Database of Ciénega Locations in Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico
Dates
Publication Date
2021-12-16
Start Date
1983
End Date
2021-10-12
Citation
Hendrickson, D.A., Minckley, T.A., Middleton, B.R. and Norman, L.M., 2021, Database of ciénega locations in southwestern United States and northern Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P91FM1K1.
Summary
Ciénegas, as defined here, are wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions associated with groundwater or lotic components that ideally result in perennial waters on temporal scales of decades to centuries. Ciénegas are typically no lower than 0 m, and higher than 2000 m, rarely lower but sometimes higher elevation localities occur. Ciénegas are typified by significant differences in flora and fauna relative to the greater terrestrial conditions in the region in which it is located. Ciénegas are freshwater to brackish North American wetlands associated with fluvial systems of arid/semi-arid areas of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. Once extensively utilized by the region's indigenous human cultures, early European explorers [...]
Summary
Ciénegas, as defined here, are wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions associated with groundwater or lotic components that ideally result in perennial waters on temporal scales of decades to centuries. Ciénegas are typically no lower than 0 m, and higher than 2000 m, rarely lower but sometimes higher elevation localities occur. Ciénegas are typified by significant differences in flora and fauna relative to the greater terrestrial conditions in the region in which it is located. Ciénegas are freshwater to brackish North American wetlands associated with fluvial systems of arid/semi-arid areas of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. Once extensively utilized by the region's indigenous human cultures, early European explorers and settlers, the extent of these aquatic riparian communities has dramatically decreased from historic conditions and the community is now considered imperiled in North America. This dataset provides location information and some limited attributes of ciénegas in the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. There is no information as to the size of the ciénega and other important attributes.
The data were collected to provide an up-to-date inventory of ciénegas in the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. This database is meant to bring attention to ciénegas and ultimately prompt more research and restoration activities on these rare and vulnerable ecosystems. The point data are not meant to provide the precise location (of, say the centroid of the ciénega), but rather depict a general location. These points would, therefore, not be ideal as target information for a supervised classification of remotely sensed data.
