverse array of physical settings and habitats that include wetlands, deserts, rangeland, mountains, and forests which are unique in terms of their water, mineral, and biological resources. Rapid population growth and economic development and land-use changes are pushing the limits of environmental sustainability and the quality of human and wildlife health in the Borderlands. To allow for continued growth while protecting natural resources, habitats, and fostering a high quality of life, it is imperative for U.S. and Mexican citizens, governmental agencies, and local decision makers to focus collaboratively on systematic, interdisciplinary scientific studies, such as those carried out for the U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative, to address the critical Borderlands issues. The main product of the U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative is USGS Circular 1380, United States–Mexican Borderlands—Facing tomorrow’s challenges through USGS science. The Circular is the first comprehensive science plan for the borderlands region, highlighting current and past USGS research that has helped advance our understanding of critical border issues.
The Border Environmental Health project acquired, evaluated analyzed, and provided earth, biologic, and human health resources data for the Borderlands within a GIS framework using an Internet map service (IMS) to further our understanding of possible linkages between the physical environment and public health issues. The IMS provides information to researchers, planners, managers, and citizens to make informed decisions concerning human health issues in the Borderlands region, and IMS users may incorporate most available data layers into their own geospatial analyses.
The main Geologic Discipline compiled bi-national geologic maps and integrated data sets of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands and investigated potential linkages between geology and human and wildlife health. The study area for the work cited in the project publication below was in southern Texas and northern Mexico (fig. 4).
Geologic map of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5’ quadrangles, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Geologic map of Big Bend National Park, Texas
Geologic map of the Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park, Texas
Below are publications associated with this project.
Bedrock morphology and structure, upper Santa Cruz Basin, south-central Arizona, with transient electromagnetic survey data
Hydrogeologic investigations of the Miocene Nogales Formation in the Nogales Area, Upper Santa Cruz Basin, Arizona
Challenge theme 6: Natural hazard risks in the Borderlands: Chapter 8 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
The Borderlands and climate change: Chapter 10 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
Challenge theme 7: Information support for management of border security and environmental protection: Chapter 9 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
An opportunity and an imperative: Chapter 11 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
Challenge theme 5: Current and future needs of energy and mineral resources in the Borderlands and the effects of their development: Chapter 7 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
Preliminary geologic map of the Laredo, Crystal City–Eagle Pass, San Antonio, and Del Rio 1° x 2° quadrangles, Texas, and the Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, and Nueva Rosita 1° x 2° quadrangles, Mexico
Geological, geochemical, and geophysical studies by the U.S. Geological Survey in Big Bend National Park, Texas
Proceedings of a USGS Workshop on Facing Tomorrow's Challenges Along the U.S.-Mexico Border - Monitoring, Modeling, and Forecasting Change Within the Arizona-Sonora Transboundary Watersheds
Interdisciplinary science in support of environmental health along the United States-Mexico border
- Overview
The primary objective of the U.S.-Mexico border project is to provide framework geology through geologic mapping activities to support border-wide science investigations including assessing and evaluating groundwater, energy and mineral, and ecological resources, and identifying and investigating natural hazards, including landslide, earthquake, wildfire, and flood hazards.
Active Project Task: Geologic investigations of the Upper Santa Cruz basin, Arizona
The Santa Cruz River is a bi-national watershed located in southern Arizona, U.S.A., and northern Sonora, Mexico. The headwaters of the Santa Cruz are in San Rafael Valley in Arizona, from where the river flows south into Sonora for 35 miles, and then it crosses back into the U.S. east of Nogales Arizona/Sonora. Much of the Santa Cruz River once had natural perennial flow, but with the influx of settlers in the 1800’s, anthropogenic and environmental stressors contributed to decreased flow and degraded the land and river through logging, overgrazing, mining, and ground-water pumping.
