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New 1.8-Mile-Long Fissure Discovered In Pinal County

A new fissure has been discovered south of Arizona City in Pinal County. Mike Conway with the Arizona Geological Survey says it’s about 1.8 miles long. That’s almost a mile longer than other fissures in the same area.

"There are people with four-wheel-drive vehicles and people driving quads, and they’re the people most likely that would encounter that fissure. So there’s not a lot of activity there, but there’s sufficient activity that we’re a little concerned somebody could drive into that fissure and drop 25 to 30 feet," Conway said.

Conway says there are places where the fissure is 10 feet across and likely started developing between March 2013 and December 2014. He says as groundwater is pumped out of the Earth, the basin floor begins to subside and that’s exactly what caused this fissure.

Senior field correspondent Bridget Dowd has a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.