Academic literature on the topic 'Santa Catalina Mountains'

Fuel accumulation rate and total soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur following prescribed fires were studied. Three prescribed fires were conducted in S.E. Arizona ponderosa pine stands during the summers of 1979, 1980, and 1981. Samples of forest floor and larger diameter fuel and soil from the surface 1.5 inches and 1.5 to 3.0 inch layers were collected in the summer of 1981. Forest floor and total fuel accumulation averaged 5.4 to 6.7 and 6.3 to 8.9 tons/acre/year, respectively. Total nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur in the surface three inches of mineral soil were not significantly affected by burning. Soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur content averaged 0.21%, 344 ppm and 150 ppm, respectively, in the surface 1.5 inches and 0.11%, 285 ppm and 74 ppm, respectively, in the 1.5 to 3.0 inch layer.

Sabino Canyon is an important source of recreation for the Tucson Area. Human activities near the creek have caused pollution problems. This was especially noticeable in the Summerhaven area, where during 1970's a malfunctioning sewage treatment plant was discharging into Sabino Creek. During 1982, a new treatment facility was constructed with zero discharge into the creek. In the Lower Sabin° Creek recreation area, no sampling has been done since then. Thus, this research was designed to assess the extent of stream's pollution and to identify possible water pollution sources and to investigate the stream discharge-water quality relationship for Sabin° Creek. Selected water quality parameters were used as pollution indicators. Among the considered parameters were: Cl, NO₃, PO₄, SO₄, Ca, TDS, and pH. Chemical Hydrographs were used as a tool to interpret the collected data. The results of the study indicated no major pollution sources. In addition, the creek's water was suitable for most beneficial uses. The results also indicated that concentrations of most chemical constituents were diluted by the increase of stream flow. Sulphate and chloride ions didn't show strong dilution with increasing flow and this behavior was thought to be related to autumn flushing, or atmospheric inputs. Finally, holidays and weekend recreational activities did not seem to have an immediate impact on the creek's water quality.

Mountain sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicana) in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness (PRW), Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona have abandoned historic habitat and now occupy 44 km². I used univariate analyses to quantify differences of physiographic and vegetational variables between abandoned habitat and habitat that is still used by mountain sheep. A discriminant function model characterized the magnitude of the differences between the 2 habitats. Habitat that supports mountain sheep has less human disturbance and is more open with more side oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), red brome (Bromus rubens), brittle bush (Encelia farinosa), and forb cover, but less ground cover, bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri), and turpentine bush (Haplopappus laricifolius) than habitat that was abandoned by mountain sheep. Fire is important in still used habitat because it reduces tall plants that obstruct mountain sheep vision. Human disturbances should be minimized in mountain sheep habitat.

A moderately intense, broadcast, understory, prescribed burn in 3 previously unburned ponderosa pine stands in southeastern Arizona felled or consumed 50% of all ponderosa pine snags ≥ 15 cm dbh. Large moderately decayed snags were most susceptible to burning. Large snags in the early stages of decay were preferred as nest sites by cavity-nesting birds. Numbers of live woody plants were reduced by 40%, mortality was greatest among shrubs and small trees. Canopy volume was reduced by 19%, the greatest impact was below 5 m. No species of cavity-nesting birds, or birds that associated with understory vegetation disappeared in the first season after burning, but 3 species decreased, and 1 species increased in abundance. The minor impacts of a single treatment with broadcast understory burning on bird populations will be ephemeral, but a repeated burns could have greater, and more lasting effects on the avian community.

