From April 3 to 5, approximately 70 people, representing various federal, state, and local agencies, researchers and practitioners, gathered at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2, north of Tucson for the 2012 Southwest Wildfire Hydrology and Hazards Workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to: 1) share the most recent research regarding post-fire hydrology and hazard assessments and mitigation and warning systems; and 2) discuss ideas for bridging funding gaps for research and warning system implementation.

Thirty papers presented at the workshop are available from the Arizona Geological Survey document repository here. The files consist mostly of power point presentations and PDFs. I recommend beginning with the first paper (50 pages) on the list (see here) which gives an overview of the proceedings.

A new tree-ring and fire scar study from SMU and the University of Arizona finds that today’s mega-wild fires in the Southwest are unusual.

The 1,400-year record encompassed the Little Ice Age (1600 to mid 1800s A.D.) and the Medieval Warm Period (800-1300 A.D.) and found that fire incidence was nearly the same under both cool and warm, wet and dry conditions.

Forest policy of fire suppression prevented forests being naturally thinned by relatively small ground fires. The result was a build up of brush which exacerbated fires to produce even larger, more destructive wild fires. The researchers say, “The U.S. would not be experiencing massive large-canopy-killing crown fires today if human activities had not begun to suppress the low-severity surface fires that were so common more than a century ago.”

“This new study is based on a first-of-its-kind analysis that combined fire-scar records and tree-ring data for Ponderosa Pine forests in the southwest United States.”

“Fire scientists know that in ancient forests, frequent fires swept the forest floor, often sparked by lightning. Many of the fires were small, less than a few dozen acres. Other fires may have been quite large, covering tens of thousands of acres before being extinguished naturally. Fuel for the fires included grass, small trees, brush, bark, pine needles and fallen limbs on the ground.”

“The fires cleaned up the understory, kept it very open, and made it resilient to climate changes because even if there was a really severe drought, there weren’t the big explosive fires that burn through the canopy because there were no fuels to take it up there.”  ”The trees had adapted to frequent surface fires, and adult trees didn’t die from massive fire events because the fires burned on the surface and not in the canopy.”

Read the entire press release from SMU here.

This study implies that attempts at “sustainable” forest management and endangered species issues have in fact made our forests more unsustainable.

See also:

Drought in the West
Droughts in the Southwest put in perspective

According to a story in the Arizona Daily Star: “The United States is running out of helium.” However, as pointed out by Arizona State Geologist Lee Allison, Arizona has helium resources that could help fill the gap.

Helium is used in many industrial applications such as in the manufacture of optical fiber and LCD screens, in medical imaging, and in welding.

A report (OFR 03-05) from the Arizona Geological Survey: “Review of helium production and potential in Arizona” is instructive (summary here, full report here):

Some of the richest helium-bearing gas in the world was produced from fields completed specifically for helium in northeastern Arizona in the 1960s and 1970s. All production came from fields in Apache County (Figure 1). Three fields were located in the Holbrook Basin south of the Defiance uplift about 35 miles northeast of Holbrook. One field was located in the Four Corners area north of the Defiance uplift near the small community of Teec Nos Pos. Helium-rich gas was discovered in the Dineh-bi-Keyah oil field on the northeastern flank of the Defiance uplift in the late 1960s but was not produced until 2003. Helium concentrations range from trace amounts up to 10% in the Holbrook Basin and Four Corners area. Both areas have good potential for additional discovery and production of helium. Helium content in gas is generally considered to be of commercial interest when the concentration is above 0.3%. Most of the helium produced in the United States is extracted from natural gas from fields in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The extracted helium is processed into a crude helium product, which varies from 50% to 80% helium, and is ultimately purified to a Grade-A helium product, which is 99.995% or better. Most helium is shipped as a liquid to distribution centers in trucks from where it is sold as bulk liquid helium or gasified and compressed into tanks and small cylinders for delivery to end users.

On the Colorado Plateau in NE Arizona, helium is found in Paleozoic age sediments. According to AZGS, “There appears to be a correlation between … diatremes [volcanic pipes that consist mainly of breccia] and other deep-seated intrusive rocks and the presence and production of helium. Helium is often associated with carbon dioxide which is produced from wells for use in petroleum recovery. Helium is also a byproduct of oil and gas production.

Helium has two potential sources within the earth. First, it could be primordial. i.e., it was part of the original formation of the planet. The deep Precambrian crystalline rocks beneath the sediments on the Colorado Plateau could provide this source.

The second source is radioactive decay of uranium and thorium in the Earth’s crust. The isotopic composition of helium in Arizona indicates that most was derived from radioactive decay.

The Arizona Geological Survey estimates that the potential for additional helium discovery in the Colorado Plateau is very good. In fact, one geologist said the potential in the Four Corners region was “enormous.”

See also:

Petroleum and Natural Gas Potential of the Paradox Basin

Arizona may become a major producer of potash

Gold in Arizona

Old mines of the Tucson Mountains

Oracle Ridge Mine on Mount Lemmon