Western Region Geology and Geophysics Science Center

Western Region Geology and Geophysics Science Center

Bedrock and Surficial Mapping
USGS Navajo Nation Studies

Bedrock Mapping can provide information for land use planning and urban development, including:

Structural stability of housing foundations
Environmental impacts of landfills/septic systems
Hydrologic Resources
Landscape stability/surface erosion

The Navajo Nation (roughly the size of West Virginia) has the largest land base and reservation population of all tribes in the United States. In addition, half of the population is currently under the age of 23 (Census, 2000). Information is desperately needed for planning urban development and infrastructure such as highways, buildings, bridges, and domestic septic and landfill systems. Basic geologic mapping will provide much needed information for land-use planning.

Caption states:

White Point, White Cone Chapter area of the Navajo Nation. Light colored strata are
sediments of the Upper Bidahochi Formation.

Surficial Mapping provides information for land use planning and urban development including:

Geologic Hazards
Landscape changes in response to land use and climate change
Drought mitigation
Surface Erosion / Vegetation

Proposed research is aimed at providing a geologic framework for the Navajo Nation that will determine the present baseline of landscape conditions, and provide information for land use planning and natural resource management. Work includes mapping surficial geology to evaluate landscape change, and examination of surface processes related to plant ecology, landscape mobility and stability, climatic variability, and ecosystem function.

NAU students Nasbah Ben, and Naomi Yazzie, describing wash sediments near Indian Wells, AZ.

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/navajo/map.htm
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Page Last Modified: August 3, 2009