GIS ANALYSIS OF FOSSILS FOUND IN El GOLFO, SONORA, MÉXICO

Abstract

The canyons and badlands in El Golfo, Sonora, México have been found fossiliferous with land mammal fossils from the Irvingtonian age and Calabrian stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. There has not been any extensive GIS analyses performed on the fossil sites in El Golfo. The goal of this project is to build a geodatabase with associated feature classes of various El Golfo paleontological, geological, and physiographical data. Next construct cartographic products to look for patterns of paleofauna distribution and create an online webmap available for the scientific community for visualization and analysis. Finally, geoprocess a DEM to obtain elevation, slope, and aspect to predict fossil locations. For the suitability study GPS data was obtained from previous fossil prospecting and was paired with a digital elevation model to see what elevation, aspect and slope was prevalent. Histograms were then used to identify which values were favorable to use in the study. Finally, ModelBuilder was used to create a map of ideal sites. The results of the analysis identified areas which are more probable for finding fossils. This project is of value for future international researchers and the data will contribute to the natural resource management of fossils in El Golfo.