Publications

Chemical data from more than 400 ground-water sites in the Middle Rio Grande Basin of central New Mexico indicate that arsenic concentrations exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking-water standard of 10 micrograms per liter across broad areas of the Santa Fe Group aquifer system, which is currently the almost exclusive source of drinking-water supply for residents of the...

Water-resources data for the 2002 water year for New Mexico consist of records of discharge and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality in wells and springs. This report contains discharge records for 176 gaging stations; stage and contents for 24 lakes and reservoirs; water quality for 42 gaging stations...

In June 1977, the La Mesa wildfire burned 15,270 acres in and near Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier National Monument (BNM) and the adjacent Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico. In April 1996, the Dome wildfire in BNM burned 16,516 acres in and near Capulin Canyon and the surrounding Dome Wilderness area. Both Frijoles and Capulin Canyon watersheds are characterized by archeological...

The upper middle Rio Grande Basin, as defined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, extends from the headwaters of the Rio Grande in southwestern Colorado to Fort Quitman, Texas. Most of the basin has a semiarid climate typical of the southwestern United States. This climate drives a highly variable streamflow regime that contributes to the complexity of water management in the basin...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requested that the Navajo Nation conduct an assessment of aquifer sensitivity on Navajo Nation lands and an assessment of ground-water vulnerability to pesticide contamination on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project. Navajo Nation lands include about 17,000 square miles in northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The...

In June of 1977, the La Mesa wildfire burned 15,270 acres in and around Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier National Monument and the adjacent Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico. The Dome wildfire in April of 1996 in Bandelier National Monument burned 16,516 acres in Capulin Canyon and the surrounding Dome Wilderness area. Both watersheds are characterized by abundant and extensive...

Water-quality data for 93 City of Albuquerque drinking-water supply wells, 7 deep piezometer nests, and selected additional wells were examined to improve understanding of the regional ground-water system and its response to pumpage. Plots of median values of several major parameters showed discernible water-quality differences both areally and with depth in the aquifer. Areal...

Two regression equations were developed for estimating the 4-day, 3-year (4Q3) low-flow frequency at ungaged sites on unregulated streams in New Mexico. The first, a statewide equation for estimating the 4Q3 low-flow frequency from drainage area and average basin mean winter precipitation, was developed from the data for 50 streamflow-gaging stations that had non-zero 4Q3 low-flow...

In the Albuquerque metropolitan area of central New Mexico, residential water-supply requirements have historically been met almost exclusively by ground-water withdrawal from the Santa Fe Group aquifer system. The rapid population growth of the metropolitan area from about 262,200 residents in 1960 (Karen D. Thompson, U.S. Census Bureau, written commun., 2002) to about 712,700 residents...

The geologic structure of the Mimbres ground-water basin in southwest New Mexico is characterized by north- and northwest-trending structural subbasins. Sedimentation of Miocene and Pliocene age has filled and obscured the boundaries of these subbasins and formed potentially productive aquifers of varied thickness. The location and depth of the subbasins can be estimated from analysis of...

Six synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images were processed to form five unwrapped interferometric (InSAR) images of the greater metropolitan area in the Albuquerque Basin. Most interference patterns in the images were caused by range displacements resulting from changes in land-surface elevation. Loci of land- surface elevation changes correlate with changes in aquifer-system water levels...

The Middle Rio Grande Basin, as defined for this study, is the area within the Rio Grande Valley extending from about Cochiti Lake downstream to about San Acacia. It covers approximately 3,060 square miles in central New Mexico, encompassing parts of Santa Fe, Sandoval, Bernalillo, Valencia, Socorro, Torrance, and Cibola Counties and includes a ground-water basin composed of the Santa Fe...