Geology and Ground-Water Resources of San Miguel County, New Mexico
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GEOLOGY AND GROUND - WATER RESOURCES OF SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, NEW MEXICO GROUND-WATER REPORT 2 Geology and Ground-Water Resources of San Miguel County, New Mexico BY R. L. GRIGGS AND G. E. HENDRICKSON Prepared in cooperation with The United States Bureau of Reclamation New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources and the New Mexico State Engineer NEW MEXICO BUREAU OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES SOCORRO 1951 NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING & TECHNOLOGY E. J. Workman, President STATE BUREAU OF MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES Eugene Callaghan, Director THE REGENTS MEMBERS EX-OFFICIO The Honorable Edwin L. Mechem ...................... Governor of New Mexico Tom Wiley ............................................... Superintendent of Public Instruction APPOINTED MEMBERS Thomas M. Cramer, President ...................................................... Carlsbad Holm 0. Bursum, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer ........................................ Socorro Frank C. DiLuzio ..................................................................... Los Alamos A. A. Kemnitz .................................................................................... Hobbs Cooper Shapley ............................................................................... Deming Contents Page ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. 9 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 11 Location, area, and accessibility 11 Previous investigations and acknowledgments 11 Field Work ................................................................................................................ 13 PHYSIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 14 CLIMATE .............................................................................................................. 16 VEGETATION .................................................................................................... 20 INDUSTRY AND POPULATION 21 GEOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 22 Stratigraphy ............................................................................................................... 22 Pre-Cambrian ...................................................................................................... 22 Carboniferous system ........................................................................................ 22 Magdalena group ............................................................................................. 22 Sandia formation ........................................................................................ 23 Madera limestone ....................................................................................... 23 Carboniferous and Permian (?) systems 23 Sangre de Cristo formation ........................................................................... 23 Permian system ................................................................................................... 24 Yeso formation ................................................................................................ 24 San Andres formation .................................................................................... 24 Triassic system .................................................................................................... 25 Dockum group ................................................................................................ 25 Santa Rosa sandstone ................................................................................ 25 Chinle formation ........................................................................................ 26 Jurassic system .................................................................................................... 27 Entrada sandstone .......................................................................................... 27 Morrison formation ........................................................................................ 28 Cretaceous system .............................................................................................. 28 Dakota (?) sandstone and Purgatoire formation 28 Graneros shale ................................................................................................. 30 Greenhorn limestone ..................................................................................... 30 Carlile shale ...................................................................................................... 31 Niobrara formation ......................................................................................... 31 Tertiary system 31 Ogallala formation of Miocene and Pliocene series 31 6 NEW MEXICO BUREAU OF MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES Page Quaternary system .............................................................................................. 32 Alluvium and pediment gravel ...................................................................... 32 Igneous rocks ................................................................................................... 32 Structure ..................................................................................................................... 33 Las Vegas Plateau and the Plains ..................................................................... 33 Glorieta Mesa ...................................................................................................... 34 Sangre de Cristo Mountains .............................................................................. 34 GROUND WATER .............................................................................................. 35 Principles .................................................................................................................... 35 General conditions in San Miguel County ................................................................... 36 Water in geologic units ................................................................................................ 38 Pre-Cambrian rocks ............................................................................................ 38 Magdalena group ................................................................................................ 38 Sangre de Cristo formation ................................................................................ 42 Yeso formation .................................................................................................... 43 Glorieta sandstone member of San Andres formation 44 Middle limestone member of the San Andres formation 44 Upper clastic member of the San Andres formation 45 Santa Rosa sandstone ......................................................................................... 46 Chinle formation ................................................................................................. 48 Entrada sandstone .............................................................................................. 49 Morrison formation ............................................................................................ 51 Dakota (?) and Purgatoire formations ............................................................ 51 Graneros shale ..................................................................................................... 55 Greenhorn limestone ......................................................................................... 56 Carlile shale .......................................................................................................... 56 Niobrara formation ............................................................................................ 57 Quaternary alluvium ........................................................................................... 57 FUTURE POSSIBILITIES OF USE OF GROUND WATER 58 Irrigation .................................................................................................................... 58 Livestock .................................................................................................................... 59 Domestic and public supply ......................................................................................... 59 A SUMMARY OF GROUND WATER AVAILABILITY IN SAN MIGUEL COUNTY ............................................................................ 6o Mountains (area z) ..................................................................................................... 6o Glorieta Mesa (area 2) ............................................................................................... 61 Plains and southern hogback (area 3) ........................................................................... 61 Las Vegas Plateau and outliers (area 4) .................................................................... 62 GROUND WATER SAN MIGUEL COUNTY 7 TABLES Page Mean monthly and annual precipitations in San Miguel County 18 Temperature records of San Miguel County . ............................................................... 19 Table 1. Records of wells in San Miguel County ......................................................... 63 Table 2. Records of springs in San Miguel County ..................................................... 108 Table 3. Chemical analyses of water from wells and springs . ................................... 109 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Areas in New Mexico covered