The AZGS and the Arizona Dept. of Real Estate issued new Earth fissure maps for the Picacho, Heaton and Wintersburg study areas today. We will also publish a revised map for the Luke area. ADRE hosts the Earth Fissure Viewer which offers interactive digital maps while AZGS will host pdfs and GIS shape files.
The Picacho area has by far the most fissures of any area in the state, but the extent of the fissuring is surprising. Project manager Todd Shipman says the area contains about 2/3 of all the fissures in the state. The map includes 44,712 meters of continuous fissures (approximately 28 miles); 23,958 meters of discontinuous fissures (15 miles) and 128,851 meters of reported, unconfirmed fissures (over 80 miles). [right, aerial photo of fissure that crosses I-10 in the Picacho basin]