Announcements

This report gives a detailed treatment of the geology of the eastern Plains of San Agustin and the upper (northern) reaches of Alamosa Creek (aka Alamosa basin). We synthesize previous studies of geology and provide new detail on basin fill stratigraphy and sedimentology. This report is a complement to a hydrogeologic study (due to be released 2021; summarized in OFR-615) regarding groundwater movement, age, and storage under the Plains of San Agustin and the upper Alamosa Creek watershed.

We've assembled a convenient dashboard showing petroleum metrics specific to New Mexico. The metrics include NM rig count, spot prices for oil & gas, and production curves for NM.

Isochron/West was published at irregular intervals from 1971 to 1996. The journal was patterned after the journal Radiocarbon and covered isotopic age-dating (except carbon-14) on rocks and minerals from the Western Hemisphere. Initially, the geographic scope of papers was restricted to the western half of the United States, but was later expanded. The journal was sponsored and staffed by the New Mexico Bureau of Mines (now Geology) & Mineral Resources and the Nevada Bureau of Mines & Geology.

Papers from all back-issues are accessible for free in PDF format.

Over the last several years, the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR), Aquifer Mapping Program, has been working on numerous research aspects of the geology and hydrology of the San Agustin Plains, New Mexico. This White Paper, Open-File Report 615, provides a detailed overview and summary of the results from this work.

Understanding and managing groundwater resources has become more important than ever, especially in New Mexico, which relies on groundwater more than any other state in the southwest. Accurate information on the depth to groundwater, water quality, and thickness of the state’s aquifers is needed for a variety of reasons, including: improving well drilling success, informing regional water planning, and reducing oil and gas well interference with fresh water zones. Currently, this type of data is found in regional maps, or buried in databases, and extrapolating the data to determine site specific conditions can be tedious and, oftentimes, inaccurate. The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources is investigating the feasibility of using the robust suite of spatial analysis tools available in ArcGIS to create publicly available, three dimensional maps of the major aquifers in the state to fill this data gap. The southeastern portion of New Mexico, specifically the Pecos Slope region of the Sacramento Mountains and the lower Pecos River valley, was selected for this initial study of 3-D mapping due to its wealth of geologic data, including thousands of well logs from oil and gas exploration.

Our Education Outreach Manager, Cynthia Connolly, put together a number of fun geologic activities for homebound kids (of all ages). There are several puzzles, games, and artistic projects to tackle as well as suggestions for interesting pages to visit on this website.

The Publications Group at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology is actively seeking manuscripts for New Mexico Geology and our technical Bulletin and Memoir series.