Announcements

The Geologic Map of the Mount Taylor Volcano Area, New Mexico (GM-80) is a 1:36,000 compilation of six recent NMBGMR 1:24,000 geologic quadrangles that encompass this extinct composite stratovolcano. Mount Taylor is New Mexico’s second-largest volcano after the Valles Caldera in the Jemez Mountains. This timely map and accompanying report, resulting from over a decade of thorough work, synthesizes the current geologic understanding of such an important landscape feature of the state.

The winter 2020 issue of New Mexico Earth Matters is here!

The featured article “Dangers of Steep Slopes: Landslides, Rockfalls, and Debris Flows in New Mexico” discusses the risks associated with these geologic events. The publication dives into the environmental conditions likely to produce these hazards, and the methods used to map them statewide. The maps produced can then inform planning strategies to avoid hazards and reduce their possible impacts on roads and infrastructure.

The American Geophysical Union published a recent paper co-authored by Bureau Senior Geophysicist and Field Geologist Dr. Shari Kelley. The paper “Decadal-Scale Aquifer Dynamics and Structural Complexities at a Municipal Wellfield Revealed by 25 Years of InSAR and Recent Groundwater Temperature Observations” is also co-authored by New Mexico Tech (NMT) Earth and Environmental Science Professor Dr. Mark Person, former NMT student Matthew Folsom, and by University of Alaska Fairbanks Associate Professor Dr. Ronni Grapenthin. The paper examines historical surface subsidence in the Buckman wellfield induced by groundwater extraction.