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Base-flow investigation on the Sacramento River, September 25, 1985, near Sunspot, Otero County, New Mexico
On September 25, 1985, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a base-flow investigation to better define the surface-water resources of the Sacramento River drainage basin in Otero County , south-central New Mexico. The investigation included all flow in the Sacramento River from the initial point of flow to the point of zero flow 20.1 river miles downstream. A total of 12 discharge measurements, 3 observations of zero flow and 2 observations of initial flow were obtained during this investigation. Discharge measurements and observations showed a general increase in discharge from river mile 22.4 to a discharge of 6.69 cu ft/sec at river mile 8.4. Discharge then decreased from river mile 8.4 to zero flow at river mile 3.3. Specific conductance and water temperature also were taken concurrently with the discharge measurements. Specific conductance of water generally decreased in a downstream direction from 600 microsiemens/cm at 25 C at river mile 21.9 to 330 microsiemens/cm at 25C at river mile 4.6. (USGS)
Geologic map of Lake Valley manganese district, Sierra County, New Mexico
The Lake Valley district was originally developed as a manganese-silver district, but the known silver-bearing ore bodies have long since been worked out. The critical shortage of manganese during World War II renewed interest in the manganese deposits; from October 1941 through June 1942 the U. S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines conducted a cooperative exploration program in the district. This exploration demonstrated that the Lake Valley district contained about 175,000 tons of ore; approximately 37,000 tons has subsequently been mined. The present reserves are estimated to be approximately 140,000 tones of ore with a manganese content of more than 10 percent and an average content of 16.4 percent; about 75,000 tons of the ore has manganese content of more than 15 percent and an average content of 20.7 percent.
Geologic map of the Clifton House quadrangle, showing fossil zones in the Pierre Shale, Colfax County, New Mexico
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Assessment of undiscovered gas resources in the Lewis Shale Total Petroleum System of the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 2.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Lewis Shale Total Petroleum System of the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado.
U. S. Geological Survey Middle Rio Grande basin study: Proceedings of the Fourth annual workshop, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 15-16, 2000
This volume contains a collection of short papers that document some of the conclusions and results of on-going investigations related to ground-water resources of the Middle Rio Grande Basin, New Mexico. These results, and additional project reports, were presented at the Fourth Annual Middle Rio Grande Basin workshop convened in Albuquerque during February 2000. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources as a forum for public presentation and discussion of multidisciplinary studies conducted during the previous 4 years. This considerable body of work was undertaken to improve the scientific understanding of factors that control ground-water availability and quality, and to explore land-surface characteristics that have affected the development and use of this valley that currently supports a population in excess of 600,000.
Hydrologic investigations and data-collection network in strippable coal-resource areas in northwestern New Mexico
This report presents hydrologic investigations and data collections conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in the strippable coal areas of northwestern New Mexico. Streamflow, ground-water, and quality-of-water data were collected to provide information about baseline or prevailing hydrologic conditions. A network of hydrologic data-collection sites in the strippable coal areas of the Fruitland Formation was designed to meet the need of detailed investigations, including site-specific studies, and to provide hydrologic data in support of the expanding mining activity. The network consists of 34 continuous-record streamflow-gaging stations (32 included water-quality sampling), 20 miscellaneous water quality of streamflow stations, 12 annual maximum discharge stations, 27 observation wells completed in strata associated with the strippable coal seams, and 24 observation wells completed in channel alluvium downstream from strippable coal areas. (USGS)
Assessment of undiscovered gas resources of the Fruitland Total Petroleum System, San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 39 trillion cubic feet of gas within continuous and conventional reservoirs of the Fruitland Total Petroleum System in the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado.
