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At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
USGS2020

Landscape and climatic influences on actual evapotranspiration and available water using the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) Model in eastern Bernalillo County, New Mexico, 2015

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bernalillo County Public Works Division, conducted a 1-year study in 2015 to assess the spatial and temporal distribution of evapotranspiration (ET) and available water within the East Mountain area in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. ET and available water vary spatiotemporally because of complex interactions among environmental factors, including vegetation characteristics, soil characteristics, topography, and climate. Precipitation data from the Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) ( P ) were used in conjunction with actual ET ( ETa ) data from the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model to estimate available water ( P – ETa ) at 100-meter (m) resolution in the study area. Maps, descriptive statistics, boxplots, regression analyses (continuous data), and multiple comparison tests (categorical data) were used to characterize P , ETa , and available water and their relations to topographic, soil, and vegetation datasets in the East Mountain area. Five categories of the natural land-cover type (evergreen forest, shrub, herbaceous, deciduous forest, and mixed forest) and four categories of developed land-cover type specific to residential intensity (developed open, developed low, developed medium, and developed high) were analyzed individually and in interaction with multiple elevation, tree canopy, and soil texture classes. Annual mean P in 2015 in the East Mountain area was 608 millimeters (mm), and annual mean ETa was 543 mm (89 percent of annual P in 2015), indicating that in 2015, a spatial mean of about 65 mm of water was available for runoff, soil moisture replenishment, or groundwater recharge. Monthly ETa was greatest in July and smallest in January. The intervening months did not show smooth temporal or consistent spatial changes from month to month. Months with lower ETa (January to March, October to December) also tended to have greater available water, indicating that soil moisture (water supply) and potential ET (water demand) may have been out of phase. Regression analyses showed that monthly ETa data had the highest correlation with annual ETa among the atmospheric, topographic, soil, or vegetation datasets, particularly during the early and late growing season (March, April, May, and September). In contrast, monthly P was highly variable and not as highly correlated with annual ETa . Among landscape variables, correlations with annual ETa were highest for tree canopy cover (coefficient of determination [R 2 ] = 0.46). Correlations between ETa and other landscape variables were lower (R 2 = 0.06–0.19): available soil water in the top 100 centimeters, soil bulk density of layer 1, slope, sand content of soil layer 1, soil depth, available soil water in the top 25 centimeters, leaf area index, aspect eastness, and elevation. Evergreen forest areas had the highest annual median ETa , followed by mixed forest, open residential areas, and deciduous forest. Available water typically was higher in landcover types with lower ETa : herbaceous cover, followed by deciduous forest, high-intensity developed areas, and shrub. Deciduous forest had the second highest median available water, despite having the fourth highest ETa , because deciduous forest had greater P than most other areas. Annual median ETa typically was greatest in the second highest elevation band (2,401–2,800 m above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 [NAVD 88]), and lower in the highest elevation band (2,801–3,254 m above NAVD 88), despite having greater P , likely because of decreased tree canopy cover or a shift from evergreen to deciduous trees at the highest elevations. Annual median ETa increased with tree canopy cover, regardless of landcover type. ETa correlation was higher with tree canopy than with leaf area index or normalized difference vegetation index. This result indicates that it is important to include the thermal band (from satellite multispectral data) in vegetation indices used to describe ETa , perhaps to account for the influence of energy limitation or water limitation on ET. Of all natural landcover types, finer soils had the most available water, whereas coarser soils had the least available water. Relations of soil type with P – ETa were different than with ETa , indicating ET and available water have a complex response to differences in soil type. Further modeling would be useful in determining soils’ infiltration, storage, conductivity, and plant-water availability relations to individual storms for each position in the landscape, as well as the corresponding effects of these processes on ET and available water. The best multivariate linear model for annual ETa had an R 2 value of 0.62. Monthly ETa models had R 2 values between 0.16 and 0.65. Models usually, but not always, performed best during the growing season. These results indicate that even the best multivariate linear models cannot explain a notable amount of the variability in ET. The monthly ETa models with the highest correlations (August and September) followed a July having almost twice the mean precipitation for July (1981–2010), which indicates that a soil-moisture variable is needed to more accurately model monthly ETa . Further study is needed to better characterize this system, the variables that affect ET and available water, and the partitioning of available water into runoff, soil moisture storage, and groundwater recharge.

