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The Valles caldera, located in the heart of the Jemez Mountains in north-central New Mexico, is the world’s premier example of a resurgent caldera, a giant circular volcano with an uplifted central floor and a near-perfect ring of roughly 15 postcaldera lava dome and flow eruptions.

This new Valles caldera map and cross sections represent the cumulative research efforts of countless geologists over the past 40 years, and several state and federal agencies. GM–79 compiles detailed geologic mapping completed in the past eight years from parts of the nine 7.5–min USGS topographic quadrangles that encompass the caldera. More than 150 map units are described in detail. Also incorporated are new geochronologic data and recent refinements to nomenclature.

Available folded or rolled (additional charge of $5.00 for rolled).
$18.95 plus $6.50 for shipping and handling and 5% gross receipts tax for NM residents.

There is also a bandana and puzzle version of this geologic map available.

The history behind the Department of Geological Sciences at New Mexico State University goes back one hundred and thirty years and is complex. This history, as told in the pages of this monograph, documents the important details behind the founding of the NMSU geology program and its growth and evolution to 2015. The program's history is conveniently divided into three administrative phases. Phase I comprises the first 55 years, during which the program's activities were managed by one or two regular academic departments of the University. In the Earth Sciences phase, the geology program was administered as a division, along with one or two other divisions in the same department. In its third phase, the geology program became a regular academic department within the College of Arts and Sciences, its current status as the Department of Geological Sciences. Two obvious legacies of NMSU's geology program are the Department of Geological Sciences and the geophysics program in the Department of Physics. However, the program's legacy is also reflected in the students who have taken its courses and the program's research output through the efforts of its faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Since the mid-1960s, the geology program has produced a vast amount of research that has led to a sophisticated understanding of the geology of southern New Mexico and adjacent areas. Finally, through a better understanding of the geology program's academic evolution, the program's alumni and current students, faculty, and staff will have a more profound appreciation of their academic experience at New Mexico State University

Note:
This publication can be downloaded for free or can be purchased as an on-demand printed book.

The 2024 New Mexico Geological Society (NMGS) Fall Field Conference will be centered in Bernalillo, New Mexico. The history of this community, like much of New Mexico, is that of a nexus involving very long interactions among Indigenous, Hispano, Anglo, and other cultures. Our geoheritage gains strength from this unique cultural richness as well as our unique geology. We thank the Pueblos of Santa Ana, Zia, and Jemez, as this field conference studies geology across their present and traditional homelands. We recognize and honor them as original caretakers with deep connections to the land. Geology (study of the Earth) is also part of their Indigenous knowledge systems. Rivers are another theme of this field conference; the Rio Grande, Rio Jemez, and Rio Puerco have shaped our landscapes and host many of our stops and discussions.

We are trying new things for the 74th NMGS Fall Field Conference. The traditional minipapers are peer reviewed and folded in with the technical papers this year rather than included with the road log section. All the papers and road logs are open access and freely available on the NMGS website in PDF format during and after the meeting (https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/74). To save costs and paper, we are printing fewer hard copies of the full guidebook, mainly just for participants and libraries. Hold onto yours; it may be worth a fortune some day!

The geologic theme is the Nacimiento nexus. You know you are at a nexus when you find yourself in the middle of something. In this case, the Nacimiento nexus is where three major physiographic provinces meet: the Colorado Plateau, the Rocky Mountains, and the Rio Grande rift. Also converging at this crossroads are the northeast-trending Jemez lineament and the Jemez Mountains containing the Valles Caldera supervolcano. To examine the Nacimiento nexus requires a synthesis of the things that make the adjoining provinces similar and different (Karlstrom et al., 2024). The details can be complex but the summary is simple: the Rocky Mountains, Colorado Plateau, and Rio Grande rift share many aspects of a common geologic history of Proterozoic crust formation, regional Paleozoic and Mesozoic depositional systems that record the biological evolution of life on Earth, and a multistage Cenozoic uplift and denudation history that has shaped our landscapes. The spectacular region near San Ysidro lays bare aspects of each of these shared chapters of New Mexico's geology.

This scientific theme may carry momentum into future NMGS field conferences. Next year, the 2025 fall field conference - NMGS's 75th - will be centered in Cuba and will examine the Colorado Plateau edge and the San Juan Basin. The following year, the 2026 fall field conference (the 76th) will be centered in the Albuquerque area and will focus on the Rio Grande rift and rocks exposed in its rift-flanks.

Mirror Lake, one of seven sinkhole lakes, or cenotes, in Bottomless Lakes State Park, is located at the downgradient end of the regional hydrologic system in the Roswell Artesian Basin. Recharge to the artesian aquifer occurs on the Pecos Slope west of Roswell by direct infiltration from precipitation and by runoff from intermittent losing streams flowing eastward across the San Andres limestone outcrop. Groundwater flows east and south, then upward through leaky overlying gypsum confining beds of the Seven Rivers Formation in the Pecos River Valley, where the potentiometric surface in the artesian aquifer is above ground level. Dissolution of gypsum beds caused by this upward artesian flow created and continues to enlarge the cenotes along the Seven Rivers Escarpment. Overflow from Lea Lake, the southernmost and largest of the Bottomless Lakes sinkholes, amounts to roughly 15,000 acre-ft/yr and has caused an expansion of wetlands to the west, which are now hydraulically connected to the Pecos River, resulting in a net gain in streamflow and an increase in salinity in the river downstream from the park.

