Research — Geochemistry
Jump To Project:
- Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality - Albuquerque Basin
- Hydrogeologic Investigation at White Sands National Monument
- Unearthing the Cordilleran magmatic periphery of eastern New Mexico
- Hydrologic Assessment of the Salt Basin Region in New Mexico and Texas
- Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality - Palomas Basin
- REE in Coal and associated strata in the San Juan and Raton basins, New Mexico
- Cosmogenic dating of young basaltic lava flows
- Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality - San Luis Basin
- New Mexico: Regional Brackish Water Assessments
- Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality - Mimbres Basin
Use criteria in the form below to search by subject, program, keyword, feature or region. Combining search criteria may provide few or no results.
There are 10 projects that match your criteria:
Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality - Albuquerque Basin
The Albuquerque Basin, also known as the Middle Rio Grande Basin (MRGB; Plummer et al., 2004), is defined by Thorn et al. (1993) to include the Santo Domingo Basin to the north, the Calabacillas and Belen Sub-Basins to the south, and the Hagan Embayment to the northeast. The Albuquerque Basin as thus defined is the second largest basin in the Rio Grande Rift, extending over more than 3000 square miles and containing over 14,000 feet of basin-fill deposits. The basin is bounded to the north by the Jemez Mountains, and to the east by the Sandia, Manzanita, Manzano and Los Piños Mountains. The western margin of the basin is defined by the Ladron Mountains, the Lucero and Nacimiento uplifts, and the Rio Puerco fault zone, a northeast-trending fault belt that separates the Albuquerque Basin from the Colorado Plateau (Plummer et al., 2004).
Hydrogeologic Investigation at White Sands National Monument
This study focused on the shallow aquifer that occurs in the dune field with depth-to-water ranging from 1 to 3 feet below interdunal surfaces. We used hydrologic and geochemical data to identify water sources that contribute to the shallow groundwater system in the dune field and to assess how this system responds to water level fluctuations in the adjacent regional basin-fill aquifer. Hydrologic modeling was used to assess the effects of projected additional groundwater pumping in Alamogordo on the shallow dune aquifer on the Monument.
Unearthing the Cordilleran magmatic periphery of eastern New Mexico
Currently seeking a graduate student to work on minor mid-Cenozoic igneous occurrences in eastern New Mexico, which form a patchy discontinuous belt representing the most distal periphery of Cordilleran magmatism emplaced approximately 50-200 km east of the closest major alkaline magmatic centers. They have received little attention and present excellent opportunities for exciting fieldwork, novel research, and impactful student mentorship. Initial reconnaissance of these igneous rocks is building towards holistic studies addressing basic aspects of these occurrences through mapping, petrography, geochemistry, and geochronology. This work will lead to bigger questions on the relationship between these peripheral intrusions and more major alkaline magmatic centers, exhumation and heat flow histories recorded in these rocks, and significance for tectonics of paleo-plate dynamics of the SW US Cordilleran margin!
Hydrologic Assessment of the Salt Basin Region in New Mexico and Texas
In 2022, the NM Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources completed a multiyear study with faculty and students at New Mexico Tech, as well as researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey, on a hydrogeologic assessment of the Salt Basin region. This research project evaluated the water availability of the region by 1) filling data gaps, where there is currently little or no information about the groundwater system; 2) estimating the overall balance of water in the region including groundwater recharge, storage, evaporation and pumping; 3) updating the current hydrologic model and hydrogeologic framework; and 4) running simulations in the revised model. These efforts will help assess the ability of the region to sustain current groundwater withdrawals in the Salt Basin with implications for future development in New Mexico.
Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality - Palomas Basin
The Palomas Basin is an east-tilted half graben ~35 miles long by 12 miles wide, bordered to the east by the Caballo Mountains and Red Hills, and to the west by the Black Range, Animas Hills, Salado Hills, and southern Sierra Cuchillo. The north end of the Palomas Basin is defined by the Mud Springs Mountains and several faults that intersect near Truth or Consequences, which separate the Palomas Basin from the Engle Basin to the north. The basin merges to the south with the eastern Mimbres Basin (Chapin, 1971). The Palomas Basin contains up to 6,500 feet of Tertiary alluvial fan and lacustrine sediments of the Santa Fe Group along its deep eastern margin, overlain by ~500 feet of alluvial fan and axial-fluvial sediments of the Plio-Pleistocene Palomas Formation (Mack, 2012).