New Mexico↗
USGS2015

Preliminary geophysical interpretations of regional subsurface geology near the Questa Mine Tailing Facility and Guadalupe Mountain, Taos County, New Mexico

This report presents geophysical interpretations of regional subsurface geology in the vicinity of the Tailing Facility of the Questa Mine near Guadalupe Mountain, Taos County, New Mexico, in cooperation with the New Mexico Environment Department. The interpretations were developed from aeromagnetic data, regional gravity data, data from four ground magnetic traverses, geologic mapping, a digital elevation model, and information from a few shallow wells. The resolution of the geophysical data is only appropriate for a broad assessment of the regional setting. Aeromagnetic data provided the most comprehensive information for interpretation. Qualitative and semiquantitative interpretations indicate the nature and extent of volcanic rocks, their relative depths, and inferred contacts between them, as well as conjectured locations of faults. In particular, the aeromagnetic data indicate places where volcanic rocks extend at shallow depths under sedimentary cover. Trachydacites of Guadalupe Mountain are magnetic, but their associated aeromagnetic anomalies are opposite in sign over the northern versus the southern parts of the mountain. The difference indicates that lavas erupted during different magnetic-polarity events in the north (reverse polarity) versus the south (normal polarity) and therefore have different ages. We postulate a buried volcano with reverse-polarity magnetization lies under the northeast side of Guadalupe Mountain, which likely predated the exposed trachydacites. Faults interpreted for the study area generally align with known fault zones. We interpret a northern extension to one of these faults that crosses northwesterly underneath the Tailing Facility. Gravity data indicate that Guadalupe Mountain straddles the western margin of a subbasin of the Rio Grande rift and that significant (>400 meters) thicknesses of both volcanic and sedimentary rocks underlie the mountain.

New Mexico↗
USGS2006

Questa baseline and pre-mining ground-water quality investigation. 23. Quantification of mass loading from mined and unmined areas along the Red River, New Mexico

Along the course of the Red River, between the town of Red River, New Mexico, and the U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station near Questa, New Mexico, there are several catchments that contain hydrothermally altered bedrock. Some of these alteration zones have been mined and others have not, presenting an opportunity to evaluate differences that may exist in the mass loading of metals from mined and unmined sections. Such differences may help to define pre-mining conditions. Spatially detailed chemical sampling at stream and inflow sites occurred during low-flow conditions in 2001 and 2002, and during the synoptic sampling, stream discharge was calculated by tracer dilution. Discharge from most catchments, particularly those with alteration scars, occurred as ground water in large debris fans, which generally traveled downstream in an alluvial aquifer until geomorphic constraints caused it to discharge at several locations along the study reach. Locations of discharge zones were indicated by the occurrence of numerous inflows as seeps and springs. Inflows were classified into four groups, based on differences in chemical character, which ranged from near-neutral water showing no influence of mining or alteration weathering to acidic water with high concentrations of metals and sulfate. Acidic, metal-rich inflows occurred from mined and unmined areas, but the most-acidic inflow water that had the highest concentrations of metals and sulfate only occurred downstream from the mine. Locations of ground-water inflow also corresponded to substantial changes in stream chemistry and mass loading of metals and sulfate. The greatest loading occurred in the Cabin Springs, Thunder Bridge, and Capulin Canyon sections, which all occur downstream from the mine. A distinct chemical character and substantially greater loading in water downstream from the mine suggest that there could be impacts from mining that can be distinguished from the water draining from unmined areas.

