Cenozoic deposits of southeastern New Mexico and an outline of the history of evaporite dissolution

George O. Bachman

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70232221

Cenozoic deposits of southeastern New Mexico and an outline of the history of evaporite dissolution

George O. Bachman

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Sedimentary records of Cenozoic history in southeastern New Mexico begin with the Ogallala Formation of Miocene and Pliocene age. Later records include the Gatuna Formation of early or middle Pleistocene age, Mescalero caliche, an informal term, of middle Pleistocene age, and fluvial deposits of late Pleistocene age but there are many gaps in the record. The modern landscape is the result of erosion and deposition in climates that have ranged from semihumid to semiarid as well as dissolution of soluble rocks in Permian formations in the subsurface. This dissolution may have begun as early as Jurassic time and has continued intermittently to the present.

Explore related subjects

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 31.332301° to 37.000232° latitude; -109.050173° to -103.001964° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

George O. Bachman. 1976. Cenozoic deposits of southeastern New Mexico and an outline of the history of evaporite dissolution. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70232221

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS1978

Natural radioactivity in geothermal waters, Alhambra Hot Springs and nearby areas, Jefferson County, Montana

Radioactive hot springs issue from a fault zone in crystalline rock of the Boulder batholith at Alhambra, Jefferson County, in southwestern Montana. The discharge contains high concentrations of radon, and the gross alpha activity and the concentration of adium-226 exceed maximum levels recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. Part of the discharge is diverted for space heating, bathing, and domestic use. The radioactive thermal waters at measured temperatures of about 60°C are of the sodium bicarbonate type and saturated with respect to calcium carbonate. Radium-226 in the rock and on fractured surfaces or coprecipitated with calcium carbonate probably is the principal source of radon that is dissolved in the thermal water and discharged with other gases from some wells and springs. Local surface water and shallow ground water are of the calcium bicarbonate type and exhibit low background activity. The temperature, percent sodium, and radioactivity of mixed waters adjacent to the fault zone increase with depth. Samples from most of the major hot springs in southwestern Montana have been analyzed for gross alpha and beta activity. The high level of radioactivity at Alhambra appears to be related to leaching of radioactive material from siliceous veins by ascending thermal waters and is not a normal characteristic of hot springs issuing from fractured crystalline rock in Montana.

Montana↗

USGS1978

Porphyry-type metallization and alteration at La Florida de Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico

Pervasive secondary biotite-rich mineral assemblages, characteristic of potassic alteration found in the cores of most commercial porphyry copper systems, are associated spatially with a conspicuous color and a geochemical anomaly at La Florida de Nacozari, Sonora. These composite biotite-magnetite assemblages, with or without actinolite, quartz, rutile, sphene, chalcopyrite, and pyrite assemblages, are primarily the result of early dispersed biotitic (EDB) alteration of andesite. The bulk of the near-surface copper in the area, however, was introduced later by the veins that cut the EDB-altered andesite. These late veins are distinguished by a quartz-calcite-chlorite±laumontite±chalcopyrite assemblage, and the chalcopyrite in these veins may reflect upward remobilization of deep EDB copper by fluids associated with the emplacement of nearby coarse-grained granite. Fluid-inclusion relations in the late veins suggest that their fluids were nonboiling and relatively dilute.

Sonora↗

USGS1978

Morphology of chasma walls, Mars

The landforms developed on the walls of the Valles Marineris system of chasmas are of three major types, which are locally transitional. The most common type is composed of steep spurs and gullies. The dominant process in the formation or modification of this type appears to be the downslope movement of. material under the influence of gravity, resulting in the accumulation of extensive talus deposits. The type is morphologically similar to high, steep terrestrial scarps in desert or alpine environments. The second morphologic type consists of walls dissected by tributary canyons with characteristic V-shaped cross profiles and blunt canyon heads that locally contain lobate deposits. The tributary canyons may be relict features of the time, when the existence of running water was possible on the surface of Mars. The third morphologic type consists of landslide scars forming broad curved or straight recessed sections of chasma wall. This type is accompanied by landslide deposits that form hummocky floors at the base of the recessed sections. The landslides developed at the expense of other wall morphologies. Chains of rimless depressions and craters that parallel the main structural trends of the chasmas are best interpreted as collapse holes. The origin of the chasmas on Mars is conjectural and may have been structural (grabens), but, on the basis of morphologic studies of their walls, it is suggested that most of the present wall configuration is the result of erosional scarp retreat, where erosion follows preestablished structural planes of weakness.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