The Pueblo Colorado Wash is an alluvial aquifer, located in northeastern Arizona on the Navajo Nation Reservation just south of the Hopi Reservation. This important wash is about 20 km long and 2-5 km wide and formed by infilling a canyon as deep as 70 m in Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary rocks.
Alluvial aquifers are generally shallow sand and gravel deposits laid down over time in a river channel or floodplain. The name “alluvial” refers to the loose, un-layered nature of the material – often silt, clay, sand, and gravel which are deposited by running water in and around rivers.
The Pueblo Colorado Wash aquifer is the main source of drinking water for many First Nations Navajo communities and is an integral feature of the cultural landscape. Just south of where this image shows, the Pueblo Colorado Wash merges with the Bidahochi Wash and flows south to join with the Blairs Spring Wash and the Cottonwood Wash to eventually empty into the Little Colorado River.
I lensed this image from an altitude of 3,500 feet above ground while flying between Taos, New Mexico and Flagstaff, Arizona. This is from my project "Where Eagles Fly - The American Wilderness Expedition".
Yehaw!!