New Mexico↗
USGS1968

Paleomagnetism, potassium-argon ages, and geology of rhyolites and associated rocks of the Valles Caldera, New Mexico

Paleomagnetic and potassium-argon studies support geologic evidence that the lower member of the Bandelier Tuff was deposited 1.4 m.y. ago. The upper member erupted about 1.0 m.y. ago and was followed by caldera collapse which formed the 12- to 14-mile diameter Valles Caldera. Postcaldera activity which resulted in the eruption of rhyolite domes and pyroclastic material, has occurred at about 0.9, 0.7, 0.5, and 0.4 m.y. ago, with later undated eruptions that were estimated at about 0.1 m.y. ago. These data from the Valles Caldera are the basis for the previously published age revision of the Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic polarity epoch boundary from 1.0 to 0.7 m.y. ago, and they were used to define the Jaramillo normal polarity event at about 0.9 m.y. ago (Doell and Dalrymple, 1966).

New Mexico↗
USGS2003

Geology of Paleozoic Rocks in the Upper Colorado River Basin in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, Excluding the San Juan Basin

The geology of the Paleozoic rocks in the Upper Colorado River Basin in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, was studied as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's Regional Aquifer-System Analysis Program to provide support for hydrogeological interpretations. The study area is segmented by numerous uplifts and basins caused by folding and faulting that have recurred repeatedly from Precambrian to Cenozoic time. Paleozoic rocks in the study area are 0-18,000 feet thick. They are underlain by Precambrian igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and are overlain in most of the area by Triassic formations composed mostly of shale. The overlying Mesozoic and Tertiary rocks are 0-27,000 feet thick. All Paleozoic systems except the Silurian are represented in the region. The Paleozoic rocks are divisible into 11 hydrogeologic units. The basal hydrogeologic unit consisting of Paleozoic rocks, the Flathead aquifer, predominantly is composed of Lower to Upper Cambrian sandstone and quartzite. The aquifer is 0-800 feet thick and is overlain gradationally to unconformably by formations of Cambrian to Mississippian age. The Gros Ventre confining unit consists of Middle to Upper Cambrian shale with subordinate carbonate rocks and sandstone. The confining unit is 0-1,100 feet thick and is overlain gradationally to unconformably by formations of Cambrian to Mississippian age. The Bighom aquifer consists of Middle Cambrian to Upper Ordovician limestone and dolomite with subordinate shale and sandstone. The aquifer is 0-3,000 feet thick and is overlain unconformably by Devonian and Mississipplan rocks. The Elbert-Parting confining unit consists of Lower Devonian to Lower Mississippian limestone, dolomite, sandstone, quartzite, shale, and anhydrite. It is 0-700 feet thick and is overlain conformably to unconformably by Upper Devonian and Mississippian rocks. The Madison aquifer consists of two zones of distinctly different lithology. The lower (Redwall-Leadville) zone is 0-2,500 feet thick and is composed almost entirely of Upper Devonian to Upper Mississippian limestone, dolomite, and chert. The overlying (Darwin-Humbug) zone is 0-800 feet thick and consists of Upper Mississippian limestone, dolomite, sandstone, shale, gypsum, and solution breccia. The Madison aquifer is overlain conformably by Upper Mississippian and Pennsylvanian rocks. The Madison aquifer in most areas is overlain by Upper Mississippian to Middle Pennsylvanian rocks of the Four Comers confining unit. The lower part of this confining unit, the Belden-Molas subunit, consists of as much as 4,300 feet of shale with subordinate carbonate rocks, sandstone, and minor gypsum. The upper part of the confining unit, the Paradox-Eagle Valley subunit, in most places consists of as much as 9,700 feet of interbedded limestone, dolomite, shale, sandstone, gypsum, anhydrite, and halite. Locally, the evaporitic rocks are deformed into diapirs as much as 15,000 feet thick. The Four Corners confining unit is overlain gradationally to disconformably by Pennsylvanian rocks. The uppermost Paleozoic rocks comprise the Canyonlands aquifer, which is composed of three zones with distinctly different lithologies. The basal (Cutler-Maroon) zone consists of as much as 16,500 feet of Lower Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian sandstone, conglomerate, shale, limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. The middle (Weber-De Chelly) zone consists of as much as 4,000 feet of Middle Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian quartz sandstone with minor carbonate rocks and shale. The upper (Park City-State Bridge) zone consists of as much as 800 feet of Lower to Upper Permian limestone, dolomite, shale, sandstone, phosphorite, chert, and gypsum. The Canyonlands aquifer is overlain disconformably to unconformably by formations of Triassic and Jurassic age.

