Bureau of Geology News

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham proclaimed October 9-15 "Earth Science Week" in New Mexico.

In celebration at the the Bureau of Geology, our staff will present a series of radio spots on KUNM 89.9 FM at 7pm, Monday-Friday. The theme for these spots this year is: "Earth Science for a Sustainable World."

A new paper in Geosphere authored by bureau geologist Snir Attia focuses on the relationship between deformation and magmatism in the rock record of a Cretaceous volcanic arc preserved in the central Sierra Nevada of eastern California. Using a new tectonic reconstruction and structural synthesis based on decades of mapping, field data, and structural observations as well as hundreds of zircon U-Pb rock ages, this paper paints a new picture that is significantly different than previously thought.

A weeklong summer camp at New Mexico Tech recently provided a venue for undergraduate students from New Mexico and other states to be exposed to research, field work, and lab opportunities related to geochemistry and minerals, especially rare earth elements. The Minerals and Fluids Summer Camp, offered July 25 to 29, 2022, was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to promote science and educational opportunities for students traditionally underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math.

New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources seismologist, Mairi Litherland, was interviewed by Curtis Segarra from KRQE for a story about earthquakes in New Mexico. Dr. Litherland manages the New Mexico Tech Seismic Observatory. In the article, she explains how most of the earthquakes in NM are associated with extension along the Rio Grande rift. However, there has been a substantial increase in seismicity in southeast NM that is related to petroleum extraction. In particular, the disposal of of produced water via injection into deep wells has triggered many earthquakes in the region.

Brick-red, K-feldspar-rich episyenites and carbonatites are found throughout New Mexico that contain anomalous concentrations of rare earth elements. Modern technology increasingly relies on rare earth elements (REE), which are now considered as critical minerals. This new paper discusses the geololgy, geochemistry, and gechronology of these important and interesting rocks.

A new paper in GEOLOGY co-authored by bureau geologist Matt Zimmerer focuses on the build-up to climactic supervolcano eruptions. Using more than a decades worth of radiometric dates generated in the bureau's geochronology lab, in combination with mapping by the USGS, researchers discovered a pattern in the small-volume eruptions that predate larger-volume caldera-forming eruptions. This work shows that prior to supervolcanic eruptions many volcanic fields enter a period of reduced activity for ~500,000 to 2-million-years. During this time, magma accumulates (rather than erupts) into the large volume reservoirs that ultimately lead to a supereruption. Although the study focused on extinct volcanoes in southern Colorado, the work has important implications for young volcanic systems that are currently in dormant periods of activity, such as NM’s Valles caldera.

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology’s Geologic Mapping Program was awarded $668,850 through the United States Geological Survey’s STATEMAP program to continue detailed geologic mapping in New Mexico, the largest award ever received and the most funds awarded to any program in the country this year. The award also vaulted the Bureau to the top of the list for the total amount of funds awarded to an individual agency during the 30-year history of the program, a total of over $6,681,600.

The April 2022 newsletter published by the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute profiled New Mexico Bureau of Geology Hydrogeologist Dr. Talon Newton, whose work focuses on water chemistry, working with groundwater recharge models, and cave and karst hydrogeology. Within the Aquifer Mapping Program, Newton’s research projects include the hydrogeology of the Snowy River Passage in Ft. Stanton Cave, modeling recharge in the Salt Basin, and water quality monitoring in the Animas River following the Gold King Mine spill in 2015.

Access the full article here.

The article published online by Digital Trends focused on developing methods for extracting rare earth elements, or REEs, from recycled electronics, coal fly ash, and mineral ores, and featured Dr. Alexander Gysi, Economic Geologist with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Professor in New Mexico Tech’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Department. REEs are metals found in components of smart phones, green technologies, and batteries. Gysi’s lab researches the behavior of REE-bearing fluids at high temperatures and pressures, how REE deposits form, and how they can be extracted.

Read the full article here and learn more about Gysi’s work in the Bureau’s Ore Deposits and Critical Minerals Research Laboratory.

The Poetry of Geology is a multi-paneled artwork consisting of two wall reliefs installed 20 feet off the floor on facing walls in the three-story light-filled atrium lobby of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources building. The project was funded by New Mexico’s Art in Public Places program.