Aeromagnetic maps of the Latir Peak and Wheeler Peak Wildernesses and the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness Study Area, Taos County, New Mexico

This report interprets data from a helicopter-borne magnetic survey to help delineate subsurface geology. Such data, acquired near the ground, reflect greater magnetic detail than do data acquired at higher altitude. Data from a high-altitude reconnaissance aeromagnetic survey (U.S. Geological Survey, 1976) are used selectively to assist in the interpretation of the helicopter data.

Interpretations are chiefly empirical, wherein magnetic anomalies characterizing known geologic features in the region are used as interpretive criteria for identifying such features where they are concealed. Identifying geologic environments favorable for mineral deposits is a primary objective of this report.

Geophysical interpretations of a broader and more general scope are made from other geophysical data by Cordell and Jones (in press).