Geologic Map of the Albuquerque 30' x 60' Quadrangle, North-Central New Mexico
The Albuquerque 30' x 60' quadrangle spans the Rio Grande rift between the Colorado Plateau and Great Plains geologic provinces, and includes parts of the Basin and Range and Southern Rocky Mountain physiographic provinces. Geologic units exposed in the quadrangle range in age from Early Proterozoic schist and granite to modern river alluvium. The principal geologic features of the area, however, chiefly reflect contractional folding and thrusting of the Late Cretaceous Laramide orogeny and the Neogene extension of the Rio Grande rift. Significant parts of the history of the rift in this region are displayed and documented by the geology exposed in the Albuquerque quadrangle. Post-Laramide erosion, beginning at about 60 Ma, is recorded by the Diamond Tail and Galisteo Formations (upper Paleocene and Eocene) that are preserved in the Hagan Basin and around the uplifted margins of the younger Rio Grande rift. Intermediate volcaniclastic deposits of the Espinaso Formation (upper Eocene and Oligocene) were shed in and around the contemporaneous volcanic-intrusive complexes of the Ortiz porphyry belt in the northeastern part of the quadrangle. The earliest fluvial sediments attributed to extension in the Rio Grande rift in this area are the Tanos and Blackshare Formations (upper Oligocene and Miocene) in the Hagan Basin, which indicate extension was underway by 25 Ma. Farther west, the oldest rift-filling sediments are eolian sand and interdune silty deposits of the Zia Formation (lower to middle Miocene). Major extension occurred during the Miocene, but subsidence and sedimentation were highly irregular from place to place. Parts of three rift sub-basins are known within the Albuquerque quadrangle, each basin locally as deep as about 14,000 ft, separated by less-extended zones (structural horsts) where the rift fill is much thinner. The geometry of these early, deep rift sub-basins suggests the primary extension direction was oriented northeast-southwest. Significant local folding and uplift within the complex rift seems to have occurred in the late Miocene, accompanied by erosion and recycling of earlier rift-fill sediments. This deformation may reflect clockwise reorientation of the primary extension direction to its Pliocene and current east-west alignment. Late Miocene and early Pliocene uplift and erosion were widespread in the region, as indicated by channeled and local angular unconformities at the bases of all Pliocene units, especially prominent along basin margins. These Pliocene fluvial and alluvial deposits (Ceja and Ancha Formations and Tuerto Gravel) and the upper part of the Cochiti Formation are all conspicuously coarser grained than the Miocene beds they cover, particularly near source areas along the margins of the rift. These observations together indicate that the regional streams flowed at much greater discharge than the Miocene streams and that the Pliocene onset of cooler, wetter climate worldwide was the most likely cause. Despite these higher discharge conditions, it appears there was no Pliocene trunk stream through the rift valley because the youngest Pliocene beds in the basin center are largely fine grained sand, pebbly sand, and sandy silt. No Pliocene cobble-gravel deposits, or thick crossbed sets indicative of major stream discharge, have been documented in the basin center. Considerable evidence indicates significant erosion began in late Pliocene time, coincident with and following eruption of abundant basalt from several local centers at about 2.7-2.6 Ma. The onset of central valley erosion marks the initiation of the first through-flowing, high-energy trunk stream (the 'ancestral' Rio Grande), which most likely was caused by integration of drainage southward through the Socorro region. No upper Pliocene fluvial deposits have been identified in the valley center; rather, a significant unconformity separates beds with medial (or earliest late) Blancan fauna (older than about 2.2 Ma) from
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Paradox Basin Province, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, 2011
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 560 million barrels of undiscovered oil, 12,701 billion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, and 490 million barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids in the Paradox Basin of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Geomorphic survey of North Fork Eagle Creek, New Mexico, 2018
About one-quarter of the water supply for the Village of Ruidoso, New Mexico, is from groundwater pumped from wells located along North Fork Eagle Creek in the National Forest System lands of the Lincoln National Forest near Alto, New Mexico. Because of concerns regarding the effects of groundwater pumping on surface-water hydrology in the North Fork Eagle Creek Basin and the effects of the 2012 Little Bear Fire, which resulted in substantial loss of vegetation in the basin, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Lincoln National Forest, has required monitoring of a portion of North Fork Eagle Creek for short-term geomorphic change as part of the permitting decision that allows for the continued pumping of the production wells. The objective of this study is to address the geomorphic monitoring requirements of the permitting decision by conducting annual geomorphic surveys of North Fork Eagle Creek along the stream reach between the North Fork Eagle Creek near Alto, New Mexico, streamflow-gaging