Chemical data and statistical analyses from a uranium hydrogeochemical survey of the Rio Ojo Caliente drainage basin, New Mexico; Part 1, Water

Lacustrine sediments from the Estancia Basin of central New Mexico reveal decadal to millennial oscillations in the volume of Lake Estancia during Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) time. LGM sediments consist of authigenic carbonates, detrital clastics delivered to the lake in stream flow pulses, and evaporites that precipitated in mudflats exposed during lake lowstands and were subsequently blown into the lake. Variations in sediment mineralogy thus reflect changes in hydrologic balance and were quantified using Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction traces. Radiocarbon dates on ostracode valve calcite allowed the construction of mineralogical time series for the interval ~ 23,600 to ~ 18,300 ka, which were subjected to spectral analysis using REDFIT (Schulz and Mudelsee, 2002). Dominant periods of ~ 900, ~ 375, and ~ 265 yr are similar to cycles in Holocene 14C production reported for a variety of tree ring records, suggesting that the Lake Estancia sediments record variations in solar activity during LGM time. A prominent spectral peak with a period of ~ 88 yr appears to reflect the solar Gleissberg cycle and may help, along with the ~ 265 yr cycle, to explain an ongoing mystery about how Lake Estancia was able to undergo abrupt expansions without overflowing its drainage basin.

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Estimated ground-water flow, volume of water storage, and potential yield of wells in Pojoaque River drainage basin, Santa Fe County, New Mexico

Open-File Report ◽

10.3133/ofr74159 ◽

1975 ◽

Author(s):

F. C. Koopman

Keyword(s):

New Mexico ◽

Ground Water ◽

Water Flow ◽

Drainage Basin ◽

Water Storage ◽

Flow Volume ◽

Santa Fe ◽

Ground Water Flow ◽

Potential Yield ◽

River Drainage Basin

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Cool, wet conditions late in the Younger Dryas in semi-arid New Mexico

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/j.yqres.2011.10.005 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 77 (1) ◽

pp. 87-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Stephen A. Hall ◽

William L. Penner ◽

Manuel R. Palacios-Fest ◽

Artie L. Metcalf ◽

Susan J. Smith

Keyword(s):

New Mexico ◽

Water Table ◽

Stable Carbon Isotopes ◽

Drainage Basin ◽

Younger Dryas ◽

High Water ◽

Wet Meadow ◽

The Past ◽

Younger Dryas Event ◽

Terrestrial Mollusks

A thick alluvial sequence in central New Mexico contains the Scholle wet meadow deposit that traces upstream to a paleospring. The wet meadow sediments contain an abundant fauna of twenty-one species of freshwater and terrestrial mollusks and ten species of ostracodes. The mollusks and ostracodes are indicative of a local high alluvial water table with spring-supported perennial flow but without standing water. Pollen analysis documents shrub grassland vegetation with sedges, willow, and alder in a riparian community. Stable carbon isotopes from the wet meadow sediments have δ13C values ranging from − 22.8 to − 23.3‰, indicating that 80% of the organic carbon in the sediment is derived from C3 species. The wet meadow deposit is AMS dated 10,400 to 9700 14C yr BP, corresponding to 12,300 to 11,100 cal yr BP and overlapping in time with the Younger Dryas event (YD). The wet meadow became active about 500 yr after the beginning of the YD and persisted 400 yr after the YD ended. The Scholle wet meadow is the only record of perennial flow and high water table conditions in the Abo Arroyo drainage basin during the past 13 ka.

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Archaeology of the Middle Río Balsas Basin, Mexico

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/275756 ◽

1947 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 67-78 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Robert H. Lister

Keyword(s):

New Mexico ◽

Drainage Basin ◽

Archaeological Remains ◽

University Of New Mexico ◽

The University ◽

Surface Observations

Archaeological reconnaissance and excavations in the Río Balsas drainage basin of Guerrero and Michoacán were undertaken by parties from the University of New Mexico during the summers of 1939 and 1941. As a result of the first summer's work, three publications have appeared. This paper will cover the archaeological remains in the Middle Rio Balsas Basin of Guerrero and Michoacân. It will include the results of both summers' work and be based on surface observations and collections, and on excavations conducted at three sites.For the most part the reconnaissance was undertaken on foot or horseback, inasmuch as the few roads that existed in the area were made impassable for vehicles by the summer rains.

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The Northern Rio Grande Basin

Plutonium and the Rio Grande ◽

10.1093/oso/9780195089332.003.0008 ◽

1995 ◽

Author(s):

William L. Graf

Keyword(s):

New Mexico ◽

Stream Flow ◽

Drainage Basin ◽

Rio Grande ◽

San Juan ◽

San Juan Mountains ◽

Rio Grande Basin ◽

Main River ◽

Generate Surface ◽

Northern Rio Grande

In northern New Mexico, the environmental plutonium bound to sedimentary particles is the most mobile in river systems, particularly the Rio Grande. This chapter describes the physical characteristics of the drainage basin into which Los Alamos National Laboratory has released plutonium. I review those characteristics of the basin that most strongly influence the movement of sediment and its associated plutonium: landforms, geology and soils, climate, vegetation, and precipitation. Precipitation and elevation provide the energy that is the primary driving force behind river processes in the Northern Rio Grande Basin. The geographic variation in stream flow and the temporal characteristics of its magnitude and frequency explain how water, sediment, and contaminants such as plutonium move through the system. An accurate accounting of stream flow is therefore essential to the development of a basinwide budget for water, sediment, and contaminants. Calculations for the mechanics of sediment transport (and the transport of associated contaminants) thus depend on measurements of stream flow from a variety of places within the system. In this chapter I examine the basic data for stream flow in the basin and then define and explain the temporal and geographical variation in the system’s river flows. The result is a regional stream-flow budget. The portion of the Northern Rio Grande emphasized in this book consists of the watershed upstream from the U.S. Geological Survey stream gage on the Rio Grande at San Marcial, at the headwaters of Elephant Butte Reservoir. The drainage network in this 71,700-sq-km area is the principal mechanism for the surface transport and storage of plutonium. The Rio Grande begins as a trickle of meltwater from a semipermenant snowbank at Stoney Pass in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. Steep mountain tributaries are the primary sources of water, joining the main stem as it trends southeastward to the San Luis Valley and the Alamosa, Colorado, area. Additional mountain waters from the Rio Conejos, which drains the southern San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado, join the main stream as it flows southward into New Mexico. The northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Colorado generate surface runoff, but relatively little reaches the main river.

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