Postcards from the Field

Limestone and dolomite are carbonate sedimentary rocks generally formed in marine settings from the precipitation of calcium in seawater, often via biological processes. Limestones are rich in the calcium carbonate minerals aragonite and calcite, while dolomite contains the mineral dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2). These rocks may preserve fossils, helping geologists to determine the age of carbonate-containing formations. The porosity of some carbonate rocks can make them efficient petroleum reservoirs. Carbonate rocks are also excellent hosts for some types of ore deposits, such as Mississippi Valley Type lead-zinc deposits.

WDI is currently collaborating with the Pecos Valley Artesian Conservancy District (PVACD) to build web applications to help manage and share data in the Pecos Valley region of southern New Mexico. This work is part of a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART applied science cooperative grant, which began in 2020.

In January 2023, The WDI team went to Roswell, New Mexico to visit the PVACD to learn in-person about details of their data workflow challenges and day-to-day operations related to water data. This visit also included getting feedback on some new applications WDI has in development.

Just before the winter break, Bureau of Geology and NM Tech staff and students hosted the US Geological Survey (USGS) during field work related to the critical minerals in mine wastes project. Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Virginia McLemore, Senior Economic Geologist and Bonnie Frey, Chemistry Lab Manager, along with other Bureau staff joined by Dr. Dan Jones, Geobiologist with NMT’s EES department and numerous students collected rock, water, and bio samples at the Copper Flat Mine near Hillsboro NM. USGS geologists Robert Seal and Kate Campbell-Hay observed our field procedures as part of future work. The NM Bureau of Geology

Not only do geologists collect waters from the surface and wells, but we occasionally collect water samples from underground adits. An adit is a flat or slightly declining underground tunnel with only one entrance to the surface that miners use to access the ore body, generally to remove ore. When mining stops, the adits locally flood. In the Critical Minerals in Mine Wastes project funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, we are examining mine wastes for their critical mineral concentrations.

Located in the Lemitar Mountains 5 miles west of the village of Lemitar, 7,292-feet-high Polvadera Peak is neither the highest nor most isolated mountain in Socorro County. However, its location in the central Rio Grande Rift gives anyone standing on its summit an incredible view of many geologic features of the rift and surrounding provinces, including the Rocky Mountains, High Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Mogollon-Datil Volcanic Field.

Over several weeks in November, I have been visiting a set of dikes, sills, and plugs that outcrop across eastern New Mexico. These igneous rocks represent the easternmost magmatism related to the past 350 million years of tectonic activity responsible for shaping what is now western North America!