Download or read book Requiem for the Santa Cruz written by Robert H. Webb and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In prehistoric times, the Santa Cruz River in what is now southern Arizona saw many ebbs, flows, and floods. It flowed on the surface, meandered across the floodplain, and occasionally carved deep channels or arroyos into valley fill. Groundwater was never far from the surface, in places outcropping to feed marshlands or ciénegas. In these wet places, arroyos would heal quickly as the river channel revegetated, the thriving vegetation trapped sediment, and the channel refilled. As readers of Requiem for the Santa Cruz learn, these aridland geomorphic processes also took place in the valley as Tucson grew from mud-walled village to modern metropolis, with one exception: historical water development and channel changes proceeded hand in glove, each taking turns reacting to the other, eventually lowering the water table and killing a unique habitat that can no longer recover or be restored. Authored by an esteemed group of scientists, Requiem for the Santa Cruz thoroughly documents this river—the premier example of historic arroyo cutting during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when large floodflows cut down through unconsolidated valley fill to form deep channels in the major valleys of the American Southwest. Each chapter provides a unique opportunity to chronicle the arroyo legacy, evaluate its causes, and consider its aftermath. Using more than a collective century of observations and collections, the authors reconstruct the circumstances of the river’s entrenchment and the groundwater mining that ultimately killed the marshlands, a veritable mesquite forest, and a birdwatcher's paradise. Today, communities everywhere face this conundrum: do we manage ephemeral rivers through urban areas for flood control, or do we attempt to restore them to some previous state of perennial naturalness? Requiem for the Santa Cruz carefully explores the legacies of channel change, groundwater depletion, flood control, and nascent attempts at river restoration to give a long-term perspective on management of rivers in arid lands. Tied together by authors who have committed their life’s work to the study of aridland rivers, this book offers a touching and scientifically grounded requiem for the Santa Cruz and every southwestern river.
Download or read book Simulation of Ground water Flow and Potential Land Subsidence Upper Santa Cruz Basin Arizona written by R. T. Hanson and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book General Technical Report RM written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Water resources Investigations Report written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Land Use History of the San Rafael Valley Arizona 1540 1960 written by Diana Hadley and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Desert Cities written by Michael F. Logan and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2012-01-12 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phoenix is known as the "Valley of the Sun," while Tucson is referred to as "The Old Pueblo." These nicknames epitomize the difference in the public's perception of each city. Phoenix continues to sprawl as one of America's largest and fastest-growing cities. Tucson has witnessed a slower rate of growth, and has only one quarter of Phoenix's population. This was not always the case. Prior to 1920, Tucson had a larger population. How did two cities, with such close physical proximity and similar natural environments develop so differently?Desert Cities examines the environmental circumstances that led to the starkly divergent growth of these two cities. Michael Logan traces this significant imbalance to two main factors: water resources and cultural differences. Both cities began as agricultural communities. Phoenix had the advantage of a larger water supply, the Salt River, which has four and one half times the volume of Tucson's Santa Cruz River. Because Phoenix had a larger river, it received federal assistance in the early twentieth century for the Salt River project, which provided water storage facilities. Tucson received no federal aid. Moreover, a significant cultural difference existed. Tucson, though it became a U.S. possession in 1853, always had a sizable Hispanic population. Phoenix was settled in the 1870s by Anglo pioneers who brought their visions of landscape development and commerce with them.By examining the factors of watershed, culture, ethnicity, terrain, political favoritism, economic development, and history, Desert Cities offers a comprehensive evaluation that illuminates the causes of growth disparity in two major southwestern cities and provides a model for the study of bi-city resource competition.
