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Research about New Mexico
Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including New Mexico.
Water Resources Data, New Mexico, Water Year 1993
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Hydrogeologic framework and preliminary simulation of ground-water flow in the Mimbres Basin, southwestern New Mexico
The bolson-fill aquifer, the major water-yielding unit in the Mimbres Basin, southwestern New Mexico, ranges in thickness from 0 to about 3,700 feet. Recharge to the bolson-fill aquifer occurs by infiltration of ephemeral streams that cross the basin margin, infiltration from precipitation and streamflow, ground-water underflow from adjacent basins, and infiltration of springflow from adjacent bedrock units within the basin. Ground water generally flows southward from the northern highland areas of the basin. Ground-water discharge consists of pumpage from wells, transpiration by plants, outflow to playas and springs in the Los Muertos Basin in Mexico, discharge to the Mimbres River, and ground-water flow to the Mesilla Basin near Mason Draw. Before 1910, ground-water recharge and discharge were approximately equal; by 1975, however, about 75 percent of the 146,000 acre-feet withdrawn annually was ground water, most of it from aquifer storage. The transmissivity of the bolson-fill aquifer determined from aquifer tests and specific-capacity data ranges from 10 to 50,000 feet squared per day. Hydraulic conductivity, calculated from saturated thickness and transmissivity, ranges from 0.03 to 800 feet per day, with median values of about 18 feet per day in the Deming area and 6 feet per day elsewhere. Reported storage-coefficient values representing confined parts of the aquifer range from 0.00036 to 0.0036, and those representing unconfined parts of the aquifer range from 0.02 to 0.24. Water quality in the north and central parts of the Mimbres Basin is suitable for most uses. Due to its large salinity and alkalinity, some of the ground water in the south and southeastern areas of the bolson-fill aquifer may not be suitable for irrigation or domestic use. A preliminary two-dimensional digital model was constructed to evaluate ground-water flow in the bolson-fill aquifer. The model was divided into zones of uniform hydraulic conductivity corresponding to the major structural elements of the basin. For simulation purposes, hydraulic conductivity in the central part of the basin ranged from 2.2 to 4.4 feet per day, whereas locally along the edges of the aquifer less certain values ranged from 0.003 to 62 feet per day Analysis of the results of this predevelopment model indicated that use of the mountain-front recharge method overestimates total recharge and that evapotranspiration is substantial. The simulated total inflow was about 55 percent of that estimated in a water budget for the Mimbres Basin. Ground-water development between 1930 and 1985 was simulated using storage-coefficient values of 0.01 and 0.02 for the Gila Conglomerate, 0.04 to 0.17 for bolson-fill deposits, and 0.001 for bolson fill capped with lacustrine clay. The simulated transient water budget indicated that most of the water pumped by 1985 came from storage, and lesser but substantial amounts came from reductions in evapotranspiration.
Hydrogeology and aquifer test of the San Andres-Glorieta aquifer on the southwest part of the Zuni Indian Reservation, Cibola County, New Mexico
A large-yield aquifer test of the confined San Andres-Glorieta aquifer was conducted in 1988 to estimate aquifer properties and evaluate the potential effects of large-scale development on the aquifer by pumping from a cave-fracture system on the southwest part of the Zuni Indian Reservation. The San Andres-Glorieta aquifer underlies the reservation and in much of the area is the only aquifer capable of yielding large volumes of water. Two observation wells were drilled 1.2 and 2.7 miles from the pumped well. Water-level responses were recorded at distances from 179 feet to about 5 miles from the pumped well at these and other wells and at Rainbow Spring. Water levels declined at all observation wells and Rainbow Spring in response to pumping for more than 10 days at about 2,580 gallons per minute. Drawdown after 9 days varied from about 4 feet at the pumped well to about 0.2 foot at the most distant observation well and Rainbow Spring. If pumping continued at the average rate as the first 9 days of the test, 2,540 gallons per minute, and aquifer response remained constant, Rainbow Spring would have nearly 2 feet of drawdown after 30 years, and probably would be accompanied by a reduction in springflow of about 65 percent, to about 210 gallons per minute. Water quality remained generally unchanged throughout the aquifer test and is practically the same as that of samples collected at well ZS-1 in 1984 and Rainbow Spring in 1979.
