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Produced by David Howell & Co., these earrings are a simplified depiction of lava flows shown on our Geologic Map of Mount Taylor, which look a bit like flowers.

The 2024 New Mexico Geological Society (NMGS) Fall Field Conference will be centered in Bernalillo, New Mexico. The history of this community, like much of New Mexico, is that of a nexus involving very long interactions among Indigenous, Hispano, Anglo, and other cultures. Our geoheritage gains strength from this unique cultural richness as well as our unique geology. We thank the Pueblos of Santa Ana, Zia, and Jemez, as this field conference studies geology across their present and traditional homelands. We recognize and honor them as original caretakers with deep connections to the land. Geology (study of the Earth) is also part of their Indigenous knowledge systems. Rivers are another theme of this field conference; the Rio Grande, Rio Jemez, and Rio Puerco have shaped our landscapes and host many of our stops and discussions.

We are trying new things for the 74th NMGS Fall Field Conference. The traditional minipapers are peer reviewed and folded in with the technical papers this year rather than included with the road log section. All the papers and road logs are open access and freely available on the NMGS website in PDF format during and after the meeting (https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/74). To save costs and paper, we are printing fewer hard copies of the full guidebook, mainly just for participants and libraries. Hold onto yours; it may be worth a fortune some day!

The geologic theme is the Nacimiento nexus. You know you are at a nexus when you find yourself in the middle of something. In this case, the Nacimiento nexus is where three major physiographic provinces meet: the Colorado Plateau, the Rocky Mountains, and the Rio Grande rift. Also converging at this crossroads are the northeast-trending Jemez lineament and the Jemez Mountains containing the Valles Caldera supervolcano. To examine the Nacimiento nexus requires a synthesis of the things that make the adjoining provinces similar and different (Karlstrom et al., 2024). The details can be complex but the summary is simple: the Rocky Mountains, Colorado Plateau, and Rio Grande rift share many aspects of a common geologic history of Proterozoic crust formation, regional Paleozoic and Mesozoic depositional systems that record the biological evolution of life on Earth, and a multistage Cenozoic uplift and denudation history that has shaped our landscapes. The spectacular region near San Ysidro lays bare aspects of each of these shared chapters of New Mexico's geology.

This scientific theme may carry momentum into future NMGS field conferences. Next year, the 2025 fall field conference - NMGS's 75th - will be centered in Cuba and will examine the Colorado Plateau edge and the San Juan Basin. The following year, the 2026 fall field conference (the 76th) will be centered in the Albuquerque area and will focus on the Rio Grande rift and rocks exposed in its rift-flanks.

This calendar highlights photographs from the fine amateur photographers on staff at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology. We hold an annual internal contest, and the winning images are used for our calendar. These images were taken throughout the state, and most are geologically themed.

Earth is warming in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Global climate models project an average temperature increase across New Mexico of 5° to 7° F over the next 50 years. Other primary impacts are decreased water supply (partly driven by thinner snowpacks and earlier spring melting), lower soil moisture levels, increased frequency and intensity of wildfires, and increased competition and demand for scarce water resources. Snowpack and associated runoff are projected to decline substantially over the next 50 years, generating diminished headwater streamflow. Flow in the state's major rivers is projected to decline by 16% to 28%, and the frequency of extreme precipitation events, coupled with fire-driven disruption of vegetation in watersheds, is projected to at least double river sediment. The impacts of climate change on New Mexico's water resources are overwhelmingly negative.

The bulletin, which is the scientific foundation upon which New Mexico's 50-Year Water Plan is based, represents a compilation, assessment and integration of existing peer-reviewed published research, technical reports and datasets relevant to the broad topic of changes to New Mexico climate over the next 50 years, and resultant impact on water resources. This project, also known as the "Leap Ahead" analysis, also identifies significant data and modeling gaps and uncertainties, and suggests research directions to strengthen our understanding of climate and water resource changes

This set of 8 postcards highlight flourites found throughout New Mexico. Each variety was photographed by Jeff Scovil. Send these back to your mineral collecting friends when you are on your next rock hounding adventure.

This report describes the geology of six 7.5—minute quadrangles—Mesa del Yeso (Cather et al., 2004), Sierra de la Cruz (Cather et al., 2012), Loma de las Cañas (Cather and Colpitts, 2005), Bustos Well (Cather et al., 2014), San Antonio (Cather, 2002), and Cañon Agua Buena (Cather et al., 2007). These geologic quadrangles encompass about 950 km2 in what is known as the Quebradas region—the eastern part of the Socorro Basin and its uplifted eastern rift flank. The name Quebradas is short for las tierras quebradas—Spanish for "the broken lands." An apt physiographic description, the name is also appropriate in a geologic sense; the area is one of the most stratigraphically diverse and structurally complex in New Mexico.

Exposed rocks are of Proterozoic, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Middle and Late Triassic, Late Jurassic, Late Cretaceous, Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary age. Tectonic episodes recorded in the study area include Proterozoic plutonism and deformation, Pennsylvanian (Ancestral Rocky Mountain) and Late Cretaceous-middle Eocene (Laramide) dextral-oblique contraction, middle Eocene—middle Miocene top-east detachment faulting, and Neogene-Quaternary rift-related extension. The structural geology of the Quebradas region is complex. Structures include (1) Laramide west-up reverse faults and associated fault-propagation folds, fault-bend folds, and monoclines; (2) northeast-striking zones of dextral Laramide strike-slip faults with linking contractile and extensional step-overs; (3) a regional middle Eocene to middle Miocene, top-east decollement developed mostly within the gypsiferous upper Yeso Group that is associated with splay faults and rollover anticlines in its hanging wall; and (4) Neogene and Quaternary normal faults related to rifting. The report also contains chapters on two mining districts (Socorro and Chupadero) and two coal fields (Carthage and Jornada del Muerto) that are present in the Quebradas region.

This vibrant 19 x 27" 1000 piece puzzle version of our Geologic Map of Mount Taylor will keep you from finishing that geochemistry paper you should be writing.

Few places in the U.S. boast as rich a diversity of landscape and public lands as northern New Mexico. Here in one volume is an authoritative overview of the geology of these parks, monuments, and public lands, with information on the regional setting, the rock record, and the most prominent geologic features. The book includes chapters on nine national parks and monuments, seventeen state parks, and many of the most popular Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service units in this part of the state. Also included are chapters on two of our newer units, the Valles Caldera National Preserve and Kashe-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. With nearly 300 full-color geologic maps, graphics, and photographs, the book is a perfect introduction to the some of New Mexico's most significant geologic landscapes.

Free sample chapter—Ghost Ranch (4 MB PDF)

This bulletin synthesizes 177 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and 54 radiocarbon dates, as well as detailed sediment size and chemical signature data, to document the history of eolian sand deposition during the late Pleistocene and Holocene in southeastern New Mexico. The authors use this history, which is based on 20 years of field observations, to assess the preservation potential of archeological sites in this area. The bulletin is richly illustrated with photographs and figures that clearly tell the story of unearthing discoveries that were previously hidden beneath the shifting sands of southeastern New Mexico.

Look great and support the New Mexico Bureau of Geology's Mineral Museum with this fun, stylish hat! Order yours today! *FREE SHIPPING*-LIMITED TIME ONLY! Cart will indicate shipping but you will not be charged!