station (U.S. Geological Survey [USGS] site 08387550) and the Eagle Creek below South Fork near Alto, New Mexico, streamflow-gaging station (USGS site 08387600). The monitoring of short-term geomorphic change in the stream reach began in June 2017 with surveys of select cross sections and surveys of all woody debris accumulations and pools found in the channel. In June 2018, the monitoring of short-term geomorphic change continued with another geomorphic survey of the stream reach (with some modification to the monitoring methods). The 2017 and 2018 surveys were conducted by the USGS, in cooperation with the Village of Ruidoso, and were the first two in a planned series of five annual geomorphic surveys. The results of the 2017 geomorphic survey were summarized and interpreted in a previous USGS Open-File Report, and the data were published in the companion data release of that report. In this report, the results of the 2018 geomorphic survey are summarized, interpreted, and compared to the results of the 2017 survey. The data from the 2018 geomorphic survey are published in the companion data release of this report. The study reach surveyed in June 2018 is 1.89 miles long, beginning about 260 feet upstream from the North Fork Eagle Creek near Alto, New Mexico, streamflow-gaging station and ending at the Eagle Creek below South Fork near Alto, New Mexico, streamflow-gaging station. Large sections of the study reach are characterized by intermittent streamflow, and where streamflow is normally continuous (including at the upper and lower portions of the study reach, near the streamflow-gaging stations), the streamflow typically remains less than 2 cubic feet per second throughout the year except during seasonal high flows, which most often result from rainfall during the North American monsoon months of July, August, and September or from snowmelt runoff in March, April, and May. Between the 2017 and 2018 surveys, high-flow events resulting from both rainfall (during the North American monsoon season) and snowmelt runoff (during the winter) occurred in the study reach, and those high-flow events appeared to have caused some minor and localized geomorphic changes in the study reach, which were evaluated through comparison of the 2017 and 2018 survey results. For the 2017 geomorphic survey of North Fork Eagle Creek, cross sections were established and surveyed at 14 locations along the study reach, and in 2018, those same 14 cross sections were resurveyed. Comparisons of the cross-section survey results indicated that minor observable geomorphic changes had occurred in 3 of the 14 cross sections. These minor observable geomorphic changes included aggradation or degradation of surface materials by about 1–2 feet in some parts of the affected cross sections. To further assess geomorphic changes within the study reach, other features, including woody debris accumulations and pools, were surveyed in both 2017 and 2018. During the 2018 geomorphic survey, 112 distinct accumulations of woody debris and 71 pools were identified in the study reach. Charred wood or burn-marked wood was present in at least 17 of the identified woody debris accumulations (and was present in some of the woody debris accumulations identified during the 2017 survey), indicating that some of the woody debris in the channel may have been sourced from trees or forest litter that had burned during 2012 Little Bear Fire. Only 22 of the 112 woody debris accumulations identified during the 2018 survey were certain to have also been present during the 2017 survey (when 58 woody debris accumulations were identified), indicating that most of the woody debris accumulations surveyed in 2017 were likely transported during the high-flow events between the 2017 and 2018 surveys but also indicating that the flows during those events were not high enough to remove some of the more firmly anchored woody debris accumulations. Most woody debris accumulations identified in 2018 did not appear to have substantially influenced geomorphic change in the locations where they were found. However, the formation of 10 of the 71 pools identified in the study reach in 2018 appeared to have been influenced by the presence of woody debris, indicating that some woody debris accumulations may have driven local geomorphic changes. Notably, pool totals from the 2017 survey could not be accurately compared to the pool totals from the 2018 survey because of differences between the two surveys in the methods used to identify pools. Because the study began 5 years after the 2012 Little Bear Fire, and because the period and geomorphic scope of the study have so far been limited, it cannot be said that the geomorphic changes observed between the 2017 and 2018 surveys are representative of a pattern of geomorphic change following the 2012 Little Bear Fire. Though, once geomorphic changes between the 2017 and 2018 surveys can be compared with results from geomorphic surveys planned for 2019, 2020, and 2021, it may be possible to develop an understanding of the patterns in geomorphic change following the 2012 Little Bear Fire.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Mancos-Menefee composite and underlying Todilto Total Petroleum Systems of the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado, 2020
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 12 million barrels of oil and 27 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Mancos-Menefee Composite and underlying Todilto Total Petroleum Systems of the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado.
