Chan - 9817777. Certain geologic records provide natural archives of earth system processes and their history (ESH). Regions where these records have been deposited have been particularly effected by rapidly expanding urban growth. Many of the regions subject to urban degradation are likely to be of great societal value for educational, scientific, and practical reasons. The research project would develop, model, and implement strategies for managing interactions between archives of earth-system history and the urban landscape. Ultimately this work would facilitate the development of a geosystem resources management ethic that would parallel existing cultural resources management ethic and foster the protection of important ESH archives. Project activities will identify and described ESH archives in the Wasatch Front in Utah using a GIS database. Spatial information on the dynamics of urban development will be merged with the ESH database to evaluate spatial interactions archives and development. Models will be developed for the Wasatch Front where current urban growth is extensive. Natural archives in this area are likely to be strongly effected by this development and the region provides a ideal model system to investigate urban effects on these important resources.
