An assessment of Environmental, Geological Hazards a Case Study of Palm Springs City

Palm Springs city is a desert city located in the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, California, United States. Geographically the city is located east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles, Northeast of San Diego and west of Phoenix, Arizona. This city is approximately 240 km 2 of land thereby making it the largest city by mass land within the county. Demographically the city has a population of about 44,552 individuals as per the 2010 census. 

Ideally with the hot springs, valleys, stylish hotels and midcentury-modern architecture Palm Springs city is the hub of tourist attraction in the region. In as much as this works positively to the economy of the city, environmentally it is hazardous. Research has it that with the temporary migration of people into the city, more buildings are constructed to be able to accommodate this person. The construction of more buildings in otherwise bare lands leads to accumulation of pressure beneath the earth surface thereby causing an imbalance in environmental geology. 

Environmental geology is a branch of applied science concerned with the practical application of the principles of geology in dealing the day to day environmental problems. Some of these problems include; pollution, urbanization, waste management and natural hazards. The experts in this field explain that an imbalance in the environmental geology is dangerous and can amount to fatal risks such as earthquakes and even flooding. An occurrence of these issues on the other hand always has a negative impact both on the economy and people’s lives. 

The following paper, therefore, is going to list some of the possible natural hazards that are highly likely to produce risks in Palm Springs city, assessing them against their history of property and life loss. It will also estimate the recurrence intervals of the hazards and finally explain the mitigation strategies taken to date. With this knowledge, it will be easy to avoid the dare consequences of nature and even more predict when such hazards might arise. 

Possible natural hazards in Palm Spring City 

Ground shaking- this is an environmental, geological hazard that occurs as a result of earthquakes originating from nearby faults. The mountain and valley characteristic of Palm Springs city makes this hazard occurrence very likely. 

Flooding- this is one of the most common geological hazards as a result of human activities on the environment. The effects of this hazard are always severe resulting in extensive damage to properties and also the loss of life. 

Land subsidence- several studies done on the environment suggests that most European states more so those with evaporating bedrock or significant limestone always experience this complication. Land subsidence always occurs when the underwater dissolves the rocks leading to cavities then an eventual collapse of the land. 

Liquefaction- this is the loss of soil strength from shock, usually causing the soil to become a fluid mass. This hazard is mostly resulted from earthquake shaking and also from human activities such as migrations and ground drilling. 

Assessment of risk associated with ground shaking and flooding 

Ground shaking 

Different studies done by environmental geologist suggests that this geological hazard is major as resulted by human activities. Such activities include drilling of mineral resources. With this activity in place, the land topology is affected. Overtime the pressure forming at the bottom of the land tends to come out inform of a volcano or earthquake resulting in loss of property and life. 

Palm Springs city is no stranger to such hazardous activities. On December 4 1948 saw one such activity popularly known as the 1848 Desert Hot Springs earthquake occurred. Specialists rated this earthquake a magnitude of 6.3 of the Richter scale and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (very strong) (Refer to the table below for other cities earthquake intensities) (Yule and Sieh 108). Despite the strong intensity of this earthquake, there was minimum loss of lives reported. However, it is worth noting that the earthquake leads to adverse economic and social effects. For instance, many people fled the city as in fear of another earthquake. Apart from the migration the destruction of both commercial and residential buildings saw the economy come to a standstill as people were more concerned with saving lives as instead of making money. 

After this occurrence, different studies were conducted to estimate the chances of ground shaking shortly. According to geoscientists, Michele Cooke and Laura Fattaruso of the University of Oregon, the probability of such an occurrence happening is highly unlikely. They disputed the previously conducted studies and observed that "Crustal deformation models that neglect the northeast dip of the San Andreas Fault in the Coachella Valley will not replicate the ground shaking in the region and therefore inaccurately estimate seismic hazard (Fattaruso and Dorsey 79). 

Despite thee confident findings from the findings, it is arguably true that prevention is better than cure. For us to be confident and foresee no future occurrences mitigation strategies ought to be put in place. One such strategy includes having strict government policies. The state of California should see to it that all its mining companies follow the laid down mining guidelines, and a severe punishment exercised to all those who go against the rules (Abbott 438). 

Flooding 

Flooding is another major geological hazard that frequently occurs in Palm Springs city. The potential cause being the strong storm flows from the Whitewater River and thee runoff water from the nearby mountains. Like earthquakes and other phenomenal activities, flooding has hostile effects on the environment. 

Palm Spring city has too has experienced flooding in the past years the common being the September 1976 summer-type storm. Since this storm did not destroy properties in the nearby cities, Palm Springs recorded a great deal of economic loss. Thousands worth of property was destroyed bringing the economy to its knees. Rescue and rehabilitation processes, however, helped bring both the economy and the people of the city back in operations. 

With the flooding threat always at beck and call, mitigation strategies have been adapted to prevent a similar situation from occurring. The adoption of a local effective draining system has been fully embraced throughout the city. Recycling and reusing of waste materials have also been implemented to prevent destroying the environment. 

Conclusion 

The environment is always and has always been a sensitive issue for the survival of man. Despite this important realization, human beings still do not take good care of the environment. With the lessons being taught by nature itself this perception is slowly changing and more drastic measures take to save humanity and nature itself. From the case study of Palm Springs city, I can confidently conclude that the best way of avoiding the hazardous effects of the environment is by taking good care of it. 

With strict state rules we can benefit from the resources of the land without jeopardizing it. Recycling waste materials instead of disposing them in water streams can also help us avoid future floods. Such suggestions if properly implemented will help us avoid flooding and other fatal hazardous effects of the environment. 

Works Cited: 

Abbott. Natural resources . W.C. Brown Publishers, 1996. 

Fattaruso and Dorsey. Sensitivity of uplift patterns to dip of the San Andreas fault in the Coachella Valley, California . Geosphere, 2014. 

Yule and Sieh. Complexities of the San Andreas fault near San Gorgonio Pass: Implications for large earthquakes (2003): 108-115.