4 small quakes in northwest Arizona last week

There were four earthquakes in northwest Arizona between March 7 and 11, ranging in size from magnitude 1.3 to 1.9.

March 7 - M=1.7
March 8  - M=1.3
March 11 - M=1.9
March 11 - M=1.7

This area of the state lies at the southern end of the Intermountain Seismic Belt and earthquakes of this size are common.   [Right, the yellow dots mark the quake epicenters. Credit, USGS]

Negotiations on de-licensing of geologists in Arizona

Our colleagues in a number of the geology professional organizations in Arizona are reporting the potential for a significant change in House Bill 2613, that proposes to de-license geologists and other professionals.

According to an email I got this morning, the bill was approved by the House yesterday but deregulation of geologists was taken out of the bill and a geologist will continue to be included on the Board of Technical Registration. Unfortunately, the bill includes the following sentence (p. 7):

F. A GEOLOGIST MAY ENGAGE IN A GEOLOGICAL PRACTICE WITHOUT BEING REGISTERED UNDER THIS CHAPTER.

There is concern about this language as it is very nebulous and would make it difficult to enforce technical registration of geologists, among other things. This bill now goes to the Senate where it is expected that the sponsors will introduce education and experience requirements for non-registered geologists.

Some in the community that this is the way the system works right now. You don’t need a license  to work for a mining company or be a professor of geology, work for USGS, or consult for private clients,  etc. This bill does not however change the laws relating to the need to be registered to seal certain documents such as Aquifer Protection Permits, UST reports, municipal requirements, etc.

But the difference seems to be that the under the current situation you need to be licensed to offer your services to the public. Does the proposed language addition remove that restriction?

Geological Society of America opposes de-licensing of geologists in Arizona

The President of the Geological Society of America has weighed in on the legislative proposal to end registration of geologists in Arizona.   We received a copy of the letter Dr. Jon Price sent to Rep. Warren Petersen, the prime sponsor of HB2613:


1 March 2016

The Honorable Warren H. Petersen
Chairman, Committee on Commerce
Arizona House of Representatives
1700 West Washington Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85007

SUBJECT: HB 2613 concerning regulatory boards; licensing; revisions

Dear Chairman Petersen:

I write as the President of the Geological Society of America, a scientific society with over 26,000 members, many of whom are citizens of Arizona, to oppose the sections in proposed legislation (HB 2613) that would remove licensure of geologists in Arizona. The Geological Society of America has a position statement that is relevant to your deliberations about this legislation:

“Geoscientists have a fundamental role in the engineering and architectural design, planning, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure systems with respect to their relationship to local geology, hazards and the environmental setting.”

Related to this formal position statement is the following relevant recommendation and footnote:

“Governments at all levels are encouraged to incorporate licensed geologists or geological engineers in the infrastructure design and planning process.*

 *Licensure and certification are different in scope and implementation. Licensure has governmental authority and oversight; certification is conferred by a professional association. Certification may or may not include testing of knowledge.”

A copy of the full position statement is attached. Additionally, please note that there is no national professional organization that both certifies professional geologists (based on their verified educational background and employment history) and requires passage of a competency test as is required with licensure in a state.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
[signed] Jonathan G. Price
President, Geological Society of America

400,000 pages of Arizona mining and mineral resources files now online

Historic one-of-a-kind Arizona mining documents - once filed away in cabinets and boxes - are now online, discoverable, and accessible at the Arizona Geological Survey Mining Data website (http://minedata.azgs.az.gov/).

More than 20,000 files, maps, and reports contributed by dozens of exploration geologists and mining firms are now available.  The website exposes more than 8,500 geologic and engineering reports; 6,800 maps – geologic maps, mining claim maps, maps with assays, plats, underground maps and cross sections; and 5,500 historic photographs dating from the 1890s to 2000.    The reports comprise over 400,000 pages of materials.

Thousands of additional documents and supporting data will be added to the site over the next months and years.

This new online resource is being premiered in time for the 2016 Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Annual Conference and Expo in Phoenix from Feb. 21 – 24. The collection includes major exploration holdings from the Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources, Walter E. and Grover Heinrichs, James Sell, A.F. Budge Mining Ltd., Cambior Exploration, among many others. 

Besides being a repository of Arizona mining history documents, these data can be valuable assets for mining firms and prospectors exploring for mineral resources.  “The mining repository contained historic maps for the Van Deemen Gold project in Mohave County … showed the location of 44 additional drill holes and allowed us to integrate that information with existing drill logs, assays …, “ said Barbara Carroll, part of an exploration team investigating Van Deemen Gold property.  

