Our world is being transformed as population increases, the climate and environment change, and the needs for water, agricultural, energy, and mineral resources increase. To address societal issues related to this transformation, the Central Region Earth Surface Processes (ESP) Team conducts research on past climatic and environmental changes, the geologic framework of natural resources and hazards, and the interactions among geologic, biologic, and hydrologic systems at and near the Earth’s surface. This work supports land and resource management decisions, the search for new sources of key materials, and the assessment of the environmental effects of climate change and human activities.

Research Activities

The role of the Earth Surface Processes team is to use integrated studies of geology, biology, hydrology, and spatial analysis to understand the Earth's past and present changes. The research activities and products of the ESP team have applications to a wide range of public policy concerns related to managing public lands, assessing the influence of climate change on the environment (past, present and future), defining the geologic framework for groundwater-related problems, and identifying geologic and environmental hazards.

Highlights

Using various methods of sample analysis as well as geologic mapping, ESP Team scientists are developing a picture of the late Quaternary paleohydrology of the Mojave Desert. These studies, when coupled with those of nearby marine records, show how on-land paleoenvironmental conditions responded to changes in marine circulation as well as to positions of continental glaciers. These reconstructions will enable better forecasting of future effects of global climate change on a marginal desert region that is under increasing population pressure.

Other recent additions to the web site:

• 2008 ESP Team Review (4 Mb PDF)
• Surficial geology of the Mesa Verde National Park area
• Eolian History of North America
• Geologic Mapping Along the I-70 Corridor in Western Colorado

• Eastern Region ESP Team
• Western Region ESP Team
• Earth Surface Dynamics Program
• National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program
• National Geologic Map Database
• Geologic Names Lexicon
• State Geological Surveys