Geohydrology of the San Agustin Basin, Alamosa Creek Basin upstream from Monticello Box, and upper Gila Basin in parts of Catron, Socorro, and Sierra counties, New Mexico
The San Agustin Basin, the Alamosa Creek Basin upstream from Monticello Box, and the upper Gila Basin are located in parts of Catron, Socorro, and Sierra Counties in west-central New Mexico. Four major aquifers are within the study area: (1) the San Agustin bolson-fill aquifer; (2) the Datil aquifer; (3) the shallow upland aquifers; and (4) the Alamosa Creek shallow aquifer. Two minor aquifers, the Baca Formation at the northern edge of the San Agustin Basin and a basalt to basaltic andesite unit overlying the Datil Group, yield some water to wells. Sixty-three vertical electrical- resistivity soundings were used to estimate the depth to bedrock and the saline/freshwater interface in the San Agustin bolson-fill aquifer. The dissolved-solids concentration of ground-water samples ranged from 74 to 23,500 milligrams per liter. The dominant cations varied; the dominant anion of freshwater generally was bicarbonate. Point-of-discharge temperatures of well or spring water that exceed 21 degrees Celsius are associated with faults in the areas of shallow or exposed bedrock. The dissolved-solids concentration of this warm water ranged from 120 to 1,200 milligrams per liter.
Surface cover maps of the Rio Grande floodplain from Velarde to Elephant Butte Reservoir, New Mexico
No abstract available.
Water-quality data from the San Juan and Chaco Rivers and selected alluvial aquifers, San Juan County, New Mexico
No abstract available.
Water Resources Data, New Mexico, Water Year 1992
Water-resources data for the 1992 water year for New Mexico consist of records of discharge and water quality of streams; stage, contents and water quality of lake and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for 185 gaging stations; stage and contents for lakes and reservoirs; water quality for 64 gaging stations and 37 wells; and water levels at 126 observation wells. Also included are. 110 crest-stage partial-recor, stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not involved in the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. Also, 1 seepage investigation is published this year. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in New Mexico.
Ground-water-level fluctuations in the Cochiti Dam-Peña Blanca area, Sandoval County, New Mexico, 1976-89
No abstract available.
Water resources of Taos County, New Mexico
In Taos County, ground water generally is unconfined and moves toward the Rio Grande or perennial streams. Water quality is good except in some areas where water has high values of specific conductance and hardness and contains high concentrations of dissolved solids and fluoride. Most wells are completed in alluvial sediments of Quaternary and Tertiary age in the Costilla Plains. A few wells are completed in basalt of the Taos Plateau and in alluvium of stream channels in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Depths to water in wells range from less than 1 to 1,080 feet below land surface. Well yields range from 1 to 3,000 gallons per minute. Water levels in wells in Sunshine Valley dropped 5 to 50 feet between 1955 and 1970. Ground-water irrigation has since declined and water levels have risen. Surface-water records show the county is a net producer of water. The average discharge gained in the Rio Grande as it flows through the county was 271,700 acre-feet per year for water years 1931-89. The highest mean monthly discharge occurs in May or June due to snowmelt runoff. Water quality ranges from good in upstream reaches to fair in lower reaches. Surface water was the source for 93 percent of water withdrawn in 1990, but ground water was used for all public supply, domestic, and industrial purposes. The largest water use is irrigation. About 28,500 acres were irrigated in 1990; alfalfa, native pasture, and planted pasture accounted for 91 percent of this acreage.