Objectives
The main objectives of the Upper Santa Cruz basin task (Fig. 1) are to carry out new geologic mapping and to compile existing geologic mapping and provide the geologic framework in the study area primarily in support of groundwater investigations. Geologic mapping is the fundamental dataset in understanding ground-water flow in the basin and in defining the geometry and thickness of the basin-fill and alluvial aquifers. The sister cities of Nogales Arizona and Nogales Sonora depend on the aquifers for safe drinking water supplies and other domestic, industrial, and agricultural uses. Anthropogenic and environmental stressors threaten the San Cruz aquifer, including effluent in Nogales Wash from the Nogales urban areas, and toxic metals from past mining activities in the Sonoita Creek and Patagonia areas (fig. 2). Rapid population growth and declining recharge to basin aquifers in the Nogales area has increased the demand for additional groundwater resources. this demand is predicted to escalate in the future due to higher seasonal temperatures, longer droughts, and decreased river baseflow. Geologic framework is also extremely important in studying and detecting concealed mineral deposits, and in understanding flood hazards in Nogales Wash and Santa Cruz River. Geologic framework studies contribute significantly in detecting and predicting the location of illegal tunnels beneath the international border. New mapping in the Upper Santa Cruz basin will also form the basis for evaluating landscape and habitat dynamics in this part of the Borderlands.
Our geologic mapping approach depends heavily upon existing geologic maps and reports in the region. New mapping will focus on basin-fill deposits of Quaternary and Tertiary age, which form the Santa Cruz aquifer. Studies will also focus on mapping and evaluating faults and fracture systems to better understand their control of ground-water flow, aquifer recharge and discharge, and contaminant transport.
Figure 1: The upper Santa Cruz basin study area in Arizona extends over the Sells, Fort Huachuca, Nogales and Atacosa 1:100,000-scale quadrangles. To gain a better understanding of the basin, we began the project by conducting detailed geologic mapping of the Rio Rico and Nogales (Arizona) 1:24,000-scale quadrangles (outlined in red). Through this mapping, we significantly re-defined the stratigraphy of the Miocene Nogales Formation, and have characterized the formation by analyzing samples for geochronology, porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, physical properties, and fabric analyses based on petrographic studies. Results of our mapping the Rio Rico and Nogales quadrangles indicate that parts of the Nogales Formation may provide new, deeper sources of groundwater for the Nogales area. We conducted integrated geophysical studies in the quadrangles by analyzing airborne transient electromagnetic data, high resolution aeromagnetic data, gravity data, and magnetic susceptibility data collected within the study area. These data were critical in defining the subsurface basin geometry, hydrostratigraphic units, and the location of concealed faults which may control groundwater flow. The major product for the overall project will be a regional-scale geologic map of the Arizona part of the upper Santa Cruz basin (shown in white). Our project collaborates directly with Arizona Department of Water Resources, the City of Nogales Utilities Department, and the USGS Arizona Water Science Center in modelling, model calibration, assessment, and water resource evaluation in the basin. Our project was contacted by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Border Patrol who requested our geologic expertise to help detect and predict the location of illegal tunnels beneath the border, and DHS used our geologic map of the Rio Rico and Nogales quadrangles in building geologic models along the border.
Figure 2: Preliminary compilation of existing geologic mapping in study area: red and pink colors generally represent Cenozoic volcanic and intrusive rocks; green, purple, and blue colors are Mesozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary, volcanic, and intrusive rocks; yellow colors are Quaternary and Tertiary basin-fill deposits; and tan and brown colors are Proterozoic igneous rocks. Figure 3: Rapid population growth in the Rio Rico and Nogales areas has increased the demand for groundwater resources in the upper Santa Cruz basin. New homes in Rio Rico with San Cayetano Mountains in background. (Credit: William R. Page, Public domain.) Our project has developed a 3-D geologic model of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5' quadrangles to investigate groundwater resources in the upper Santa Cruz basin. Analysis of the model resulted in defining the geometry and thickness of the basin fill and alluvial aquifers, which provide water to Nogales and surrounding communities. We presented a poster at the 2016 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, describing the three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5' quadrangles, Upper Santa Cruz Basin, southern Arizona (Page. W.R., Bultman, M., Gray, F., Menges, C., VanSistine, P., and Pantea, M., 2016, Three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5' quadrangles, Upper Santa Cruz Basin, southern Arizona: GSA Abstracts with Programs, v. 48, no. 7).