REE in Coal and associated strata in the San Juan and Raton basins, New Mexico
The Department of Energy has awarded New Mexico Tech a contract to examine rare earth elements (REE) and other critical minerals (CM) in coal and associated strata in the San Juan and Raton basins in northern New Mexico. Critical minerals are mineral resources that are essential to our economy and whose supply may be disrupted (/publications/periodicals/earthmatters/23/n1/em_v23_n1.pdf). Most CM are 100% imported into the U.S. Many CM are found in the San Juan and Raton basins of New Mexico.
Cosmogenic dating of young basaltic lava flows
Cosmogenic dating techniques have been successfully applied to dating of geomorphically-young surfaces, such as glacial moraines, beach terraces, and basaltic lava flows that have intact surface features, and hence have undergone little erosion (e.g. Phillips et al., 1997a and b; Phillips et al, in review, Dunbar and Phillips, 1996; Zreda et al., 1991, 1993; Zreda, 1994; Anthony and Poths, 1992, Laughlin et al., 1994). These techniques rely on measurement of cosmogenic nuclides that begin to build up as soon as a rock is exposed to cosmic rays. Therefore, cosmogenic techniques can be applied to dating of any surface that is composed of material that was not exposed to cosmic rays prior to formation of the surface, and has been exposed more-or-less continuously since. In the case of an extrusive volcanic rock, buildup of cosmogenic nuclides begins when the rock is erupted, so measurement of the ratio of a cosmogenic isotope to a non-cosmogenic isotope can provide an estimate of eruption age (Phillips et al., 1986).
Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality - San Luis Basin
The San Luis Basin is the northernmost and largest basin of the Rio Grande Rift system in New Mexico. Most of the basin is located in Colorado, where it merges to the north with the Upper Arkansas River graben (Grauch and Keller, 2004). The basin is ~150 miles long and 55 miles wide, and has the general form of an east-dipping half graben. Basin-fill material is composed of Tertiary-Quaternary sediments of the Santa Fe Group and late Cenozoic volcanics (Kelley et al., 1976). The basin is bounded to the west by the Tusas and San Juan Mountains and to the east by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo fault zone. The deepest part of the basin is found in the Taos graben, a narrow zone 6 to 18 miles wide adjacent to the Sangre de Cristo mountain front (Grauch and Keller, 2004). The southern part of the basin is occupied by the Taos Plateau, which is composed of Pliocene basalt flows that overlie Santa Fe Group basin fill. The southeastern margin of the basin is defined by the Embudo fault zone, which separates the east-tilted San Luis Basin from the west-tilted Española Basin to the south (Bauer and Kelson, 2004).
New Mexico: Regional Brackish Water Assessments
As New Mexico considers the use of desalinated brackish water (less than 10,000 mg/L total dissolved solid) to diversify the public water supply, many questions must first be answered. Where are the brackish water resources? What data are available? What exactly is the water chemistry? How feasible is it to use brackish water for public supply?
Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality - Mimbres Basin
The Mimbres Basin is a structurally complex region in southwestern New Mexico, extending over an area of more than 5,000 square miles in parts of Grant, Luna, Doña Ana and Sierra Counties, and straddling the border with the Mexican Republic. The region has been subject to extensive geologic, geophysical, and hydrologic investigations over a period of almost a century, including Darton (1916), White (1931), Trauger (1972), Hanson et al. (1994), Hawley et al. (2000), and Kennedy et al. (2000). The Mimbres Basin is located at the intersection of the Basin and Range, southern Rio Grande Rift, and southern Transition Zone tectonic provinces (Mack, 2004). Dominant structural features in the region are northwest trending faults and folds associated with the Laramide orogeny, Tertiary magmatism and Quaternary tectonism (Finch et al., 2008). The greater Mimbres Basin is made up of an interconnected group of hydrologic sub-basins separated by fault-bounded uplifts, bounded to the east by the Goodsight Mountains, Sierra de las Uvas, and basalt flows and cinder cones of the West Potrillo Mountains. The Continental Divide defines the northern and western boundaries of the Mimbres Basin. The only major surface drainage in the basin is the Mimbres River (Hawley et al., 2000; Connell et al., 2005; Finch et al., 2008).