The Catalina complex, like the other Cordilleran metamorphic core complexes, experienced an episode of profound middle Tertiary extension that resulted in low-angle mylonite zones and detachment faults. However, the northern and eastern parts of the complex escaped significant middle Tertiary deformation and preserved a record of the complicated Mesozoic and early Cenozoic tectonic history that preceded middle Tertiary extension. A detailed examination of the northeastern Santa Catalina Mountains and a reconnaissance study of the rest of the Catalina complex reveal evidence for Cretaceous-earliest Tertiary (Laramide) thrusting and an enigmatic episode of early Tertiary (Eocene?) magmatic intrusion, metamorphism and ductile deformation. Laramide thrusting is represented by the Edgar and Youtcy thrusts. The Edgar thrust, a southwest(?)-vergent bedding-subparallel fault that repeats 300-500 m of section, is intruded by the 64 Ma Leatherwood Quartz Diorite. The northeast(?)-vergent Youtcy thrust repeats at least 1300 m of section and is intruded by the Eocene(?) Wilderness Granite. The early Tertiary orogenic event is represented in the northeastern Santa Catalina Mountains by the Eocene(?) Wilderness Granite, its metamorphic aureole, widespread low-grade metamorphism, bedding-subparallel foliations, east-trending lineations, and several bedding-subparallel stretching(?) faults that omit strata. Numerous kinematic indicators show that the ductile deformation involved top-to-the-east shear. Cross-cutting relationships between the foliation, the faults and the Wilderness Granite and coincident gradients in strain magnitude, metamorphic grade, rock ductility, and fault offset demonstrate that intrusion, metamorphism, ductile flow and faulting were all contemporaneous and that the heat source for the metamorphism and ductile flow was the Wilderness Granite. Evidence for the early Tertiary event extends into the rest of the Catalina complex but lineation trends and shear directions vary considerably from region to region. Furthermore, abundant steep east-striking foliations within the Wilderness Granite batholith appear to have formed during this event. The tectonic significance of the early Tertiary orogenic episode is unclear. Three hypotheses may explain the wide variety of early Tertiary structures: forceful diapiric intrusion of the Wilderness Granite, late-stage Laramide thrusting imposed on a tilted section, or early-stage crustal extension.

<p> The quantification and prediction of soil properties is fundamental to further understanding the Critical Zone (CZ). In this study we aim to quantify and predict soil properties within a forested catchment, Marshall Gulch, AZ. Input layers of soil depth (modeled), slope, Saga wetness index, remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and national agriculture imagery program (NAIP) bands 3/2 were determined to account for 95% of landscape variance and used as model predictors. Target variables including soil depth (cm), carbon (kg/m²), clay (%), Na flux (kg/m²), pH, and strain are predicted using multivariate linear step-wise regression models. Our results show strong correlations of soil properties with the drainage systems in the MG catchment. We observe deeper soils, higher clay content, higher carbon content, and more Na loss within the drainages of the catchment in contrast to the adjacent slopes and ridgelines.</p>

Aquifers in the arid alluvial basins of the southwestern U.S. are recharged predominantly by infiltration from streams within the basins and by water entering along the margins of the basins from surrounding mountains (mountain -front recharge). The Tucson Basin of Southeastern Arizona is such a basin. The Santa Catalina Mountains form the northern boundary of this basin and receive more than twice as much precipitation (about 70 cm/yr) as the basin does (about 30 cm/yr). In this study environmental isotopes were employed to investigate the migration of precipitation basinward through joints and fractures. Water samples were obtained from springs in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Stable isotopes and thermonuclear bomb-produced tritium enabled qualitative characterizations of flow paths and flow velocities. Stable isotopic measurements fail to display a direct altitude effect. Tritium values indicate that although a few springs discharge pre-bomb water, most springs discharge waters from the 1960's or later.

<p> Involving a diversity of stakeholders in conservation issues is an important and growing trend in wildlife management. My thesis provides a case study of a collaborative conservation effort in which representatives from sportsmen&rsquo;s and environmental groups came together to advise the Arizona Game and Fish Department in a project to restore bighorn sheep to the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Arizona. These stakeholders formed the Catalina Bighorn Sheep Restoration Advisory Committee to help address the human dimension factors of the project, build public support, and guide project planning and implementation. In addition to participant observation and document analysis informing my study, I surveyed 31 stakeholders both on and off the Advisory Committee and interviewed key Advisory Committee members. All stakeholders were in favor of collaborative conservation. However, there were objections to this particular Advisory Committee for this particular project. Although stakeholders had a diversity of values that informed their beliefs, the Advisory Committee members who took the time to understand the science involved, develop mutual trust and respect for others at the table, and held a strong commitment to the project goals were able to shift deeply held, values-based beliefs and find consensus on contentious project elements. This included agreeing on a mountain lion management plan that called for the killing of mountain lions that preyed on the newly reintroduced bighorn sheep. Stakeholders not on the Advisory Committee did not come to agreement on most elements of the project. This study contributes to the understanding of collaborative conservation efforts by providing a case study of a controversial wildlife conservation project that involved diverse stakeholders who worked together, successfully found consensus, and achieved their main goal of getting bighorn sheep back on the mountain.</p><p>