The USGS Flagstaff Science Campus: From Mars Maps to the Colorado River

From a U.S. Geological Survey fact sheet by Robert J. Hart, R. Greg Vaughan, Kristin McDougall, Todd Wojtowicz and Prasad Thenkenbail, 2017.

The USGS Flagstaff Science Campus in northern Arizona studies the Earth and the solar system across disciplines, with the expertise to detect early environmental change and suggest ways to limit its harm to people. Its surroundings are a natural laboratory:

1. the young volcanoes of the San Francisco Volcanic Field;
2. the seven ecological life zones of the San Francisco Peaks;
3. the long geologic record of the Colorado Plateau and Grand Canyon;
4. the Colorado River and its perennial, ephemeral and intermittent tributaries;
5. countless canyons, mountains, arroyos and plains.

More than 200 scientists, technicians and support staff work there on planetary geology and mapping, biology and ecology, geology, hydrology, and changing climate and landscapes, with state, federal, Tribal, municipal and academic partners, and share their science with the public.

Astrogeology Science Center

Founded in 1963 to help train the astronauts bound for the Moon in geology, the center now does fundamental research across the solar system as part of the international planetary science community — research that helps decide where future missions go and what instruments they carry. It leads the world in the software, cartography, photogrammetry and data infrastructure used to map other worlds, and its maps and tools are essential to NASA, most notably in choosing landing sites for the Mars rovers.

A "selfie" taken by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. NASA.

Southwest Biological Science Center

This center studies land and river biology and ecology in the arid Southwest: native and non-native plants, biological soil crusts, fish and wildlife, and the effects of soil disturbance and moving sediment. One focus is monitoring the Colorado River ecosystem below Glen Canyon Dam in Grand Canyon National Park, with long-term studies of water, fisheries and cultural resources. Its findings help partners such as the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service manage, conserve and restore dryland ecosystems.

Studying biological soil crusts in Arizona (left) and collecting aquatic insects on the Colorado River (right). Jennifer LaVista and Dallana Garcia-Peña, USGS.

Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center

This center applies geology to a wide range of questions in the western United States.

• The lower Colorado River: mapping the geology, rock layers and landforms of the corridor from Hoover Dam to Imperial Dam, whose surface and ground water give millions of Americans water, energy and recreation.
• The Navajo Nation: documenting landscape change as drought and land use increase erosion and sediment movement, including how sand dunes migrate — which can threaten health, housing, farming and transport by changing how much sand and dust is in the air.

Its detailed geologic data give lasting groundwork for studies of hazards, water and land management that inform policy.

Arizona Water Science Center

This center provides essential information on the hydrology of the southern Colorado Plateau, the Transition Zone and the Basin and Range in Arizona: the effects of dams and diversions on the Colorado River and its tributaries, groundwater and surface-water use, and water availability and quality. A network of streamgages tracks the base flow of perennial streams, floods and other extremes, and long-term changes in flow that may come from population growth or climate change. Data from rivers such as the Verde and Colorado and from local and regional aquifers go to the public and to water managers making decisions about sustainable water use in northern Arizona and the Southwest.

Retrieving an instrument that measures temperature, pH, conductance, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and fluorescence on Lake Powell. Dave Anning, USGS.

Western Geographic Science Center

This center researches the environmental and social effects of changing landscapes, and builds tools and models that help local and federal decision-makers use complex science. Its scientists train San Carlos Apache Nation staff in remote sensing with satellite, lidar and drone data for managing their natural resources; have helped the National Park Service understand how climate change may affect wildlife habitat in parks; and have produced 30-metre maps of cropland in places such as Africa from Landsat images, to better understand food and water security.

Surveying for Dall sheep in the alpine tundra of Denali National Park, Alaska. Dennis Dye, USGS.

USGS Library

The campus houses one of only four branches of the USGS library. Its collection on space and planetary research is among the most complete anywhere, alongside a large holding on Earth science and the geology of the Southwest, especially the Grand Canyon. It serves USGS scientists and visiting researchers.

Sources

• Robert J. Hart, R. Greg Vaughan, Kristin McDougall, Todd Wojtowicz and Prasad Thenkenbail, The U.S. Geological Survey Flagstaff Science Campus — Providing Expertise on Planetary Science, Ecology, Water Resources, Geologic Processes, and Human Interactions with the Earth, U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2017–3051. https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20173051 — four photographs recovered from the PDF.
• The fact sheet's photograph of a geologist in the Bouse Formation, credited to the Arizona Geological Survey, is not reproduced.
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.