New interactive map of Arizona wineries, vineyards, and tasting rooms

Arizona's burgeoning wine industry is now showcased in a new online interactive Wine Trail Map, built here at AZGS as part of a new Arizona Wine Country page on the Arizona Experience website.

Three regions in Arizona are growing grapes for wine: Sonoita in Santa Cruz County, Willcox in Cochise County, and the Verde Valley in Yavapai County. View the Arizona’s Wine Trail Map.

The map shows wineries, vineyards, and tasting rooms in all three areas.    Each location has contact info, description of the wines, history of the facility, directions, and photos.  [Below, screen shot of the Alcantara Vineyards pop-up.  The writeup continues below what is visible in this clip.]

Three small quakes in northwest Arizona last week

Three small earthquakes were recorded widely scattered across northwest Arizona in recent days [right, yellow dots show epicenters of quakes recorded last week. Credit, USGS].

A magnitude 1.6 quake occurred on November 11, about 19 miles east-southeast of Boulder City, NV.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nn00518536#general_summary

A magnitude 1.3 event occurred on November 13 about 21 miles south of Colorado City.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nn00518829#general_summary

A magnitude 1.4 quake occurred on November 15 about 34 miles southeast of Littlefield.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nn00518946#general_summary


There are no reports of any of these being felt.   It's also unlikely that they are linked geologically.

My op-ed on geologic hazards published in Arizona Republic

The Arizona [Phoenix] Republic newspaper published my editorial piece today on geologic hazards in Arizona.  This was prompted by the Black Canyon City earthquakes on November 1 which were felt over much of central Arizona.  The online version  - http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2015/11/14/arizona-earthquakes-geology/75473784/ - has additional photos, videos, and live links to many of the geologic events I reference in the article.  [Right, earth fissure in the Queen Creek area, 2006. Credit, Bryan Macfarlane, AZGS]

I concluded that "We have only to look around us at the dramatic landscapes of Arizona to appreciate the power of natural events that throw up mountains and volcanoes, carve immense canyons and constantly sculpt the land beneath our feet.

The geologic forces that created Arizona also create hazards and risks for us. Recent earthquakes are just one reminder of that."

 

Last weekend I also did a live radio broadcast (KTAR, Phoenix and syndicated statewide) with Rosie Romero, host of "Rosie on the House" talking about earthquakes and landslides.   The show is podcast at https://www.rosieonthehouse.com/radio/what-renters-should-know, in Segments 3 and 4.

Aftershock from Black Canyon City quake felt in area

A magnitude 2.2 earthquake occurred last night at 8:33 p.m. about 13 miles north of Black Canyon City, Arizona, according to Jeri Young who manages the states seismic monitoring network at AZGS. We received reports from ranchers in the area who felt the ground shaking. This is the fourth felt event in the area over the past several days. This is likely an aftershock to the largest event, a magnitude 4.1 quake at 11:29 p.m. last Sunday evening, which was felt over a large area of the state and rattled the entire Phoenix metro area.   



The 2.2 event is the northernmost event on this map. (North is to the top of the map.)

Arizona earthquake funding denied

The USGS turned down our funding request to characterize the most active fault in Arizona to better understand earthquake hazards.   Ironically, the letter informing us that the proposal was denied, arrived just hours after a series of earthquake shook most of the population of the state.

AZGS proposed doing detailed work on the Lake Mary fault in northern Arizona under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program.  The letter from the USGS program manager stated:

Your proposal ... has been recommended for funding by the peer panel that reviewed the proposed research. Unfortunately, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program does not have sufficient resources available to fund your proposal in fY 2016.

Of the 211 proposals reviewed under this Announcement, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will support 39 proposals; will place 39 proposals on hold pending a funding decision in January 2016; will decline to fund 52 proposals due to a lack of sufficient funds; and will decline to fund $1 proposals that were not recommended for funding by the peer panels.

 Arizona suffers from a widespread perception that we don't have earthquakes and thus are low on the priority list for resources to address this hazard and risk to the population.
 

4.6 million Arizonans shaken by quakes

More than 4.6 million Arizonans live in the areas where people felt the ground shaking from last nights earthquakes near Black Canyon City, according to information posted by Ramon  Arrowsmith, ASU geology professor, on his "Active Tectonics" blog -
http://activetectonics.blogspot.com/2015/11/links-and-commentary-on-earthquakes-11.html.  The estimate comes from the USGS.

Ramon's added a number of links to relevant background materials and made the observation that "the mapped active faults to the east (Horseshoe, Carefree, and Sugarloaf--all similar orientation."    We have not yet processed the first motions of the quakes to see what type and direction of movement is associated with the ruptures, and whether they correlate with the rough north-south alignment of the epicenters.

Ramon posted seismograms of the three events as recorded at ASU (right).

 

Reference materials for Black Canyon City quakes

The following online maps and reports are getting lots of attention in the wake of the three earthquakes last night - M3.2,M4.1, & M4.0 - near Black Canyon City, about 45 miles north of Phoenix.   All of these are online for free viewing or downloading.

Pearthree, P.A., 1998, Quaternary Fault Data and map for Arizona. Arizona Geological Survey Open File Report, OFR-98-24, 1 map sheet, map scale 1:750,000, 122 p.  http://repository.azgs.az.gov/uri_gin/azgs/dlio/206

Pearthree, P.A., 2011, Big Chino Fault, Chino Valley, Arizona - Video. Arizona Geological Survey Open File Report, OFR-11-08, 6-minute video. The video is published at the Arizona Geological Survey's azgsweb's YouTube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/azgsweb 

Conway F.M. and Young, J.J, 2012, Arizona is Earthquake Country. Arizona Geological Survey Down to Earth DTE # 21, 44 p.  http://repository.azgs.az.gov/uri_gin/azgs/dlio/1459

Leighty, R.S., 2007, Geologic Map of the Black Canyon City and Squaw Creek Mesa Area, Central Arizona: Arizona Geological Survey Contributed Map CM-07-A, map scale 1:24,000, 46 p. and 1 map sheet.  http://repository.azgs.az.gov/uri_gin/azgs/dlio/1115

Ferguson, Charles A., Haddad, David E., Johnson, Brad J., Guynn, Jerome L., Spencer, Jon E., Eddy, David L., and Clark, Ryan J., 2008, Geologic Map of the east half of the Black Canyon City 7.5’ Quadrangle and the west half of the Squaw Creek Mesa 7.5’ Quadrangle, Maricopa County, Arizona: Arizona Geological Survey Digital Geologic Map DGM-64, version 1.0, map scale 1:24,000, 27 p. and 1 map sheet.  http://repository.azgs.az.gov/uri_gin/azgs/dlio/617