Geology topics
Research about New Mexico
Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including New Mexico.
Geology and asphalt deposits of north-central Guadalupe County, New Mexico
No abstract available.
Geology of the Lucero uplift, Valencia, Socorro, and Bernalillo Counties, New Mexico
No abstract available.
Mica deposits of the Petaca district, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Wartime increases in demand for mica of strategic quality, beryllium, tantalum, columbium, tin, lithium, and uranium have focused attention on pegmatite deposits more sharply during recent years than ever before. Not only have numerous technical developments of the past few decades involved new uses for these commodities, but during the recent period of emergency these and other uses were greatly expanded. The attendant rapid increases in demand and a heavy dependence on foreign sources of supply soon confirmed the need for a careful appraisal of domestic resources of the minor pegmatite minerals. This need had been foreseen prior to 1939, when the Federal Geological Survey (GS) began a program of pegmatite investigations that attained nation-wide scope by the spring of 1942.
Ground-water conditions in the vicinity of Carlsbad, New Mexico
The area included in this investigation lies in Eddy County, New Mexico, largely between the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains on the west and the Pecos River on the east, and extends from Carlsbad southward to Black River. The Pecos River drains the entire area, and in the growing season when water is diverted at Avalon Dam for irrigation its flow in this locality is maintained largely by the numerous springs emerging in the river channel north of Carlsbad. Carlsbad and vicinity depend on ground water fro a domestic water supply as the waters of the Pecos River are too highly mineralized for domestic use. About 1,120 acres of land was irrigation by ground water in the vicinity of Carlsbad in 1940. Valley fill, of Quaternary age, extends over most of the area, largely as a thin veneer, but it has a maximum known thickness of 256 feet. It is made up largely of clay with lenses of conglomerate, gravel, and sand. The Rustler formation, of upper Permian age, underlies the fills and is composed of gypsum and red beds with one persistent bed of limestone. The Salado formation, which is composed chiefly of halite (common salt), underlies the Rustler formation elsewhere buy it is absent over most of the area described in this paper. This Castile formations, which is predominantly anhydrite, underlies the Salado and overlies the Delaware Mountain group, of middle Permian age, which is deeply buried in most of the area. The upper part of the Delaware Mountain group grades into the Capitan and Carlsbad limestones to the north, east, and west, the latter being exposed near Carlsbad and in the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountain. The Carlsbad limestone in turn grades into the upper part of the Chalk Bluff formation. Ground water apparently moves eastward from the Guadalupe Mountains through the Carlsbad limestone to recharge the aquifers in the Delaware Mountain, Castile, and Salado units. In these formations the water soon becomes too highly mineralized for domestic or irrigation use. A large part of the water in the Carlsbad limestone emerges in the spring area north of Carlsbad, and a part of it moves into the valley fill in Dark Canyon Arroyo. The water in the fill of Dark Canyon Arroyo moves laterally into the limestone of the Rustier formation. The water moving eastward in the valley fill and Rustier limestone becomes progressively more mineralized and in the farmland area in the Carlsbad Irrigation Dstrict it is unfit for domestic use. In addition, highly mineralized water seeping from the farmlands and canals in the Carlsbad Irrigation District commingles with the water from the west, and the resulting mixture is undesirable even for watering stock, although if necessity it is much used for that purpose. Water occurs in channels of the Carlsbad limestone, and wells drilled into it generally obtain large yields id hard but potable water. The municipal supply of the city of Carlsbad is derived from 4 wells (1940) in the Carlsbad limestone. The aquifer has a high transmissibility in the vicinity of Carlsbad, as was shown by a test made on one of the wells owned by Southwestern Public Service Co. This well has a specific capacity of 275 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown. The present withdrawal of water from wells penetrating the aquifers in the Carlsbad limestone averages about 4 second-feet (about 2,600,00 gallons a day). The average flow emerging in the spring area in the Pacos River north of Carlsbad is about 60 second-feet (about 40 million gallons a day). It appears that about 12 second-feet of this flow (about 8 million gallons a day) comes from aquifers in the Carlsbad limestone and that the remainder represents leakage from Lake Avalon and the canal system. The valley fill is less permeable than the Carlsbad limestone but in some places sufficient yields are obtained for irrigation purposes. A test made on a well in the fill just south of Carlsbad showed the aquifer in that locality to have a transmissibility of about 60,000. Contamination of the household wells in West Carlsbad does not appear to be taking place at the present time although the juxtaposition of cesspools and outhouses on the one hand and poorly cased wells for domestic water supply on the other makes the situation dangerous.
The 21 and 27 fluorspar mines, Zuni Mountains, Valencia County, New Mexico
The 21 and 27 mines, near the southeastern end of the Zuni Mountains and about 14 miles southwest of Grants, Valencia County, N. Mex., are in one of the most productive fluorspar areas in the West. They were named after sections 21 and 27, respectively, of T. 9 N., R. 11 W., in which they are located. The veins were discovered in December 1940 by James Mallery, and since then the two mines have produced about 120,000 tons of crude ore. Each mine has a shaft of about 300 feet deep and several thousands of feet of workings. Both mines are operated by the Zuni Milling Co., and the ore is treated in a flotation mill at Los Lunas, N. Mex.