Download or read book Proceedings RMRS written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book U S Geological Survey Water supply Paper written by and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Ribbon of Green written by Robert H. Webb and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Woody wetlands constitute a relatively small but extremely important part of the landscape in the southwestern United States. These riparian habitats support more than one-third of the regionÕs vascular plant species, are home to a variety of wildlife, and provide essential havens for dozens of migratory animals. Because of their limited size and disproportionately high biological value, the goal of protecting wetland environments frequently takes priority over nearly all other habitat types. In The Ribbon of Green, hydrologists Robert H. Webb, and Stanley A. Leake and botanist Raymond M. Turner examine the factors that affect the stability of woody riparian vegetation, one of the largest components of riparian areas. Such factors include the diversion of surface water, flood control, and the excessive use of groundwater. Combining repeat photography with historical context and information on species composition, they document more than 140 years of change. Contrary to the common assumption of widespread losses of this type of ecosystem, the authors show that vegetation has increased on many river reaches as a result of flood control, favorable climatic conditions, and large winter floods that encourage ecosystem disturbance, germination, and the establishment of species in newly generated openings. Bringing well-documented and accessible insights to the ecological study of wetlands, this book will influence our perception of change in riparian ecosystems and how riparian restoration is practiced in the Southwest, and it will serve as an important reference in courses on plant ecology, riparian ecology, and ecosystem management.
Download or read book The Lessening Stream written by Michael F. Logan and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2006-09-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newcomers to Tucson know the Santa Cruz River as a dry bed that can become a rampaging flood after heavy rains. Yet until the late nineteenth century, the Santa Cruz was an active watercourse that served the region’s agricultural needs—until a burgeoning industrial society began to tap the river’s underground flow. The Lessening Stream reviews the changing human use of the Santa Cruz River and its aquifer from the earliest human presence in the valley to today. Michael Logan examines the social, cultural, and political history of the Santa Cruz Valley while interpreting the implications of various cultures' impacts on the river and speculating about the future of water in the region. Logan traces river history through three eras—archaic, modern, and postmodern—to capture the human history of the river from early Native American farmers through Spanish missionaries to Anglo settlers. He shows how humans first diverted its surface flow, then learned to pump its aquifer, and today fail to fully understand the river's place in the urban environment. By telling the story of the meandering river—from its origin in southern Arizona through Mexico and the Tucson Basin to its terminus in farmland near Phoenix—Logan links developments throughout the river valley so that a more complete picture of the river's history emerges. He also contemplates the future of the Santa Cruz by confronting the serious problems posed by groundwater pumping in Tucson and addressing the effects of the Central Arizona Project on the river valley. Skillfully interweaving history with hydrology, geology, archaeology, and anthropology, The Lessening Stream makes an important contribution to the environmental history of southern Arizona. It reminds us that, because water will always be the focus for human activity in the desert, we desperately need a more complete understanding of its place in our lives.
Download or read book Dry River written by Ken Lamberton and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poet and writer Alison Deming once noted, ÒIn the desert, one finds the way by tracing the aftermath of water . . . Ó Here, Ken Lamberton finds his way through a lifetime of exploring southern ArizonaÕs Santa Cruz River. This riverÑdry, still, and silent one moment, a thundering torrent of mud the nextÑserves as a reflection of the desert around it: a hint of water on parched sand, a path to redemption across a thirsty landscape. With his latest book, Lamberton takes us on a trek across the land of three nationsÑthe United States, Mexico, and the Tohono OÕodham NationÑas he hikes the riverÕs path from its source and introduces us to people who draw identity from the riverÑdedicated professionals, hardworking locals, and the authorÕs own family. These people each have their own stories of the river and its effect on their lives, and their narratives add immeasurable richness and depth to LambertonÕs own astute observations and picturesque descriptions. Unlike books that detail only the Santa CruzÕs decline, Dry River offers a more balanced, at times even optimistic, view of the river that ignites hope for reclamation and offers a call to action rather than indulging in despair and resignation. At once a fascinating cultural history lesson and an important reminder that learning from the past can help us fix what we have damaged, Dry River is both a story about the amazing complexity of this troubled desert waterway and a celebration of one manÕs lifelong journey with the people and places touched by it.
Download or read book Connecting Mountain Islands and Desert Seas written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An Assessment of the Ecological Impacts of Ground Water Overdraft on Wetlands and Riparian Areas in the United States written by Cheryl Grantham and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Aquatic Ecosystems Symposium written by W. L. Minckley and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book First Conference on Research and Resource Management in Southern Arizona National Park Areas written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Entrenchment and Widening of the Upper San Pedro River Arizona written by Richard Hereford and published by Geological Society of America. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Santa Cruz River Paseo de Las Iglesias Pima County Arizona written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