Professional Paper↗
USGS1963

Preliminary report on the geology and hydrology of Mortandad Canyon near Los Alamos, New Mexico, with reference to disposal of liquid low-level radioactive waste

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, selected the upper part of Mortandad Canyon near Los Alamos, New Mexico for a site for disposal of treated liquid low-level radioactive waste. This report summarizes the part of a study of the geology and hydrology that was done from October 1960 through June 1961. Additional work is being continued. Mortandad Canyon is a narrow east-southeast-trending canyon about 9? miles long that heads on the central part of the Pajarito Plateau at an altitude of about 7,340 feet. The canyon is tributary to the Rio Grande. The drainage area of the part of Mortandad Canyon that was investigated is about 2 square miles, and the total drainage area is about 4.9 square miles. The Pajarito Plateau is capped by the Bandelier Tuff of Pleistocene age. Mortandad Canyon is cut in the Bandelier, and alluvium covers the floor of the canyon to depths ranging from less than 1 foot to as much as 100 feet. The Bandelier is underlain by silt, sand, conglomerate, and interbedded basalt of the Santa Fe Group of Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene(?) age. Some ground water is perched in the alluvium in the canyon; however, the top of the main aquifer is in the Santa Fe Group at a depth of about 990 feet below the canyon floor. Joints in the Bandelier Tuff probably were caused by shrinkage of the tuff during cooling. The joints range in width from hairline cracks to fissures several inches wide. Water can infiltrate along the open joints where the Bandelier is at the surface; however, soil, alluvial fill, and autochthonous clay inhibit infiltration on the tops of mesas and probably in the alluvium-floored canyons also. Thirty-three test holes, each less than 100 feet deep, were drilled in 10 lies across Mortandad Canyon from the western margin of the study area to just west of the Los Alamos-Santa Fe County line. Ten of the holes were cased for observation wells to measure water levels and collect water samples from the alluvium. Twenty-three of the holes were cased to seal out water and were used as access tubes to accommodate a neutron-neutron probe for determining the moisture content of the alluvium and tuff. The source of recharge for the perched ground-water body in the alluvium in Mortandad Canyon is the precipitation in the drainage area of the canyon. During the winter of 1960-61, a snowpack 1-2 feet thick accumulated in the narrow shaded upper part of the canyon. The alluvium below the snowpack received some recharge because of diurnal melting during the winter. In March 1961 the snowmelt water saturated most of the thin alluvium in the upper part of the canyon, and a surface stream began to flow on the alluvium. The maximum flow of the stream was about 250 gpm (gallons per minute). Water from the stream infiltrated the alluvium at the front of the stream and in the reach upstream from the front. A ground-water mound was formed beneath the channel by water infiltrating from the stream. The front of the stream and the front of the ground-water mound advanced eastward to about the middle of the area studied. From this point eastward, the alluvium was thick enough to absorb and transmit the amount of flow in 1961. Late in April the front of the stream retreated, and by the first of May the flow stopped. During and after this period the ground-water mound decayed, and ground-water levels declined in the upper part of the canyon as water drained into the channel and downgradient through the alluvium. The amount of recharge was small in the wide lower part of the canyon during the period of study. The rise in ground-water levels and the increase in moisture content of the alluvium in the lower part of the canyon indicate that water moved downgradient by underflow through the alluvium from the recharge area in the upper part of the canyon. Moisture measurements indicate that only a little water moved into the underlyin

Open-File Report↗
USGS2002

Merged digital aeromagnetic data for the middle Rio Grande and southern Espanola basins, New Mexico