The Pajarito Plateau: A bibliography
This bibliography is the result of two initially independent projects. As the consulting archaeologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Charlie R. Steen collected entries at the suggestion of the staff of the Environmental Surveillance Group of the Health, Safety, and Environmental Division, HSE-8. The primary purpose was to aid the staff in evaluating cultural resources on LANL lands. In addition to works that related to the archaeology and history of the area, Steen included notations of a few books and articles in other fields such as geology and natural history. It was hoped that they also would be of value to other organizations and to students of past human activities on the Pajarito Plateau. At the same time, the National Park Service (NPS) was planning a major survey of Bandelier National Monument (BNM). As part of this plan, the author was asked to prepare a background document that described research previously carried out in the area, including an annotated bibliography. Although the survey would be limited to the park boundaries, the larger Pajarito Plateau is a more logical study area from physiographic, environmental, and cultural perspectives; hence the focus was on this larger region. Mathien (1986) also included some references to natural resources studies, particularly those initiated by NPS within Bandelier National Monument. Both bibliographies were made available to Colleen Olinger and Beverly Larson of the Health and Environmental Services Group at Los Alamos. They realized that while neither was complete, each included entries missing from the other. Larson suggested the two bibliographies be combined. (At this time, Craig Allen was studying the landscape of the Jemez Mountains [Allen 1984c, 1989]. His investigations included much detailed information on natural resource studies and were added in 1991 and 1992.) To limit the scope of their work, Steen and Mathien had chosen their parameter: the Pajarito Plateau. Geographically, the Pajarito Plateau is described as the high tableland that lies between the Jemez Mountains on the west and the Rio Grande on the east. From north to south, it extends from the Chama Valley to La Cañada de Cochiti (Hewett 1906:14)(Figure 1). Because human activity rarely stops at such definite boundaries, major ethnographic studies of Tewa (San Ildefonso and Santa Clara) and Keres (Cochiti) linguistic groups are included. (Even though most of the historic pueblos occupied by the Tewa and Keres are not located on the Pajarito Plateau, oral traditions and archaeological data suggest that these groups once occupied sites on the plateau.) Towa studies are not included because Steen believed Towa ancestors were not involved in major cultural developments of the Pajarito Plateau. In addition, a bibliography of the Jemez area (home of Towa people) has been prepared by Michael Elliott (1982) and included with his nomination of large Pueblo sites near Jemez Springs to the National Register of Historic Places that is on file at the Museum of New Mexico, Laboratory of Anthropology, in Santa Fe. Both Steen and Mathien included references to geographically and historically related material that does not focus on the Pajarito Plateau but, nonetheless, is important to understanding the area's archaeology and physical environment, for example, lithic resources available from Cerro Pedernal or in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Use of riparian revegetation sites by terrestrial vertebrates in the Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico
No abstract available.
Mineral and energy resources of the BLM Roswell Resource Area, east-central New Mexico
The sedimentary formations of the Roswell Resource Area have significant mineral and energy resources. Some of the pre-Pennsylvanian sequences in the Northwestern Shelf of the Permian Basin are oil and gas reservoirs, and Pennsylvanian rocks in Tucumcari basin are reservoirs of oil and gas as well as source rocks for oil and gas in Triassic rocks. Pre-Permian rocks also contain minor deposits of uranium and vanadium, limestone, and associated gases. Hydrocarbon reservoirs in Permian rocks include associated gases such as carbon dioxide, helium, and nitrogen. Permian rocks are mineralized adjacent to the Lincoln County porphyry belt, and include deposits of copper, uranium, manganese, iron, polymetallic veins, and Mississippi-valley-type (MVT) lead-zinc. Industrial minerals in Permian rocks include fluorite, barite, potash, halite, polyhalite, gypsum, anhydrite, sulfur, limestone, dolomite, brine deposits (iodine and bromine), aggregate (sand), and dimension stone. Doubly terminated quartz crystals, called "Pecos diamonds" and collected as mineral specimens, occur in Permian rocks along the Pecos River. Mesozoic sedimentary rocks are hosts for copper, uranium, and small quantities of gold-silver-tellurium veins, as well as significant deposits of oil and gas, COa, asphalt, coal, and dimension stone. Mesozoic rocks contain limited amounts of limestone, gypsum, petrified wood, dinosaur remains, and clays. Tertiary rocks host ore deposits commonly associated with intrusive rocks, including platinum group elements, iron skarns, manganese, uranium and vanadium, molybdenum, polymetallic vein deposits, gold-silver- tellurium veins, and thorium-rare earth veins. Museum-quality quartz crystals in Lincoln County were formed in association with intrusive rocks in the Lincoln County porphyry belt. Industrial minerals in Tertiary rocks include fluorite, vein- and bedded-barite, caliche, limestone, and aggregate. Tertiary and Quaternary sediments host important placer deposits of gold and titanium, and minor silver, uranium occurrences, as well as important industrial commodities, including caliche, limestone and dolomite, and aggregate (sand). Quaternary basalt contains sub-ore-grade uranium, scoria, and clay deposits.
Digital geologic map of the Roswell Resource Area, New Mexico: Command files disk
No abstract available.
Water Resources Data, New Mexico, Water Year 1991
Water-resources data for the 1991 water year for New Mexico consist of records of discharge and water quality of streams; stage, contents and water quality of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for-183 gaging stations; stage and contents for 25 lakes and reservoirs; water quality for 66 gaging stations and 54 wells; and water. levels at 116 observation wells. Also included are 110 crest-stage partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites, not involved in the systematic data collection program, and are published as miscellaneous measurements. Also, 1 seepage investigation is published this year. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in New Mexico.