National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science White Sands National Monument Geologic Resources Inventory Report Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/GRD/NRR—2012/585 ON THE COVER White Sands National Monument contains a portion of the largest gypsum dune field in the world. At sunset, the white, gypsum sand appears pink and purple as the sun sets over the San Andres Mountains. Photograph by Katie KellerLynn (Colorado State University). THIS PAGE Modern-day Lake Lucero is a large playa (ephemeral lake) that formed in the sediments of ancient Lake Otero. When the playa is covered with water, waves along the shoreline break down the sediments, making them available for eolian transport to the dune field. Photograph by Anna Szykiewicz (University of Texas at El Paso). White Sands National Monument Geologic Resources Inventory Report Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/GRD/NRR—2012/585 National Park Service Geologic Resources Division PO Box 25287 Denver, CO 80225 October 2012 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Report Series is used to disseminate high-priority, current natural resource management information with managerial application. The series targets a general, diverse audience, and may contain NPS policy considerations or address sensitive issues of management applicability. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received informal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collection, analysis, or reporting of the data. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. Government. Printed copies of this report are produced in a limited quantity and they are only available as long as the supply lasts. This report is available from the Geologic Resources Inventory website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/ gre_publications.cfm) and the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). Please cite this publication as follows: KellerLynn, K. 2012. White Sands National Monument: geologic resources inventory report. Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/GRD/NRR—2012/585. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. NPS 142/117235, October 2012 ii NPS Geologic Resources Division Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................. v List of Tables .................................................................................................................. v Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... xi Credits ........................................................................................................................................................................ xi Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Geologic Resources Inventory Program ......................................................................................................................... 1 Park and Regional Setting ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Geologic Issues .............................................................................................................. 7 Groundwater ............................................................................................................................................................... 7 Surface Water ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 Erosion ...................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Debris Flows and Rockfall........................................................................................................................................... 11 Paleontological Resources .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Climate Change ......................................................................................................................................................... 13 Monitoring Eolian Processes ....................................................................................................................................... 14 Infrastructure and Gypsum Sands ............................................................................................................................... 15 Tamarisk .................................................................................................................................................................... 16 White Sands Missile Range ......................................................................................................................................... 16 Mining and Energy Development ............................................................................................................................... 17 Seismic Activity .......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Geologic Features and Processes ................................................................................ 19 Active Holocene Lake Basin ........................................................................................................................................ 19 Scour Platform ........................................................................................................................................................... 21 Barchanoid Dune Field ............................................................................................................................................... 24 Marginal Parabolic Dunes........................................................................................................................................... 26 Interdunes ................................................................................................................................................................. 26 Miscellaneous Geomorphic Features .......................................................................................................................... 27 Alluvial Deposits ........................................................................................................................................................ 30 Source of Gypsum Sand ............................................................................................................................................. 30 White Sands as an Analogue for Mars ........................................................................................................................ 31 Biological Soil Crusts .................................................................................................................................................. 32 Geothermal Features and Processes ........................................................................................................................... 33 Geologic History .......................................................................................................... 35 Precambrian Time: Ancient Mountain or Rift System .................................................................................................. 35 Ordovician and Cambrian Periods: Advancing Seas ..................................................................................................... 35 Silurian and Ordovician Periods: Marine Waters .......................................................................................................... 35 Mississippian and Devonian Periods: Changing Marine Conditions .............................................................................. 35 Pennsylvanian Period: Pangaea and the Ancestral Rocky Mountains ............................................................................ 38 Permian Period: Marine and Marginal Marine Sediments ............................................................................................ 38 Rocks from the Triassic and Jurassic Periods (or the lack thereof)