The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently conducted a multi-disciplinary study of the Middle Rio Grande basin (Bartolino and Cole, 2002; Fig. 1). The main purpose of this study was to gain a better multi-dimensional understanding of the basin's hydrogeologic framework and use this new understanding to construct an improved regional ground-water flow model. The Middle Rio Grande basin fill serves as the primary water resource for Albuquerque and surrounding communities (Thorn and others, 1993). It is composed of poorly consolidated, Tertiary to Quaternary sediments, collectively called the Santa Fe Group. These sediments were deposited during the Tertiary to Quaternary development of the Rio Grande rift (Fig. 1, inset). The strata vary in thickness from 1,000 to more than 4,000 m and range from mudstone to conglomerate (Kelley, 1977; May and Russell, 1994).

New Mexico↗
USGS2014

Water quality, discharge, and groundwater levels in the Palomas, Mesilla, and Hueco Basins in New Mexico and Texas from below Caballo Reservoir, New Mexico, to Fort Quitman, Texas, 1889-2013

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Mexico Environment Department, compiled data from various sources to develop a dataset that can be used to conduct an assessment of the total dissolved solids in surface water and groundwater of the Palomas, Mesilla, and Hueco Basins in New Mexico and Texas, from below Caballo Reservoir, N. Mex., to Fort Quitman, Tex. Data include continuous surface-water discharge records at various locations on the Rio Grande; surface-water-quality data for the Rio Grande collected at selected locations in the Palomas, Mesilla, and Hueco Basins; groundwater levels and groundwater-quality data collected from selected wells in the Palomas and Mesilla Basins; and data from several seepage investigations conducted on the Rio Grande and selected drains in the Mesilla Basin.

New Mexico, Texas↗
USGS2017

A comprehensive survey of faults, breccias, and fractures in and flanking the eastern Española Basin, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico

A comprehensive survey of geologic structures formed in the Earth’s brittle regime in the eastern Española Basin and flank of the Rio Grande rift, New Mexico, reveals a complex and protracted record of multiple tectonic events. Data and analyses from this representative rift flank-basin pair include measurements from 53 individual fault zones and 22 other brittle structures, such as breccia zones, joints, and veins, investigated at a total of just over 100 sites. Structures were examined and compared in poorly lithified Tertiary sediments, as well as in Paleozoic sedimentary and Proterozoic crystalline rocks. Data and analyses include geologic maps; field observations and measurements; orientation, kinematic, and paleostress analyses; statistical examination of fault trace lengths derived from aeromagnetic data; mineralogy and chemistry of host and fault rocks; and investigation of fault versus bolide-impact hypotheses for the origin of enigmatic breccias found in the Proterozoic basement rocks. Fault kinematic and paleostress analyses suggest a record of transitional, and perhaps partitioned, strains from the Laramide orogeny through Rio Grande rifting. Normal faults within Tertiary basin-fill sediments are consistent with more typical WNW-ESE Rio Grande rift extension, perhaps decoupled from bedrock structures due to strength contrasts favoring the formation of new faults in the relatively weak sediments. Analyses of the fault-length data indicate power-law length distributions similar to those reported from many geologic settings globally. Mineralogy and chemistry in Proterozoic fault-related rocks reveal geochemical changes tied to hydrothermal alteration and nearly isochemical transformation of feldspars to clay minerals. In sediments, faulted minerals are characterized by mechanical entrainment with minor secondary chemical changes. Enigmatic breccias in rift-flanking Proterozoic rocks are autoclastic and isochemical with respect to their protoliths and exist near shatter cones believed to be related to a previously reported pre-Pennsylvanian impact event. A weak iridium anomaly is associated with the breccias as well as adjacent protoliths, thus an impact shock wave cannot be ruled out for their origin. Major fault zones along the eastern rift-flank mountain front are discontinuous and unlikely to impede regional groundwater flow into Española Basin aquifers. The breccia bodies are not large enough to constitute aquifers, and no fault- or breccia-related geochemical anomalies were identified as potential contamination sources for ground or surface waters. The results of this work provide a broad picture of structural diversity and tectonic evolution along the eastern flank of the central Rio Grande rift and the adjacent Española Basin representative of the rift as a whole and many rifts worldwide.