Geologic processes and Cenozoic history related to salt dissolution in southeastern New Mexico
Salt of Permian age in the subsurface of an area near The Divide, east of Carlsbad, N. Mex., is being considered for a nuclear waste repository. The geologic history of the region indicates that dissolution of salt has occurred in the past during at least three distinct epochs: (1) after Triassic but before middle Pleistocene time; (2) during middle Pleistocene; and (3) during late Pleistocene. Thus, destructive geologic processes have been intermittent through more than I00 million years. Nash Draw, near The Divide, formed during late Pleistocene time by the coalescing of collapse sinks. The rate of its subsidence is estimated to have been about 10 cm (0.33 foot) per thousand years. The immediate area of The Divide adjacent to Nash Draw has not undergone stress by geologic processes during Pleistocene time and there are no present indications that this geologic environment will change drastically within the period of concern for the repository.
Assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources in the Wolfcamp Shale and Bone Spring Formation of the Delaware Basin, Permian Basin Province, New Mexico and Texas, 2018
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey assessed undiscovered, technically recoverable continuous mean resources of 46.3 billion barrels of oil and 281 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Wolfcamp shale and Bone Spring Formation of the Delaware Basin in the Permian Basin Province, southeast New Mexico and west Texas.
National Water-Quality Assessment Program--Southern High Plains, Texas and New Mexico
BACKGROUND In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. The long-term goals of the NAWQA program are to describe the status of, and trends in, the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources and to identify the major natural and human factors that affect the quality of these resources. In addressing these goals, the program will produce a wealth of water-quality information that will be useful to policy makers and managers at the National, State, and local levels. The NAWQA program emphasis is on regional water-quality problems. The program will not diminish the need for smaller studies and monitoring designed and currently being conducted by Federal, State, and local agencies to meet their individual needs. The NAWQA program, however, will provide a large-scale framework for conducting many of these activities and an understanding about National and regional water-quality conditions that cannot be acquired from individual, small-scale programs and studies. Studies of 60 hydrologic systems that include parts of most major river basins and aquifer systems (study-unit investigations) are the building blocks of the National assessment. The 60 study units range in size from 1,000 mi 2 (square miles) to more than 60,000 mi 2 and represent 60 to 70 percent of the Nation's water use and population served by public water supplies. Twenty study-unit investigations were started in 1991, 20 additional are starting in 1994, and 20 more are planned to start in 1997. The Southern High Plains study unit was selected as one of 20 study units to begin assessment activities in 1994. This study will be run from the New Mexico District office of the USGS in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Geologic map of the Los Pinos quadrangle, Rio Arriba and Taos Counties, New Mexico, and Conejos County, Colorado
No abstract available.
New Mexico and Landsat
New Mexico relies on observations from the Landsat series of satellites operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. Data from Landsat also assist New Mexico in managing its precious water resources for agriculture, recreation, and industrial and community consumption. Landsat supports a variety of public and private sector decisions across New Mexico and the Nation for effective adaptation to changing landscapes.