The gentle eastward regional dip of the area is locally reversed along the escarpment, where strata of the Seven Rivers Formation dip abruptly southwest by as much as 40°. This local dip reversal, clearly visible in the walls of Mirror Lake, is probably not tectonic but the result of subsurface dissolution of gypsum by ascending artesian groundwater and consequent slumping of overlying beds.

There are two versions of this guidebook available, the complete guidebook (152 pages), and a version with just the road logs that is spiral bound (76 pages).

This set of 8 postcards highlight flourites found throughout New Mexico. Each variety was photographed by Jeff Scovil. Send these back to your mineral collecting friends when you are on your next rock hounding adventure.

This calendar highlights photographs from the fine amateur photographers on staff at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology. We hold an annual internal contest, and the winning images are used for our calendar. These images were taken throughout the state, and most are geologically themed.

This bulletin synthesizes 177 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and 54 radiocarbon dates, as well as detailed sediment size and chemical signature data, to document the history of eolian sand deposition during the late Pleistocene and Holocene in southeastern New Mexico. The authors use this history, which is based on 20 years of field observations, to assess the preservation potential of archeological sites in this area. The bulletin is richly illustrated with photographs and figures that clearly tell the story of unearthing discoveries that were previously hidden beneath the shifting sands of southeastern New Mexico.

The Geologic Map of the Mount Taylor Volcano Area, New Mexico 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.

For such a complex volcanic landform, the report provides an exhaustive description of the volcano area in an easy-to-read format. In addition to providing a detailed description of each of the map’s 339 units and dikes, it documents the volcano’s history and history of research, its geochemical and petrographic composition, the phases of its construction ranging from the initial to the terminal eruptions, 3.72–1.26 million years ago, and its subsequent erosion, resulting in the summit Amphitheater and its extensive apron of debris. It describes the surrounding volcanic centers, the structure of the area, and the extensive dikes and maars. After touching on the water resources, hydrothermal alteration and mineralization, and geothermal potential, the report concludes with a conceptual model of volcano evolution.

Available folded or rolled on field-durable media. There is also a puzzle version of this geologic map.

The Mt. Taylor area is a crossroad where geologic history, human history, and societal impacts intersect. Situated on the eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau and flanking the transition zone to the Rio Grande rift, Mt. Taylor is a late Pliocene stratovolcano located on the Jemez Lineament, an enigmatic NE-trending alignment of late Cenozoic volcanic centers. Mt. Taylor lies along the southeast margin of the San Juan Basin bounded by the Zuni (south) and Nacimiento (east) uplifts. Mt. Taylor also has some of the richest uranium deposits in the United States.

The human history of the Mt. Taylor region is no less compelling. Indigenous communities lived here for thousands of years despite Spanish conquest and the establishment of land grants. In the 1800s, the area was settled as part of a U.S. territory, bringing with it commerce such as the railroad and timber industries, and later the uranium boom and its lasting legacy. Additional corridors of commerce opened with Route 66, succeeded by Interstate 40. The designation of Mt. Taylor as a Traditional Cultural Property recognizes the mountain's importance to Native, Spanish and U.S. cultures.

The papers in this volume cover a spectrum of topics, ranging from geologic studies and mining history to the effects of mining on the population and the environment today.

There are two versions of this guidebook available, the complete guidebook (310 pages), and a version with just the road logs that is spiral bound (94 pages).

Clip one of these lanyards to your hand lens and sling it around your neck for your next adventure in the field. Various colors are available, so specify in the comments which color choices you prefer. We'll send you a random color otherwise.

Earth is warming in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Global climate models project an average temperature increase across New Mexico of 5° to 7° F over the next 50 years. Other primary impacts are decreased water supply (partly driven by thinner snowpacks and earlier spring melting), lower soil moisture levels, increased frequency and intensity of wildfires, and increased competition and demand for scarce water resources. Snowpack and associated runoff are projected to decline substantially over the next 50 years, generating diminished headwater streamflow. Flow in the state's major rivers is projected to decline by 16% to 28%, and the frequency of extreme precipitation events, coupled with fire-driven disruption of vegetation in watersheds, is projected to at least double river sediment. The impacts of climate change on New Mexico's water resources are overwhelmingly negative.

The bulletin, which is the scientific foundation upon which New Mexico's 50-Year Water Plan is based, represents a compilation, assessment and integration of existing peer-reviewed published research, technical reports and datasets relevant to the broad topic of changes to New Mexico climate over the next 50 years, and resultant impact on water resources. This project, also known as the "Leap Ahead" analysis, also identifies significant data and modeling gaps and uncertainties, and suggests research directions to strengthen our understanding of climate and water resource changes