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Century-scale channel change in central Arizona-Phoenix: photographs of selected reaches of the Salt River in different years

Publication date: 2004

Author(s):

  • Martin Roberge, School of Georgraphical Sciences, Arizona State University
  • Niccole Cerveny, School of Georgraphical Sciences, Arizona State University
  • Will Graf, School of Georgraphical Sciences, Arizona State University

Abstract:

Study how the geomorphology of the Salt River channel has changed over the last 100 years and how factors such as the damming of the Salt and Verde Rivers and gravel mining operations have contributed to these changes.

For more than 1,000 years there has been a city on the banks of the Salt and Gila Rivers in the vicinity of what is now Phoenix. The course of natural processes as embodied by the river have interacted with the course of human events as evidenced by the city, each exerting influence on the other. The myriad of tangled connections between the natural and social systems has inevitably altered each of them, so that understanding of one without understanding of the other is incomplete. Within the last 100 years, intensive technological development of the river resources, its space, water, materials, and biotic complements, has radically altered the natural processes and forms of the river. At the same time, the river has influenced development of the city, sometimes as a resource such as recreational space, and sometimes as a hazard such as flooding. This constantly changing fluvial system, integrating natural and artificial influences, is the foundation for the primary riparian ecosystems of the region.

The research questions of this project are: (1) What has been the nature of change in the geomorphic/riparian system, and how have human and natural factors controlled the distribution and intensity of the change over the past century? (2) Why does the river have its present geomorphic/riparian configuration, and how stable is that arrangement from geomorphic, hydrologic, and geographic perspectives? and (3) How does the river respond to ongoing changes in the spatial arrangement of human activities and attending technological impacts?

This project promises improved understanding of the dynamics of dryland rivers, especially how and why they change under the influence of urban development. The research also promises to provide an integrating factor in the CAP LTER effort, because the river integrates the influences of hydrologic, geomorphic, biotic, and human technological systems. The research will provide a repeatable quantitative approach to assessing the changes in the river and as it continues its millennium-long connection between natural and social systems.


Keywords:


Temporal Coverage:

1890-01-01 to 1999-05-01

Geographic Coverage:

Geographic Description: Selected reaches along the Salt River within the Phoenis Metropolitan area
Bounding Coordinates:
Longitude:-112.185292 to -111.838231
Latitude:33.461479 to 33.38251

Contact:

Information Manager, Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, 
Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, POB 875402,TEMPE
 caplter.data@asu.edu

Data Files (4) :

Tabular: 5_keywordmaster_1.csv

Description: keyword master list used by CAP-LTER

Column Description Type Units
keyword_id auto generated number
integer
keyword keyword name
string
domain domain name
string
thesaurus A list of all the subject headings or descriptors used in this database
integer

Tabular: 5_photo_keywords_1.csv

Description: table linking keywords to each photo

Column Description Type Units
photo_id photo id number
integer
keyword_id keyword id number
integer

Tabular: 5_photos_1.csv

Description: metadata for the actual photos

Column Description Type Units
photo_id photo id number
integer
site_id site id number
string
digital_file_name file name of the digital photo
string
date date photos taken
string Format: Month, YYYY
path_to_photo path to photo on server
string
negative_no negative number
string
notes Extra Observations
string
copies number of copies
string
author author of photos
string
credits Those involved in the photograph
string
year year photos were taken
integer Format: YYYY

Tabular: 5_sites_1.csv

Description: locations where the photos were taken

Column Description Type Units
site_id auto generated number for id
string
bank eft or rigth bank of river
string
miles_downstream_from_granite_reef_dam Miles downstream from the granite reef dam
float mile
site_description Description of the site
string

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