Engineering report on the Grayburg Cooperative and unit area, Eddy County, New Mexico
This report covers the area committed to the Grayburg Cooperative and Unit Agreement (I-Sec. 370) approved by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior on October 5, 1943, hereafter referred to as the "unit area", embracing 4,769.44 acres of public land in T. 17 S., Rs. 29 and 30 E., Eddy County, New Mexico. The area includes portions of the Anderson, Grayburg-Jackson, and Leonard oil fields as defined for proration purposes by the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission. The unit area is covered by Federal oil and gas leases owned by the Grayburg Oil Company of New Mexico and the Western Production Company, Inc. The Grayburg Unit Association has been formed and designated to conduct and manage all operations in the unit area. As of December 31, 1943, there were forty-six producing oil wells within the unit area. The report has been prepared for the purpose of assisting the Grayburg Unit Association in determining the proper locations of gas-injection wells and the best methods for future operation of the pressure-maintenance system that is being installed for the purpose of retarding the reservoir pressure decline and increasing the ultimate recovery of oil from the Grayburg Zone defined in the above-mentioned agreement as formations not more than 3300 feet below the surface. Data used in the report were obtained from records on file in the Geological Survey office at Roswell, New Mexico, and from the records of the Western Production Company and the Grayburg Oil Company. All data were carefully checked as to accuracy with engineers and field representatives of both companies.
"Ribbon rock", an unusual beryllium-bearing tactite
The beryllium deposits at Iron Mountain, near the northern end of the Sierra Cuchillo in Sierra and Socorro Counties, New Mexico, are unusual products of contact metamorphism. They occur in irregular bodies of tactile formed by replacement of Paleozoic limestone, generally at or near contacts with small intrusive masses of rhyolite, aplite, and fine-grained granite. The metamorphism took place in mid-Tertiary time. Beryllium is present chiefly in the complex silicate minerals helvite and danalite, and is a minor constituent of the garnet grossularite, a boron-bearing idocrase, and chlorite. These minerals are known to occur in noteworthy concentrations in only one type of rock, a peculiar rhythmically layered variety of tactile to which the name "ribbon rock" is given. The structure of such tactite is very conspicuous, and appears in section as thin, finely crenulated bands of magnetite alternating with similar bands of silicate minerals and finely crystalline fluorite. Concentric banding about fluorite-rich pod-like masses is common. Bodies of "ribbon rock" range in size from inch-thick lenses to large masses amounting to thousands of tons; most appear to have been formed along contacts between re-crystallized limestone and massive magnetite-andradite tactite, chiefly by replacing fluids penetrating the limestone from fractures. The layered structure is interpreted as a diffusion effect.The formation of massive and "ribbon rock" tactites can be traced through a range of falling temperature from a stage characterized by deposition from iron-rich vapors to a stage in which hydrothermal solutions were dominant. Both vapors and liquids appear to have been acid. Reducing conditions undoubtedly existed during the latter part of the hydrothermal stage. The occurrence of beryllium in "ribbon rock," but not in typical massive tactite, may signify that its compounds in deposits at or near intrusive contacts are confined to rocks of hydrothermal origin. The occurrence of "ribbon rock" is suggested as a potentially useful clue for recognition of beryllium-bearing contact deposits elsewhere; at least two other occurrences of what apparently is "ribbon rock" have been described in the literature.
Geology of the Cimarron Range, New Mexico
In north-central New Mexico the rugged Cimarron Range marks the eastern margin of the Southern Rocky Mountains, abruptly rising more than 5000 feet above the adjacent Great Plains. Structurally the range is a northward-plunging anticline with a core of pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks. Faulting along the eastern and western margins of the anticline separates the mountains from the Great Plains and the Moreno Valley. North of Cimarron Canyon the anticline plunges beneath the Tertiary sediments of the Raton Coal Basin. To the south the structure is obscured by the basaltic flows of the Ocaté Mesa. Upturned Paleozoic to Tertiary sedimentary rocks crop out along the eastern and northern margin of the anticlinal uplift. Regional relations are obscured by extensive Tertiary intrusions in the northern portion of the area and by the lava flows to the south. In the valley of Rayado Creek a volcanic plug which fed some of the lava flows has been exposed by erosion. In this region there is evidence for a Mid-Tertiary surface of low relief in the central portion of the mountains, a later lava-capped surface believed to be the equivalent of the Broad Valley Stage, the surface of the Park Plateau, and the Ocate Mesa. Three well-developed gravel-capped Pleistocene pediment surfaces extend steplike from the mountain front into the Great Plains. Both structurally and topographically the Cimarron Range is similar to the Colorado Front Range. An attempt is made to reconstruct the geologic history of the Cimarron Range and to fit it into the broader story of the development of the Southern Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. © 1943 Geological Society of America.
