Bureau of Geology News

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology Mineral Museum was the featured exhibit at the East Coast Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Show in Springfield, Massachusetts from August 9^th-11^th, 2019. This particular show is unique in that only one institution or collector is responsible for filling all 52 display cases with minerals, as opposed to the typical format in which multiple institutions and collectors focusing on one display case each.

On July 26 - 28, Bureau of Geology Deputy Director Mike Timmons led a group of New Mexico Tech alumni on a rafting trip down the Rio Chama in North Central New Mexico. Timmons, who runs the Bureau’s mapping program and is an expert river runner, has rafted the Rio Chama close to 30 times and is working on a Rio Chama geology book for the Bureau publications. [see more on our FaceBook page]

Dr. Daniel Cadol, New Mexico Tech, and Dr. Talon Newton, New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources received a faculty grant award administered by NM W ater Resources Research Institute at New Mexico State University for their proposed project: "Evaluating focused aquifer recharge in arid regions using chloride profile analysis." This funding comes from the United States Geological Survey through the 104B funding program. For more information about this project, see the NM WRRI award announcement.

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology is soon to publish the results of a detailed study about the groundwater within the Plains of San Agustin. This research, led by Dr. Alex Rinehart and Dan Koning, involved geologic mapping, analysis of wells and other subsurface data, water geochemistry, extensive water level measurements, analysis of geophysical data.

Today is the one year anniversary of the San Antonio, NM, flash flood. The July 16 event flooded at least 18 homes and farm fields in San Antonio and knocked out power to more than 1500 customers in Magdalena. The flood coincided with rain rates in the mountains to the west near 3 inches per hour. Ranchers upstream of the town estimated 30-foot water marks in canyons west of I-25. Parts of town saw up to two feet of mud. The railroad tracks just east of town were damaged as the flood undercut the tracks.

Magnitude 6.4 and 7.1 earthquakes struck the Mojave Desert in California on July 4 and July 5, respectively, causing an estimated $1 billion in economic losses. These quakes were the result of shallow strike-slip faulting in the Eastern California shear zone and were separated by nearly 250 M2.5+ tremblors over the course of 34 hours. Both earthquakes were recorded on sensors in the NMT Seismic Observatory.

The Water Foundation published an article in which the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and the recently passed Water Data Act (House Bill 651) are highlighted. HB 651, sponsored by Representatives Melanie A. Stansbury , Gail Armstrong, and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, gives state agencies funding and technical support to standardize water data collection and create tools that help water managers get quick and easy access to information on water resources. The ultimate goal of this act is to make water data in New Mexico widely and easily available, in order to be able to better understand and manage our state's precious water resources. We are fortunate to have the support and guidance of the Internet of Water, who are technical team, housed at Duke University, who specialize in modern data management. We look forward to seeing this effort evolve and support water science throughout our state.

An Albuquerque Journal article, published on June 28, describes the beauty and geologic interest of our local Quebradas Back Country Byway. In the article, the author highlights the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources' "Geologic Guide of Quebradas", co-published with the BLM, which features numbered stops to help visitors identify what they are looking at. The guide can be obtained at in the Bureau of Geology's bookstore, and at the BLM’s Socorro Office. A downloadable free PDF is also available. Anyone interested in New Mexico's scenic beauty, or fascinating geology, will not be disappointed by a visit to the Quebradas!

The Aquifer Mapping Program at the NM Bureau of Geology has recently been awarded a third year of a cooperative agreement with the USGS though the National Groundwater Monitoring Network . The NM Bureau of Geology, which joined the network in 2017, is one of many state surveys sharing data to this national program.

The NM Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources was awarded a nearly $150,000 award from the STATEMAP component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program for the next year. The competitive program requires a 50/50 match of state and federal funds, and New Mexico remains one of the top-ranked geological surveys in the nation for receiving this award.