Figure 4. The movie previews a 3-D hydrogeologic model of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5’quadrangles Arizona, included in USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5062 (Page and others, 2018). The model was built in EarthVision (Dynamic Graphics, Inc.) 3D modeling software. The Rio Rico and Nogales quadrangles model contains 3D Viewer software enabling viewing geologic data interactively in 3D space and the ability to sequentially slice through and rotate the modeled geology to help explain complexities in the basin aquifers and basement. Completed Project Tasks: Big Bend National Park Geologic Map and U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative (Geology Component)
Big Bend National Park Geologic Map
Geologic Map of Big Bend National Park, Texas, winner of 2012 Shoemaker Award for Communication in the Graphic Product category. Big Bend National Park is the 8th largest national park within the contiguous United States and hosts about 350,000 visitors annually. The Park contains a variety of world-class volcanic, structural, geomorphological, and paleontological sites. Mapping by Maxwell and others (Maxwell, R.A., Lonsdale, J.T., Hazzard, R.T., and Wilson, J.A., 1967, Geologic map of the Big Bend National Park, Brewster County, Texas: University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology Publication 6711, scale 1:62,500) synthesized earlier work, but updated mapping was required to investigate unresolved issues related to volcanic and surficial statigraphy as well as the volcanic, plutonic, and tectonic evolution of the park.
An updated map of the park provides the National Park Service with a digital geologic map dataset to address resource management issues. These issues include land use planning, surface and ground-water quality and quantity, wildlife and plant inventories and monitoring, habitat sustainability, and ecosystem and antiquities preservation.
Mapping of Big Bend National Park was a cooperative effort between federal, state and academic agencies, including the National Park Service, Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, and numerous universities. The project was funded by the National Park Service and the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program.
U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative (Geology Component)
The vast U.S.-Mexico Borderlands are a unique and extremely fragile region extending 1,952 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The Borderlands encompass a diverse array of physical settings and habitats that include wetlands, deserts, rangeland, mountains, and forests which are unique in terms of their water, mineral, and biological resources. Rapid population growth and economic development and land-use changes are pushing the limits of environmental sustainability and the quality of human and wildlife health in the Borderlands. To allow for continued growth while protecting natural resources, habitats, and fostering a high quality of life, it is imperative for U.S. and Mexican citizens, governmental agencies, and local decision makers to focus collaboratively on systematic, interdisciplinary scientific studies, such as those carried out for the U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative, to address the critical Borderlands issues. The main product of the U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative is USGS Circular 1380, United States–Mexican Borderlands—Facing tomorrow’s challenges through USGS science. The Circular is the first comprehensive science plan for the borderlands region, highlighting current and past USGS research that has helped advance our understanding of critical border issues.
The Border Environmental Health project acquired, evaluated analyzed, and provided earth, biologic, and human health resources data for the Borderlands within a GIS framework using an Internet map service (IMS) to further our understanding of possible linkages between the physical environment and public health issues. The IMS provides information to researchers, planners, managers, and citizens to make informed decisions concerning human health issues in the Borderlands region, and IMS users may incorporate most available data layers into their own geospatial analyses.
The main Geologic Discipline compiled bi-national geologic maps and integrated data sets of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands and investigated potential linkages between geology and human and wildlife health. The study area for the work cited in the project publication below was in southern Texas and northern Mexico (fig. 4).
Figure 4: Bi-national geologic map from USGS Open File Report 2009-1015 (Page and others, 2009) in southern Texas and northern Mexico. To better understand and begin to analyze the relationships between naturally occurring geologic materials, anthropogenic processes, and human and wildlife health, point data layers were added to the map showing the location of active and inactive mines, mineral prospect/occurrences, smelters, coal-burning and gas-fired power plants, and oil and gas wells. - Maps
Geologic map of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5’ quadrangles, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
The Rio Rico and Nogales (Arizona) 1:24,000-scale quadrangles are located in the Basin and Range Province of southern Arizona, and the southern edge of the map is the international border with Sonora, Mexico. The major urban area is Nogales, a bi-national city known as “the gateway to Mexico.” Rocks exposed in the map area range in age from Jurassic through Quaternary. Major physiographic, geolGeologic map of Big Bend National Park, Texas
The purpose of this map is to provide the National Park Service and the public with an updated digital geologic map of Big Bend National Park (BBNP). The geologic map report of Maxwell and others (1967) provides a fully comprehensive account of the important volcanic, structural, geomorphological, and paleontological features that define BBNP. However, the map is on a geographically distorted planGeologic map of the Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park, Texas
