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The suitability for managed aquifer recharge (MAR) in the eastern Albuquerque metropolitan area was mapped using weighted overlay analyses. The study area extends from the Rio Grande eastward to the Sandia Mountains and from Sandia Pueblo southward to ~1 mi (~2 km) south of Tijeras Arroyo. This area is under the jurisdiction of the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA), which will likely be the main user of this work.

We produced two maps for MAR suitability, each with a grid cell resolution of 100 x 100 m: one showing the suitability for deep-injection recharge (i.e., pumping water directly into the saturated zone) and the other for shallow recharge (by infiltration or vadose- zone injection). These maps depict three color-coded suitability bins—low suitability, moderate suitability, and high suitability—as well as exclusionary zones. A third map predicts the susceptibility of different areas to soil hydrocompaction, a potential adverse consequence of infiltrating surface water into certain types of previously unsaturated soils.

This report includes map plates showing results of analyses as well as GIS data for the plates. Appendices also provide source data and analyses steps (see below).

East-central New Mexico is dependent on groundwater from the High Plains aquifer for agricultural, municipal, industrial, and domestic uses. Ongoing declines of water levels in the High Plains aquifer are well-known and have led residents and decision-makers to speculate on the usable life of the aquifer. This Bulletin presents aquifer lifetime projections for eastcentral New Mexico based on projecting historical water-level trends into the future using over 1,500 wells. Projections for the useful lifetime of the aquifer for agricultural and municipal/domestic-use scenarios are described. Several quantitative measures of the reliability of the results are presented. The results are stark, with projected usable lifetimes in many areas only ten years or less. Much of the region already has insufficient saturated thickness for the operation of large-capacity irrigation wells.

This vibrant 19 x 27" 1000 piece puzzle version of our Geologic Map of Mount Taylor will keep you from finishing that geochemistry paper you should be writing.

The Mount Taylor area occupies 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, Mount Taylor is a late Pliocene stratovolcano located on the Jemez Lineament, an enigmatic NE-trending alignment of late Cenozoic volcanic centers. Mount Taylor lies along the southeast margin of the San Juan Basin bounded by the Zuni (south) and Nacimiento (east) uplifts. Mount Taylor also has some of the richest uranium deposits in the United States.

The human history of the Mount 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, settlement of this U.S. territory came, as did the railroad and timber industries, and later the uranium boom and its lasting legacy. Corridors of commerce opened with Route 66, succeeded by Interstate 40. The designation of Mount Taylor as a Traditional Cultural Property recognizes the mountain's importance to Native, Spanish and U.S. cultures.

The papers in this online volume, NMGS Special Publication 14, were written for the 2020 NMGS fall field conference guidebook. The field conference was postponed to 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 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.

Download this book as a free PDF from the NMGS website.

This Resource Map locates and describes 246 mining areas in New Mexico (excluding coal fields). The included booklet begins with a brief description of the history of mining in New Mexico and is followed by discussions of previous work, mining claims, the definition of a mining district, mining methods, and classification of mineral deposits. Short descriptions of individual mining districts and prospect areas in New Mexico are in Appendix 1. Appendix 2 includes metal production from selected districts. Appendix 3 is a summary of previous mining districts maps. This report updates File and Northrop (1966), Howard (1967), and Mardirosian (1971), the last comprehensive summaries of all mining districts in New Mexico.

The Rio Grande is the fourth longest river in North America. Flowing nearly 2,000 miles from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico, in New Mexico it occupies the Rio Grande Valley, where it provides water for habitat, agriculture, and a growing population. In northern New Mexico, where the river has carved a pair of spectacular canyons, the Rio Grande also provides some of the most exceptional recreation opportunities and scenery in North America. This comprehensive, spiral bound, waterproof, 122-page river guide provides detailed, full-color maps of 153 miles of the Rio Grande, from Lasauses, Colorado to Cochiti Dam in New Mexico. Divided into eleven river stretches—including the popular whitewater runs in the Taos Box, Racecourse, and White Rock Canyon—the guide covers stretches that range in difficulty from placid canoe tours to gripping kayak descents. The river maps are developed on an aerial photographic base (digital orthophoto quads), allowing the user to more easily identify locations.

The geology of the region is likewise exceptional. The river spills from the San Juan Mountains into the Rio Grande rift, where several million years of erosive action have exposed a geologic cornucopia, including three major volcanic fields (including the Jemez supervolcano), seismically active faults, extinct Pleistocene lakes, and ancient rocks of the Rocky Mountains. The guide uses non-technical language and lavish illustrations to interpret the evolution of this magnificent landscape.

Although the focus of the guide is on geology and landscape, the guide is packed with information and photos on geography, hydrology, climate, boating safety, river management, rock art, and much more. Providing detailed information on access and trails, history and landscape, railroads and mining, this guide is also an invaluable resource for hikers, anglers, cyclists, day trippers, historians, philosophers, and casual visitors.

• Winner, 2011 National Outdoor Book Award for best Outdoor Adventure Guidebook
• Winner, 2012 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in Travel category
• Winner, 2012 New Mexico Book Association, Southwest Book Design & Production Award for Guide & Travel Books
• Silver Award, 2012 PubWest Book Design Award for Guide/Travel Book

This boxed set of six volumes provides the most comprehensive and extensive review of New Mexico’s energy and mineral resources to-date. Each volume focuses on the geologic nature of the resource, the history of the resource development in New Mexico, and their importance to the world and New Mexico’s economy. Written by New Mexico’s own experts in the fields, this set covers energy resources of petroleum, natural gas, coal, uranium, and geothermal, along with the resources of metals and industrial minerals and rocks.

This memoir is published jointly by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources and the New Mexico Geological Society.

Energy and Mineral Resources of New Mexico, NMBGMR, Memoir 50 and NMGS Special Publication 13 (six-volume boxed set)

A: Petroleum Geology — Ronald F. Broadhead

B: Coal Resources — Gretchen K. Hoffman

C: Uranium Resources — Virginia T. McLemore and William L. Chenoweth

D: Metallic Mineral Deposits — Virginia T. McLemore and Virgil W. Lueth

E: Industrial Minerals and Rocks — Virginia T. McLemore and George S. Austin

F: Overview of the Valles Caldera (Baca) Geothermal System — Fraser Goff and Cathy J. Goff

Few places in the U.S. boast as rich a diversity of landscape and public lands as northern New Mexico. Here in one volume is an authoritative overview of the geology of these parks, monuments, and public lands, with information on the regional setting, the rock record, and the most prominent geologic features. The book includes chapters on nine national parks and monuments, seventeen state parks, and many of the most popular Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service units in this part of the state. Also included are chapters on two of our newer units, the Valles Caldera National Preserve and Kashe-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. With nearly 300 full-color geologic maps, graphics, and photographs, the book is a perfect introduction to the some of New Mexico's most significant geologic landscapes.

Free sample chapter—Ghost Ranch (4 MB PDF)

The Raton-Clayton area is known for its intertwined geologic, biologic, and human histories. Over thirty years have passed since the NMGS Fall Field Conference was last held in northeastern NM. Recently, numerous workers have focused on Mesozoic stratigraphy, Laramide tectonics, late Quaternary volcanism, landscape evolution, groundwater characterization, and induced seismicity. The field conference will highlight aspects of the current and ongoing research. The area hosts spectacular and diverse geology, often overlooked by travellers to this part of the state. We will examine the geologic, biological, and human histories of the mesas, volcanic peaks, and numerous valleys that riddle the landscape of the hi-lo country.

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.