Since the 1850s, Arizona has been a mecca for prospectors, exploration geologists and mining firms seeking copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, zinc, lead, manganese, tungsten, uranium, and coal, turquoise and semi-precious gems.  Collectively, they left a mile-high paper trail of hundreds of thousands of pages, tens of thousands reports, well logs, letters, photographs, and geologic and mine maps. 

From 1939 to 2010, the mining documents comprising this online repository were donated by exploration geologists and mining firms to the Arizona Mines and Mineral Resources Department.  

The Mining Data site includes an applied search tool filtered by key words, mine names, collections, time and place.  The geographic search tool provides for a radius search of 1 to 100s of miles from a point of interest. 

Funding for this project provided in part by multiple matching grants from the U.S. Geological Survey National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program.

AZGS has an additional ~400,000 pages of reports from other states and countries. we are seeking funding sources to digitize those and make them publicly available.

[modified from the AZGS news release]

What if a volcanic flow dammed the Grand Canyon?

Lava eruptions dammed the Grand Canyon in the geologic past, with the Colorado River backing up until it broke through the eruptive materials.  What if it were to happen again?

Retired USGS volcanologist Wendell Duffield has published a fictional book built around that premise.   "Jiggles, Rolf, and the Remarkable Finale to Frank Stone's Career," is published by iUniverse.com and available through Amazon and commercial book sellers.

Update: who supports keeping geologist registration

The AIPG Arizona Chapter sent out a report this morning on the hearing in the Arizona House Commerce Committee on the bill, HB2613, to de-license geologists, landscape architects and a number of other professions.   Here is an excerpt from their summary:

A total of 14 individuals signed in to support the bill and 366 individuals, mostly Geologists and Landscape Architects, signed in to oppose the measure.  There was additional opposition from the American Council of Engineering Companies of AZ, the Arizona Chapter of Associated General Contractors, the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, the Arizona Planning Association, the Arizona American Institute of Architects and the Arizona Board of Technical Registration. The bill is being pushed by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey as a solution to address the perceived over licensure of professions in Arizona.  The hearing for HB 2613 lasted approximately 2 hours and the committee heard testimony from four Geologists against the bill.  The bill was passed on a party line 5 - 3 vote with the Democratic members dissenting. The bill has two procedural hurdles before being considered by the full Arizona House of Representatives for an up or down vote. During testimony the Governor’s staff noted that the bill needs additional work and assured the interested groups that they will have input in this process. The American Institute of Professional Geologists and the Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists is [sic] leading the opposition to this measure and is [sic] seeking to remove the Geologists from this bill.

The four geologists that spoke were Steve Noel (geologist on the BTOR), Dawn Garcia (Tucson, past AIPG AZ Section President), Tiana Rasmussen (AEG representative), and Barbara Murphy (past national AIPG president).

Governor open to change on geology de-licensing bill

The Arizona House Commerce Committee this week approved HB2613, on a partisan vote of 5-3, to de-license a number of professions including geologists.    The bill is opposed by a broad coalition of professional organizations including the Arizona chapters of American Institute of Professional Geologists and Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists as well as the Arizona Geological Society, Arizona Hydrological Society, American Society of Civil Engineers, and leaders in the professional architects community.    Most of these groups testified against the bill during the hearing.    Mining company Asarco similarly announced their opposition to de-licensing of geologists.   [Photo credit, Asarco]


According to a story in Arizona Capitol Times, Rene Guillen, a policy advisor for Gov. Doug Ducey said after the hearing that "This language is set in clay, not in stone. We are very open to changes. This is an actively evolving proposal. This is far from a final product.”

Geologic map dedication to Larry Fellows

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of presenting a geologic map dedicated to Larry Fellows, my predecessor as Director of AZGS.

The presentation was made during the AIPG Arizona Chapter's annual business meeting at the AZGS offices in Tucson.  Many of the AIPG national board of directors were also in attendance.

The map is "Geologic Map Database for Aggregate Resource Assessment in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area and Surrounding Regions, Arizona," authored by Phil Pearthree, Brian Gootee, Stephen Richard, and Jon Spencer.


The dedication on the map reads:

This map is dedicated to Dr. Larry D. Fellows, first official State Geologist of Arizona, who transformed the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Technology into the modern Arizona Geological Survey, in recognition and appreciation of his contributions to advancing the understanding of the geology of Arizona and its applications for societal benefits.