SINKING ARIZONA 1992 - Fissures Change Arizona's Landscape Oct. 1998 - "Tatlow said the Department of Water Resources will begin a subsidence monitoring program in the Phoenix area by the end of the year. ... the aquifer below will never be able to hold as much water as it used to, because the sediments have been permanently compacted.... Sun City is dropping 2.8 centimeters per year, and the area around Luke Air Force Base is subsiding 2 to 3 centimeters a year." 2.54 centimeters equal one inch. Feb. 1999 - "Cracks Developing in Camelot Canyon" May 1999 - "Large fissures, caused by the settling of land and pumping of underground water, crisscross the area. It is dangerous for a person to climb into a cracked area to remove debris...." Oct. 1999 - "More fissures open near Queen Creek" Feb. 2006 - Debate Will Begin On More Disclosure About Land Fissures June 2007 - Arizona Geological Survey - Earth Fissure Planning Maps PR July 2007 - Horse dies in fissure after storm - "people didn't tell us" July 2007 - Gap in Queen Creek road spurs study of threat to streets Aug. 2007 - Earth fissure near Queen Creek is filled in Oct. 2007 - East Valley builders on shaky ground Jan. 2008 - 25-foot sinkhole ties up Gilbert intersection Feb. 2008 - Residents of sinking community seeking answers Mar. 2008 - Groundwater pumping causes more land cracks than thought Apr. 2008 - Detailed fissures map released - www.azmap.org/fissures May 2008 - A.J. community filing suit over sinking homes June 2008 - Val Vista Drive in south Gilbert closed again July 2008 - Property assessment shows effects of fissures

What hidden dangers lurk under land you're buying? Oct. 8, 2005 Regarding "Fissures generating anxiety" (Republic, Oct. 1): While a map from 1996 may be out of date concerning locations of earth fissures and land subsidence in the southeast Valley, this issue should be of no surprise. Geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (including my father) have consistently studied, written reports and produced maps of this area documenting the existence of fissures and subsidence since the 1960s. Local, county and state officials are aware of this issue. As a teenager in the mid-1970s, I can remember going out in the field with my dad to see a fissure near the San Tans. Even back then, it had been filled in with rubble and debris by a bulldozer, as if to conceal it. Officials need to do more to help inform future homeowners just what might be hiding under the land they may be buying. - Jan Laney, Phoenix e pluribus unum photos taken - June 1997 at the NW corner of the Meridian and Baseline intersection near the Central Arizona Project (CAP)