New Mexico's Geologic Mapping Program
"Mapping out New Mexico's Future"

Contents:

Our goal
Progress to date
Funding
Future plans
Program Summary
SMAC
Map purchases
Contacts
Links

Our goal:

To provide New Mexicans with the earth science data necessary to make informed decisions about our states natural resources and environment.

Progress to date:

One hundred and six quadrangles (~6300 square miles) in New Mexico will have been mapped (at a scale of 1 : 24,000 or larger) by the end of the current STATEMAP contract year in May of 2006. Much of our mapping effort has been focused on the Rio Grande watershed where detailed mapping most benefits our population centers. However, our program is now branching out to other important regions and watersheds of our state including the Carlsbad, Ruidoso, Alamogordo, Roswell, Silver City, and Farmington areas.

Funding

Geologic mapping in the Sandias

photo: © Adam Read

Our mapping program has been expanding expanding since it began in 1993. Our program is partly funded by the STATEMAP component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. We are now in the sixteenth year of an aggressive program designed to rapidly produce and distribute state-of-the-art maps. New Mexico is one of the most successful states in the country in obtaining STATEMAP funds, totaling $3,263,883 federal dollars. By July 2010, we will have mapped 187 quadrangles (11,220 sq. miles) in twelve counties and all three congressional districts

Future plans

We intend to continue to produce societally relevant geologic maps in areas of urban growth and in critical watersheds.

Program Summary

(PDF version also available)

Modern digital geologic maps are essential for New Mexico's environmental and economic prosperity. Geologic maps are uniquely suited to solving problems involving Earth resources, hazards, and environments, and perhaps most importantly for the people of New Mexico, such maps help identify and protect ground-water aquifers, aid in locating water-supply wells, and are fundamental for all environmental studies and land-use plans.

Of the 121,598 sq miles of New Mexico, about 27% has been mapped at the standard scale of 1:24,000 (1 inch=2000 feet). The most critical area is the populated zone along the Rio Grande watershed from the Colorado border to Elephant Butte Reservoir, which contains 50% of the state's population on 4% of its land area. Rapid population growth, shallow alluvial aquifers, large topographic relief, and the alternating scarcity and abundance of precipitation, give rise to a host of hydrologic and engineering problems.

NM State Geologic Mapping Advisory Committe (SMAC)

Much of the success of STATEMAP is due to the requirement that maps must be designed to address critical societal and scientific problems. Our program has received widespread support and acclaim from political leaders, government agency scientists, university professors, hydrologists, engineers, planners, attorneys, and citizens. The program is cooperative in the broadest sense, as mapping priorities are set annually by the 40-member NM State Geologic Mapping Advisory Committee (15 Kb PDF) consisting of professionals from state, local, federal, tribal, and private agencies.

Map Purchases

Preliminary drafts of hand-compiled STATEMAP 7.5-minute quadrangles are posted on our Web site in PDF format for free download when mapping is completed. These maps are then digitized as GIS products which are made available on the web as color maps in PDF format and as GIS files depending on availability. For quadrangle availability, mapping progress, and published quadrangles please visit the Open-file Geologic Map (OF-GM) page, or contact the mapping program team.

If a paper copy of a map is needed and a 36" plotter is not available, most reprographic shops can easily plot these PDF files and may even download them for you. We will also plot these maps on demand and charge a fixed rate of $30 per 36"x50" sheet and $50 for two sheets (most maps are one 36"x50" sheet). Contact our publications office for sales.

For More Information Contact:

Program Manager Dr. Mike Timmons (575) 835-5237
Map Production Coordinator David McCraw (575) 835-5594
GIS Laboratory Glen Jones (575) 835-5627

New Mexico's Geologic Mapping Program "Mapping out New Mexico's Future"