Agricultural Damage and Recovery Notes Regarding the El Mayor - Cucapah Earthquake of April 4, 2010
Abstract
The Salton Trough in North America is the location of three large agricultural regions; the Mexicali Valley in Baja California, and the Imperial and Coachella Valleys in California. Damage from earthquakes in the region to irrigation and drainage systems and to farmlands has been reported in several regional earthquakes starting with the 1940 El Centro earthquake. The moment magnitude 7.2 El Mayor - Cucapah earthquake resulted in significant damage to irrigation and drainage canals in the Mexicali Valley and the loss of over 200 square kilometers of crops. The Imperial Valley suffered limited damage to canals and irrigation and drainage systems and farms. Recovery in the area is underway and in some areas may take a number of years due to not only deformation of farmlands and canals but also salting of farmlands from groundwater laden with salts and in some areas sulfur. Aftershocks have deformed locally regarded farmlands or canals and drains impeding water delivery, drainage of farmlands and the return of farmlands to productivity. Our presentation will focus on agricultural related impacts of the earthquake and aftershocks to the local and regional economy and discuss some of the efforts underway to recover from the earthquake and respond to and mitigate agricultural infrastructure damage from aftershocks.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AGUFM.T53B2138A
- Keywords:
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- 7212 SEISMOLOGY / Earthquake ground motions and engineering seismology