The Environmental Legacy of Military Operations

Military geology comprises research and practical efforts directed toward providing geological input for military construction, civil works projects (e.g., dams, navigable waterway maintenance), remediation of polluted military facilities, terrain analysis, sustainability of training lands, mobility prediction, and site characterization activities. Land use sustainability issues, base closures, and heightened levels of environmental awareness by the general public have introduced new challenges for using, maintaining, cleaning, and restoring lands that have served as military installations for decades. In this volume, the legacy of military operations and their impact on the terrain and geology, particularly from an environmental viewpoint, are considered by geologists of diverse lands and backgrounds. This book, a companion volume to Military Geology in War and Peace (Reviews in Engineering Geology, v. 13, 1998), emphasizes current research and applications of engineering geology principles and practice to modern day military problems, many of which are environmental in nature.
Fifty-four years of ephemeral channel response to two years of intense World War II military activity, Camp Iron Mountain, Mojave Desert, California
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Published:January 01, 2001
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CiteCitation
Kyle K. Nichols, Paul R. Bierman, 2001. "Fifty-four years of ephemeral channel response to two years of intense World War II military activity, Camp Iron Mountain, Mojave Desert, California", The Environmental Legacy of Military Operations, Judy Ehlen, Russell S. Harmon
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Abstract
During World War II, U.S. Army personnel lived, trained, and executed mock battles on low gradient piedmonts (~2°) in the Mojave Desert. For example, Camp Iron Mountain (established in 1942 by General George S. Patton, Jr., and used until 1944) housed up to 20000 Army personnel at any specific time. The camp is located on the large alluvial piedmont that extends from the Iron Mountains and is drained by shallow ephemeral channels.
At this camp, we made 18 detailed topographic maps in order to compare drainage networks of six undisturbed control plots and 12 plots disturbed by army activities....