Az department posts maps of land fissures
Source: Tuscon Citizen, by B. POOLE
May 01, 2008
The State Land Department on Wednesday posted the first detailed maps of cracks in the Arizona earth caused by excessive groundwater pumping.
The maps, which were produced by the Arizona Geological Survey, are the first in a series of 23 that will be published by 2011, according to a Geological Survey news release.
"Our first line of defense against the hazards of earth fissures is knowing where they are," said Lee Allison, state geological survey director.
The fissures, which are usually a few inches across, can extend hundreds of feet below the surface. They are caused when the ground settles over areas of excessive well pumping.
The cracks - most of which are in Pinal County but which also occur in Maricopa, Pima and Cochise counties - are found only in Arizona, Texas, southern Utah, New Mexico and Nevada.
The fissures have destroyed homes near Las Vegas, and last year a horse in Pinal County died when a monsoon storm quickly turned a small crack in a corral into a rushing gully.
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