Geology and ore deposits of the Magdalena mining district, New Mexico
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Geology of the Moreno Valley, New Mexico
The Moreno Valley, located along the complex eastern boundary between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Great Plains, is structurally a broad, northwardplunging syncline, disrupted by smaller folds and faults. This major synclinal structure is the result of the Laramide disturbance. Deformation, however, has continued possibly into the Quaternary. Intrusions, probably contemporaneous with those of the Spanish Peaks, have deformed the strata in the northern portion of the Moreno Valley. Scully Mountain is a northwestward-plunging anticline produced by a porphyry intrusion. A Mid-Tertiary surface of low relief is now represented by broad mountain flats at elevations near 10,000 feet. The Moreno Valley was initiated as a topographic feature about the close of the Mid-Tertiary. Its subsequent history is in many respects similar to that of the Rio Grande Depression. During the Quaternary a broad valley stage and three lower pediments have been developed. The lowest pediments are cut on deformed valley fill, believed to be Pliocene and here named the Eagle Nest formation. The early drainage of the valley was south and east into the Canadian River. Stream piracy by the Cimarron River diverted drainage to the east through the present Cimarron Canyon into the Canadian River. Drainage south of the point of capture has been reversed for about 14 miles, the present stream draining the southern portion of the Moreno Valley flowing northward to the Cimarron River. © 1941 Geological Society of America.
Manganese deposits in the Little Florida Mountains, Luna County, New Mexico, a preliminary report
No abstract available.
Tin deposits of the Black Range, Catron and Sierra Counties, New Mexico: A preliminary report
No abstract available.
Floods in the Canadian and Pecos River basins of New Mexico, May and June 1937
In May and June floods occurred in the Canadian and Pecos River Basins of New Mexico that were unusually high and in many places were record breaking. The floods were caused by heavy rains that occurred over the eastern part of the State from May 23 to June 4 in a series of intense and intermittent storms. During these storms of the cloudburst type as much as 12 inches of rain fell in the 13-day period, and a fall of 7 inches in 2 hours and 40 minutes was reported from the vicinity of Clayton. Heavy rains also fell in the mountainous region west of Roswell, amounting to as much as l0 inches at some places. Much of the region that had excessive rainfall is relatively flat and has no well-defined drainage system. From these areas there was very little run-off and practically no water was contributed to the major streams. Hail fell at many places in eastern New Mexico, causing damage to crops, livestock, and other property. Hail fell somewhere in the Canadian and Pecos River Basins almost every day during the storm period, but the duration of the fall was generally short. The largest hailstones were reported from Clayton, where one stone measured 8 inches in circumference and weighed 9 ounces; at Centerville, where reports state that some stones were 9 to 10 inches in circumference; and near Roswell, where it was reported that six stones would fill a gallon bucket. The Canadian River flood reached a peak at Logan of 110,000 second-feet, which has been exceeded in this century only by the floods of 1904, 1909, and 1914. The total run-off at Logan for the flood period has been computed as 653,800 acre-feet. At Santa Rosa the Pecos River reached a maximum discharge of 88,200 second-feet, which is greater than any previously recorded. This flood was partly stored in the Alamogordo Reservoir; the peak below the reservoir was only 25,200 second-feet. The Pecos River flood at Roswell reached a maximum discharge of more than 80,000 second-feet. This water came mostly from tributaries that have .their sources in the mountainous area west of Roswell. The Cienaga del Macho, ordinarily a small dry creek, discharged about 49,800 second-feet at its peak. The Rio Hondo experienced several flood peaks, the largest at Roswell probably being near 20,000 second-feet. Berrendo Creek, which enters the Rio Hondo near Roswell, had a computed peak discharge of 37,700 second-feet. Roswell was subjected to several floods that inundated large areas of the town. Considerable damage was done by the water, which covered nearly all the area occupied by the town. Lake McMillan, an artificial reservoir on the Pecos River about 12 miles above Carlsbad, was put to a severe strain by the large quantity of water passing through it, but no serious damage resulted. The capacity of the lake at spillway level is about 39,000 acre-feet, but at the peak of the flood the lake held about 86,000 acre-feet. The total quantity of water passing through the lake during the flood period was more than 440,000 acre-feet. This report presents data pertinent to the floods of May and June 1937, including results of peak discharge determinations made at about 14 miscellaneous places, records of peak stages and discharges and of mean daily discharges during the flood period at 23 regular river-measurement stations, records of rainfall at about 190 places, an isohyetal map showing rainfall over the entire State and two isohyetal maps showing rainfall over the Canadian and Pecos River Basins, and a discussion of the weather conditions during the flood period, including an upper-air wind and pressure chart of the United States for May 28, 1937. In addition to the information listed above the report includes a summary of records of past floods at all places in New Mexico at which authentic records were available.