Pic 6: Michael Darin explores a large desert rock fig tree (Ficus petiolaris palmeri) in the Sierra El Aguaje.Įarlier that week, all three had participated in a half-day excursion with dozens of other NGEN Summit attendees to the nearby Nacapule canyon, another research locale of Bogan.
Pic 5: A large rock fig tree takes advantage of the freshwater that seeps out of a major fault zone. Pic 4: A freshwater spring and palm cluster are located along a fault zone (where the cliff meets the vegetated slope). After they drew the fault line on their map, Bogan pointed out that the largest known desert rock fig tree ( Ficus petiolaris palmeri 35 m-diameter canopy) is located directly on the mapped fault (Pics 5 & 6). They noticed one location where the fault was contouring along the side of a mountain, directly through a cluster of large palm trees (Pic 4). Bennett and Darin, having conducted over a decade of combined geologic and tectonic research in Sonora, hypothesized that these faults are likely related to the rifting and faulting that formed the Gulf of California basin. They made observations about faults, where cliffs of these thick lava flows appeared to be truncated and juxtaposed against a dissimilar rock type (Pic 3). Bennett and Darin, in typical geologist form, lagged behind, distracted by the tilted Miocene-age volcanic rocks –– lava flows that erupted from a chain of volcanoes ~15 million years ago (Pic 2). Leading the traverse, Bogan spoke of the spectacular freshwater oasis and aquatic taxa (Pic 1) the group should expect at the canyon terminus. Freshwater spring is same as next photograph. Pic 3: Schematic oblique diagram of faults and subsurface water flow paths in the Sierra El Aguaje. Pic 2: A curious ecologist (Michael Bogan) and geologist (Michael Darin) hiking in the Sierra El Aguaje. Pic 1: Freshwater oases in the Sierra El Aguaje are host to extraordinary diversity and endemism of aquatic species.
The destination was a tropical palm oasis that Bogan has been conducting repeat surveys since 2004 to document the biodiversity of these well-hidden groundwater-fed aquatic habitats. The three scientists woke early, used satellite imagery to scout the landscape and the approach, and commenced on a 3 km hike into the Sierra El Aguaje. Immediately following the October 2015 Summit of the NGEN Sonoran Desert Researchers, Bogan, Darin, and Bennett were set to explore Cañón La Navaja and its tropical freshwater oasis –– Darin and Bennett for the very first time Bogan through a new lens. “We could all hike there the day after tomorrow”.
“You know, at one of these freshwater springs I’ve been studying, there are these striations on the rocks and the steep-walled canyon comes to an abrupt end, as if the Earth is opening up, “ aquatic ecologist, Michael Bogan told geologists Scott Bennett and Michael Darin. Author: Wilder Published on: MaPublished in: Notes from the Field Scott Bennett, Michael Bogan, Michael Darin
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