THE ROLE OF A RIGOROUS GEOINVENTORY OF THE SANTA CRUZ VALLEY NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA, ARIZONA

The footprint of the Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area (SCVNHA Est. 2019) coincides with the heart of southern Arizona’s porphyry copper mineral belt in the Sonoran Desert of the Basin and Range Province. The 10,000 square km (3,300 square miles) SCVNHA encapsulates 20 metallic mining districts - copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc and molybdenum; 2 active copper mines and greenfield copper and Pb-Zn-Ag prospects nearing development; 100s of abandoned and poorly documented mines dotting six mountain ranges; and sparsely populated former mining towns. The burgeoning geoheritage movement has pioneered guidelines and a conceptual framework for characterizing geodiversity and promoting geoconservation (e.g., Brilha 2016). Applying established geoinventory methods to the SCVNHA will ferment efforts to characterize and prioritize sites for preservation and further study.

The Arizona Geological Survey archives include more than 2,000 geologic and mining documents – geologic and engineering reports, maps, cross sections, correspondence, drill hole data, and more - with a footprint in the heritage area. Of these, ~ 1,500 are unpublished files from the Survey’s mine data archive. Examining, characterizing, and cataloging these documents is the critical first step in evaluating the scope and intrinsic value of the SCVNHa geoinventory. Economic indicators for Santa Cruz County, e.g., unemployment, production, and services, are flat or declining. If properly leveraged and promoted, a geoinventory of SCVNHA has the potential to increase tourism and reinvigorate the local economy.