The Chisos Mountains form some of the highest ground in Texas, second only to Guadalupe Peak near the New Mexico border. The northern half of the range is mostly above 5,500 feet with Emory Peak the high point at 7,825 feet. The mountains are centrally located in Big Bend National Park between Panther Junction and Punta de la Sierra. Big Bend National Park lies near the diffuse border between the - Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Bedrock morphology and structure, upper Santa Cruz Basin, south-central Arizona, with transient electromagnetic survey data
The upper Santa Cruz Basin is an important groundwater basin containing the regional aquifer for the city of Nogales, Arizona. This report provides data and interpretations of data aimed at better understanding the bedrock morphology and structure of the upper Santa Cruz Basin study area which encompasses the Rio Rico and Nogales 1:24,000-scale U.S. Geological Survey quadrangles. Data used in thisHydrogeologic investigations of the Miocene Nogales Formation in the Nogales Area, Upper Santa Cruz Basin, Arizona
Hydrogeologic investigations were conducted to evaluate the groundwater resource potential for the Miocene Nogales Formation in the Nogales area, southern Arizona. Results indicate that parts of the formation may provide new, deeper sources of groundwater for the area. Geologic mapping determined the hydrogeologic framework of the formation by defining lithologic, mineralogic, and stratigraphic chChallenge theme 6: Natural hazard risks in the Borderlands: Chapter 8 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
Natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides and debris flows, wildfires, hurricanes, and intense storm-induced flash floods threaten communities to varying degrees all along the United States–Mexican border. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collaborates with Federal, State, and local agencies to minimize the effects of natural hazards by providing timely, unbiased science information to emergThe Borderlands and climate change: Chapter 10 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
The prediction of global climate change in response to both natural forces and human activity is one of the defining issues of our times. The unprecedented observational capacity of modern earth-orbiting satellites coupled with the development of robust computational representations (models) of the Earth’s weather and climate systems afford us the opportunity to observe and investigate how these sChallenge theme 7: Information support for management of border security and environmental protection: Chapter 9 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
Historically, international borders were located far from the major political and economic capitals of their countries and rarely received adequate planning or infrastructure development. Today, as a result of global economics and increased movement of goods between nations, border regions play a much greater role in commerce, tourism, and transportation. For example, Mexico is the second largestAn opportunity and an imperative: Chapter 11 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
Along the nearly 3,200 kilometers (almost 2,000 miles) of the United States–Mexican border, we are witnessing the expression of the challenges of the 21st century. The Borderlands have become a microcosm for the entire United States and Mexico; the issues faced in that region are felt throughout both nations—water availability and quality, ecosystem health, natural resource needs, safety from natuChallenge theme 5: Current and future needs of energy and mineral resources in the Borderlands and the effects of their development: Chapter 7 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science
Exploration and extraction activities related to energy and mineral resources in the Borderlands—such as coal-fired power plants, offshore drilling, and mining—can create issues that have potentially major economic and environmental implications. Resource assessments and development projects, environmental studies, and other related evaluations help to understand some of these issues, such as powePreliminary geologic map of the Laredo, Crystal City–Eagle Pass, San Antonio, and Del Rio 1° x 2° quadrangles, Texas, and the Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, and Nueva Rosita 1° x 2° quadrangles, Mexico
The purpose of this map is to provide an integrated, bi-national geologic map dataset for display and analyses on an Arc Internet Map Service (IMS) dedicated to environmental health studies in the United States-Mexico border region. The IMS web site was designed by the US-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative project and collaborators, and the IMS and project web site address is http://borGeological, geochemical, and geophysical studies by the U.S. Geological Survey in Big Bend National Park, Texas
Big Bend National Park (BBNP), Tex., covers 801,163 acres (3,242 km2) and was established in 1944 through a transfer of land from the State of Texas to the United States. The park is located along a 118-mile (190-km) stretch of the Rio Grande at the United States-Mexico border. The park is in the Chihuahuan Desert, an ecosystem with high mountain ranges and basin environments containing a wide varProceedings of a USGS Workshop on Facing Tomorrow's Challenges Along the U.S.-Mexico Border - Monitoring, Modeling, and Forecasting Change Within the Arizona-Sonora Transboundary Watersheds
INTRODUCTION TO THE WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS Competition for water resources, habitats, and urban areas in the Borderlands has become an international concern. In the United States, Department of Interior Bureaus, Native American Tribes, and other State and Federal partners rely on the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to provide unbiased science and leadership in the Borderlands region. Consequently,Interdisciplinary science in support of environmental health along the United States-Mexico border
The diverse, fragile ecosystems of the borderlands have been pushed beyond sustainable levels due to rapid population growth and land-use changes. Water shortages and pollution, poor air quality, increased soil salinities, residual pesticides and heavy metal contaminants are some of the many stressors that are degrading the quality of life in the borderlands. The relationship between human health