New Mexico↗
USGS1987

Hydrologic data for the San Juan and Animas River valleys in the Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield, and Cedar Hill areas, San Juan County, New Mexico

In July 1985, the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a three-year study in San Juan County, New Mexico, to determine the concentrations of chemical constituents in the groundwater in the San Juan and Animas River valleys and to determine the direction and rate of groundwater flow and its relation to river stage. The study was conducted in cooperation with the San Juan County Commission and the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division. The data that was collected during the first 1-1/2 yr of the study is completed. The report includes well records for 51 wells and water levels from 23 wells, hydrographs from four observation wells and one river stage site, and available chemical analyses from 50 wells and 14 surface water sites. Water samples from six wells and one surface-water site were analyzed for purgeable organic chemicals; none were detected. (Lantz-PTT)

Open-File Report↗
USGS2001

Relations for estimating unit-hydrograph parameters in New Mexico

Data collected from 20 U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations, most of which were operated in New Mexico between about 1969 and 1977, were used to define hydrograph characteristics for small New Mexico streams. Drainage areas for the gaging stations ranged from 0.23 to 18.2 square miles. Observed values for the hydrograph characteristics were determined for 87 of the most significant rainfall-runoff events at these gaging stations and were used to define regional regression relations with basin characteristics. Regional relations defined lag time (tl), time of concentration (tc), and time to peak (tp) as functions of stream length and basin shape. The regional equation developed for time of concentration for New Mexico agrees well with the Kirpich equation developed for Tennessee. The Kirpich equation is based on stream length and channel slope, whereas the New Mexico equation is based on stream length and basin shape. Both equations, however, underestimate tc when applied to larger basins where tc is greater than about 2 hours. The median ratio between tp and tc for the observed data was 0.66, which equals the value (0.67) recommended by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Conservation Service). However, the median ratio between tl and tc was only 0.42, whereas the commonly used ratio is 0.60. A relation also was developed between unit-peak discharge (qu) and time of concentration. The unit-peak discharge relation is similar in slope to the Natural Resources Conservation Service equation, but the equation developed for New Mexico in this study produces estimates of qu that range from two to three times as large as those estimated from the Natural Resources Conservation Service equation. An average value of 833 was determined for the empirical constant Kp. A default value of 484 has been used by the Natural Resources Conservation Service when site-specific data are not available. The use of a lower value of Kp in calculations generally results in a lower peak discharge. A relation between the empirical constant Kp and average channel slope was defined in this study. The predicted Kp values from the equation ranged from 530 to 964 for the 20 flood-hydrograph gaging stations. The standard error of estimate for the equation is 36 percent.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS2013

Total petroleum systems and geologic assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the San Juan Basin Province, exclusive of Paleozoic rocks, New Mexico and Colorado

In 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated undiscovered oil and gas resources that have the potential for additions to reserves in the San Juan Basin Province, New Mexico and Colorado. Paleozoic rocks were not appraised. The last oil and gas assessment for the province was in 1995. There are several important differences between the 1995 and 2002 assessments. The area assessed is smaller than that in the 1995 assessment. This assessment of undiscovered hydrocarbon resources in the San Juan Basin Province also used a slightly different approach in the assessment, and hence a number of the plays defined in the 1995 assessment are addressed differently in this report. After 1995, the USGS has applied a total petroleum system (TPS) concept to oil and gas basin assessments. The TPS approach incorporates knowledge of the source rocks, reservoir rocks, migration pathways, and time of generation and expulsion of hydrocarbons; thus the assessments are geologically based. Each TPS is subdivided into one or more assessment units, usually defined by a unique set of reservoir rocks, but which have in common the same source rock. Four TPSs and 14 assessment units were geologically evaluated, and for 13 units, the undiscovered oil and gas resources were quantitatively assessed.

Colorado;New Mexico↗