U.S.-Mexico Border Geologic Framework
Geologic map of the Rio Rico and Nogales 7.5’ quadrangles
3D hydrogeologic framework modelling
Geologic Map of Big Bend National Park
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.
Completed 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 (Figs. 1 and 2) 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.
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 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.
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.
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).
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.
Completed 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 (Figs. 1 and 2) 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.
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 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.
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.
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).