Airborne magnetic and radiometric survey, alkaline igneous belt, south-central New Mexico, 2023-2024

This data release provides digital flight line data for a high-resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric survey over the southern alkaline igneous belt in south-central New Mexico. The airborne survey was funded by the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI). The survey was designed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in collaboration with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, and contracted by the USGS. The survey was designed to meet complementary needs related to geologic mapping, hazards, water and mineral resources. A total of ca. 89,000 line km of magnetic and radiometric data were acquired over areas totaling ca. 15,700 square km. Data were collected from a combination of three types of aircraft: two fixed wing planes (one with a turbo system to allow a more aggressive climb slope near mountains) and a helicopter. The drape was at a nominal terrain clearance of 120 meters (m) above topography along E-W flight lines spaced at 200 m intervals. Tie lines were flown in an N-S direction every 2000 m. Data were not collected over the Mescalaro Apache Tribal Lands. Data were collected by NV5 Geospatial, EDCON-PRJ and Precision GeoSurveys under contract to the USGS using aircraft with magnetometers mounted in stingers and fully calibrated gamma-ray spectrometers. The survey operated out of the Sierra Blanca Airport (near Ruidoso, NM), the Moriarity Municipal Airport and Alamogordo Airport from September 2024 to February of 2025. Files that are available in this publication include flight line data for the magnetic and radiometric survey, and a report describing the survey parameters, field operations, quality control and data reduction procedures. A zip file is provided that contains the contractor's deliverable products that includes Geosoft databases and grids for the magnetic and radiometric survey and the report describing the survey and data reduction.