Recent & Active Research
Jump To Project:
- Lemitar Carbonatite: Exploring the Hidden World of Minerals: A Spectroscopic Adventure!
- Development of 3D Aquifer Maps
- Geometry and Kinematics of Rift Faults
- Geologic Map Compilation of the East Mountains Area
- The Magdalena Radial Dike Swarm
- 3D Hydrogeology of the Delaware basin, southeast New Mexico
- High Plains Aquifer Monitoring
- AML Project: Inventory and Characterization of Legacy/inactive/abandoned mine (AML) features in New Mexico
- Mapping suitability for Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) in the Albuquerque Basin
- Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes
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The current and recent research projects shown below are listed in random order.
Lemitar Carbonatite: Exploring the Hidden World of Minerals: A Spectroscopic Adventure!
At the forefront of cutting-edge research at New Mexico Tech, we have been utilizing Raman spectroscopy to unravel the mysteries locked within minerals. By harnessing the power of visible and ultraviolet lasers, we can unlock a plethora of information. So, you may be asking, what is Raman spectroscopy? In simple terms, it's a technique that uses laser light to interact with the atomic vibrations of a material, producing a unique "fingerprint" of its molecular composition. By analyzing the scattered light, we are able to identify and characterize minerals such as apatite, fluorite, and calcite.
Development of 3D Aquifer Maps
It is surprising that New Mexico does not have a detailed map of all of the productive and accessible aquifers across the state. In a state with as little as 0.24% of our land surface covered with water (the least in the country!), having detailed maps of our groundwater resources and aquifers, is essential. Some of our neighboring states, like Texas and Colorado, have these maps already available, and are successfully being used to administer and conserve water. We have started a new multi-year project to develop 3D maps of aquifers.
Geometry and Kinematics of Rift Faults
The Rio Grande rift of central New Mexico is dominated by NNW- to NE-striking normal faults of Late Oligocene to Quaternary age. Crustal extension is distributed across many subparallel fault blocks. Fault traces commonly show abrupt changes in strike, often bifurcate, and occasionally step over to adjacent faults along transverse ramps (e.g. Chamberlin et.al, 1994a; Chamberlin and Harrison, 1996). Based on observations of striated fault surfaces most rift faults are apparently dip-slip to slightly oblique-slip normal faults. There is generally little or no evidence of significant strike slip faulting in areas of high-angle normal faulting. However, minor lateral slip may occur where a north or south propagating fault tip is deflected by a preexisting basement shear zone oriented at a high angle to the propagating rift fault (Chamberlin, 2000). Broad zones of lateral shear may be accommodated by a combination of minor vertical axis rotations and distributed oblique-slip normal faulting in which the dip-slip component is dominant.
Geologic Map Compilation of the East Mountains Area
The East Mountains area, east of Albuquerque NM, is geologically complex. Nine STATEMAP quadrangles are being compiled together to create a geologic map of this important area.
The Magdalena Radial Dike Swarm
The Magdalena radial dike swarm (MRDS) is a large diameter (200- 250 km) radial array of basaltic-andesite dikes of Oligocene age broadly focused on the large volume (7000 km3) Socorro-Magdalena caldera cluster (SMCC) of the central Rio Grande rift. Five large overlapping calderas of the SMCC range in age from 32.5 to 24.7 Ma and show a pattern of migrating to the southwest over a distance of about 80 km during a period of about 8 million years.
3D Hydrogeology of the Delaware basin, southeast New Mexico
Three-dimensional, geographic information system (GIS)-based, subsurface geologic models are becoming increasingly common tools for visualizing, evaluating, and managing subsurface resources. The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Aquifer Mapping Program is developing 3D hydrogeologic-framework models of groundwater basins in New Mexico, including the Delaware Basin in southeastern NM. These models include a suite of geologic raster surfaces, geologic control points, aquifer boundaries, groundwater-level, water-depth, and water-quality data compiled in a readily available GIS map package. The result is a repository of pertinent shallow subsurface data for a given groundwater basin.
High Plains Aquifer Monitoring
The NMBGMR is working with the Ogallala Land & Water Conservancy to measure water levels in the High Plains Aquifer system near Clovis, New Mexico.
AML Project: Inventory and Characterization of Legacy/inactive/abandoned mine (AML) features in New Mexico
The NMBGMR has been examining the environmental effects of mine waste rock piles throughout New Mexico since the early 1990s. There are tens of thousands of inactive or abandoned mine features in 274 mining districts in New Mexico (including coal, uranium, metals, and industrial minerals districts), however many of them have not been inventoried or prioritized for reclamation. The New Mexico Abandoned Mine Lands Bureau of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department estimates that there are more than 15,000 abandoned mine features in the state. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management recently estimated that more than 10,000 mine features are on BLM lands in New Mexico and only 705 sites have been reclaimed. The U.S. Park Service has identified 71 mine features in 7 parks in New Mexico, of which 12 have been mitigated and 34 require mitigation. Additional sites have been reclaimed by the responsible companies and the Superfund program (CERCLA).
The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources has collected published and unpublished data on the districts, mines, deposits, occurrences, and mills since it was created in 1927 and is slowly converting historical data into a relational database, the New Mexico Mines Database. More than 8,000 mines are recorded in the New Mexico Mines Database and more than 7,000 are inactive or abandoned. These mines often include two or more actual mine features. Past funding has been from the Army Corps of Engineers, the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Lands Bureau of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, and EPSoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research; http://archive.nmepscor.org/). Some of this project is now funded under the U.S. Geological Survey EARTH MRI program (Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov).
Mapping suitability for Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) in the Albuquerque Basin
An aquifer can be considered like a bank account. The deposits or credits typically consist of natural recharge adding water to the aquifer (like precipitation or river water seeping into the ground and reaching the groundwater table). Withdrawals take water out of the aquifer, and can include discharge into rivers or pumping of wells. Most cities are concerned with the withdrawal side of the equation and hope nature takes care of the deposits. But Albuquerque has undertaken the progressive measure of inputting additional recharge (deposits) now so there will be sufficient water for future withdrawals, something called managed aquifer recharge (MAR). To that end, the Albuquerque and Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) has recently completed a well for deep injection of excess river water into the aquifer, and is currently running surface water down the upper part of Bear Canyon Arroyo for near-surface recharge.
The work is funded by the ABCWUA and conducted by Dan Koning (P.I.), Colin Cikoski, Andy Jochems, and Alex Rinehart (now at NMT EES). The results have been released as Open-file Report 605 and as a summary Fact Sheet.
Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes
There are tens of thousands of inactive mine features in 274 mining districts in New Mexico (including coal, uranium, metals, and industrial minerals districts). However, many of these mines have not been inventoried or prioritized for reclamation or reprocessing. Many of these mines have existing mine wastes, generated during mineral production, which could have potential for critical minerals, especially since the actual mineral production was generally for precious and base metals and not critical minerals. The purpose of this project is to inventory, characterize and estimate the critical mineral endowment of mine wastes using USGS sampling procedures. This project is important to the state of New Mexico because critical mineral resources must be identified before land exchanges, withdrawals or other land use decisions are made by government officials. Future mining of mine wastes that potentially contain critical minerals will directly benefit the economy of New Mexico. Possible re-mining and/or reprocessing of mine wastes could clean up these sites and pay for reclamation. Furthermore, this project will include training of younger, professional geologists and students in economic and reclamation geology by the PIs.