The Western Geographic Science Center conducts research to help communities make decisions about the interaction between people and their environment. We conduct geographic research on the environmental and societal consequences of a changing landscape.

Our projects analyze human / environmental interactions spatially and temporally. Our work is collaborative, involving many partners and linking many different natural science and social science disciplines. Our work is concentrated in the 9 states of the USGS Western Region and is conducted on local and regional scales.

Find out more about our science by following the links on the left.

Transport of Biological Nutrients by Wind in an Eroding Cold Desert:

USGS physical scientist Joel Sankey recently published a study titled "Transport of biologically important nutrients by wind in an eroding cold desert" in the journal Aeolian Research. Erosion and deposition of soil after large wildfires has become an increasingly important environmental issue throughout the western United States, as wildfires have increased in recent years. Findings in a northern Great Basin wildfire study area indicate that post-fire erosion resulted in an addition of biologically important nutrients to downwind rangelands. Wind transport of nutrients is likely very important in rangeland environments because it could contribute to pulses of resource availability that might, for example, affect plant species differently depending on their phenology, and nutrient-and water-use requirements. For more information, visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2012.01.003 or contact Joel Sankey at 520-670-6671, x 232.