Hidden Water: Pozos of the Gran Desierto
A collaboration with Benjamin M. Johnson and Hector Zamora
Part of 6&6
The Gran Desierto de Altar of the Sonoran Desert is the largest extent of sand dunes in North America. Once the interior of the Grand Canyon, these grains of sand excavated by the Colorado River and deposited at its delta dominate the landscape for hundreds of kilometers. Miraculously, an array of freshwater springs – pozos – punctuate the sand and salt flats, the only fresh water in any direction.
Photo credit: BTW (camera trap)
For millennia these enigmatic oases have been a confluence point for culture and life, the destination point for the Tohono O’odham salt pilgrimage. Today, foundational questions remain: What is the age and origin of this freshwater? How have these wetlands changed through time? What is their fate?
This transdisciplinary collaboration between a botanist, hydrologist, and artist has sought to answer these questions. Through the avenues of scientific research and artistic inquiry, the team has uncovered new truths about the history of these springs. Rather than recent local recharge from winter rains, the pozos are fed by ancient Colorado River water over 10,000 years old. This collection of views of the pozos sheds light on their complex, interwoven history and gestures towards a future of preservation for this life-giving water.
Pozo del Alamo. Painting: Benjamin M. Johnson.
We were able to match several images of the springs taken by Explorer Carl Lumholtz in 1910. You can see these matches here.
This video titled Time (above, by Benjamin M. Johnon) captured in 2018, is a 24 hour time-lapse of one of the springs visited by Norwegian explorer Carl Sofus LumholtzlBetween 1909 and 1910. In that time, he led an expedition through Sonora Mexico and Southwestern Arizona which led to the publication ‘New trails in Mexico’ in 1912. In it, he details the journey in text and images. Among the photographs are images of freshwater springs, or pozos, that punctuate the Gran Desertio, which sustained the travelers and their horses.
Standing where Lumholtz stood over 100 years earlier, in the same month of January, this video begins and ends with Lumholtz’s original photograph. Though the screwbean mesquite and dunes appear unchanged, the headlights from the nearby highway and the air traffic above frame a land in flux. This piece is about time and its fluidity. About how much can shift in a day, and how much can remain constant over the course of a century.
The partner video is titled Place (above.) It is an exploration of the fauna that rely on these springs. Assembled from camera trap videos selected from hundreds of hours of footage captured by the team’s field cameras positioned at three different pozos in 2016 and 2017, this work not only explores what species visit these springs, but how these species interact with each other and how a place can change over time.
Related Studies and Articles
Zamora, H.A., B.T. Wilder, C.J. Eastoe, J.C. McIntosh, J. Welker, K.W. Flessa. 2019. Evaluation of Groundwater Sources, Flow Paths, and Residence Time of the Gran Desierto Pozos, Sonora, Mexico. Geosciences 9: 378. doi:10.3390/geosciences9090378
Zamora, H.A., C.J. Eastoe, B.T. Wilder, J.C. McIntosh, T. Meixner, K.W. Flessa. 2020. Groundwater Isotopes in the Sonoyta River Watershed, USA-Mexico: Implications for Recharge Sources and Management of the Quitobaquito Springs. Water 12(12):3307. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12123307
Hidden Water: Pozos of the Gran Desierto. Arizona Daily Star.
Stopping For Pozos: A Collaboration Between Ben Wilder and Ben Johnson. MAHB.