The New Mexico Geochronological Database

Digital Database Series-Database: DDS DB1
by: Maureen Wilks and Charles E. Chapin

The New Mexico Geochronological Database is a compilation of published and unpublished radiometric ages of rocks in New Mexico. An earlier version of this database was published in 1975 as New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-file Report 60 by C. E. Chapin, W. T. Siemers, and G. R. Osburn. Included in the updated compilation are dates determined by thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance methods. Over the past two decades data have been collected from original references.

The dataset contains over three thousand dates. Three hundred and fifty are Precambrian dates and represent the data reported in New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-File Report 389 compiled by Paul Bauer and Terry Pollock in 1993. Most dates reported through 1999 have been included.

In researching this compilation, we have attempted to locate every published and unpublished age of rocks in New Mexico. Undoubtedly we have failed. However, this database is designed to be easily updated.

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