Earth Fissures in the News
Geologic Hazards
Arizona Geologic Survey Releases Earth Fissure Maps
Yesterday the Arizona Geologic Survey (AZGS) released the first two of their 1:12,000 series earth fissure maps to the general public. The mapping program, perhaps the first of its kind in the country, came about after an earth fissures opened up in 2005 near Queen Creek, AZ, southeast of metropolitan Phoenix received much media attention. As a result, the Arizona Legislature passed House Bill 2639 of the 2006 Legislative Session that tasked the AZGS with mapping earth fissures and providing the data to the State Land Department for eventual delivery to property owners in Arizona. More after the break. (At left, the Apache Junction study area map, AZGS)
Geologic Hazards
Arizona Geological Survey Publishes Earth Fissure Viewer
A new Google Maps based interface for viewing earth fissures in four Arizona counties has been launched by the AZGS. Earth fissures are a serious geologic hazard in Arizona where they have been known to […]
Geologic Hazards
Earth Fissures on Phoenix PBS Affiliate “Horizon” Show
Phoenix Arizona’s PBS affiliate, KAET-TV, Channel 8 had a segment on Earth Fissures on their May 30th episode of "Horizons". They interviewed one resident of the Chandler Heights area that has problems with earth fissures on her property. They also interviewed Todd Shippman with the AZGS in the field. Todd is the project manager for the AZGS’ earth fissure mapping program. The bulk of the program was an interview with Lee Allison, the head of the AZGS and the Arizona State Geologist. He explains the earth fissure mapping program, and the planning scale maps that were just released this week on the AZGS Website. Click through for embedded video of the segment from the Horizon Website. You can also download it as a podcast if you wish. (Photo courtesy of NCS Consultants, LLC.)