New earth fissure activity documented

Joe Cook, who runs the AZGS Earth Fissure Mapping Program  met with Scott Neely with Terracon in the Luke earth fissure study area this past week to view some trenches Terracon is digging across mapped fissures/fissure trends in preparation for the Northern Parkway construction. The pair also walked a portion of the fissure study area near the Morton Salt facility south of Northern Ave and noted many new collapse features along existing fissures as well as new fresh collapse that was not previously mapped. Both Scott and Ken

Fergason with AMEC had reported a new fissure south of an existing mapped fissure trend. This turned out to be a series of small potholes along a very linear arrangement of shrubs. Joe mapped in all the new features before heading across the valley to the Apache Junction Study area.

Ken had reported a new fissure near a mapped fissure in the Ironwood and Guadalupe Rd area. One of the largest ironwood trees I have ever seen was growing at one end of the fissure. Both of these fissures are in the general vicinity of the Central Arizona Project but don't extend close enough to be a concern at this time. 

Joe mapped in several decent-sized fissures parallel to mapped fissures on the southern portion of the  Baseline and Meridian fissure complex. This area is still very active, swallows a lot of water from captured drainages, and has deep open cracks at the bottom in many areas. The northern portion across baseline has extended closer to Baseline Rd beneath the fence and younger fissures have opened parallel to existing mapped trends.  A lot of this appears to have occurred late last fall with the September rains. One last observation is the deep potholes on the south side of Baseline appear to correspond with a cracked zone of Baseline Rd. The road in this area is otherwise pretty crack-free. Some cracks extend from the road to the dirt adjacent to the road. 

[thanks to Joe Cook for providing this narrative]