New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: "Geological responses to wildfires"最新文献

{"title":"Hydrostratigraphic framework and assessments of permeability and TDS for the Santa Fe Group aquifer in the northwestern Albuquerque basin, Rio Grande rift, NM","authors":"D. Koning, Luke Martin, M. Zimmerer, Ethan A. Mamer, Amanda Doherty, Laila Sturgis","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2879","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2879","url":null,"abstract":"This study differentiates four hydrostratigraphic units (HSUs) in the northwestern Albuquerque basin: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Rio Rancho HSUs underlain by the Zia HSU. This area hosts Rio Rancho (population of 104,000), which relies solely on groundwater for its municipal needs. We mapped these HSUs in the subsurface and assessed spatial trends in permeability and TDS. The study entailed constructing a 3D, geologic model showing the elevations of the bounding surfaces of these HSUs, and this model explicitly includes major faults. The HSUs exhibit layer-cake geometry, thicken towards the southeast, and thin over the Ziana horst in the northern part of Rio Rancho. Hydraulic conductivity data compiled from pumping tests indicate that the Upper Rio Rancho (RR) HSU has higher values compared to the Middle RR HSU: 1.1-6.4 ft/day, median of 2.9, vs. 3.2-21 ft/day, median of 9.3 (xx-xx = 10-90 percentile range). However, the thick, saturated portions of the Upper RR HSU are only found east of the Tamaya fault and in the southeastern part of the study area. The saturated Middle RR HSU is over 1,000 ft thick across most of the study area, including a north-trending prong between the Ziana horst and the Zia fault. Several wells indicate a coarsening upward trend in the Middle RR HSU, so areas where its upper part is saturated are more favorable than where just its lower part is saturated. There are no strong lateral permeability trends across the Middle RR HSU over most of the study area, but hydraulic conductivities from two pumping tests suggest higher permeability values in the southwest part of the study area, within 8 km northwest of the western end of Paseo del Norte. A northward increase in sand proportions also occurs north of the approximate latitude of well RRU-9 (35°20’0”), suggesting an increase in permeability that remains to be confirmed by pumping-test data. TDS values are 205-412 ppm in the Upper RR HSU, (excluding one well at 1,100 ppm) and 190-530 ppm in the Middle RR HSU, with the highest values in the latter occurring over the Ziana horst. The Lower RR HSU is mainly penetrated by wells on the Ziana horst, where it exhibits relatively high TDS values (478-1,400 ppm); the EPA recommends treatment for TDS >500 ppm. Various well-based permeability proxies and a single pumping test, in agreement with field observations, indicates it has relatively high permeability. The Lower RR HSU extends across the northern 2/3 of the study area, but may become finer-grained (corresponding to lower permeability) south of Southern Boulevard. The lower-middle Zia HSU is notably sandy, based on outcrop observations and wildcat oil well data. Its relatively higher elevation on the Ziana horst may possibly provide an accessible deep-water aquifer, but economical methods for water blending or desalinization would need to be formulated. The 3D geologic model along with maps of the potentiometric surface and TDS will be useful for managing groundwater resour","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"02 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129578513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Mineralogy of the Black Hawk Arsenide 5-Element Deposit","authors":"Jakob Newcomer, V. McLemore, Zohreh Kazemi Motlagh, Evan J. Owen, N. Hurtig","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2923","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2923","url":null,"abstract":"The unusual arsenide five-element-vein deposits of the Black Hawk district in the Burro Mountains, Grant County, New Mexico is one of only a few examples of these types of deposits in the United States. These are unusual deposits due to their scarcity, unusual metal association, and uncommon mineral textures. The typical metal assemblage consists of silver-nickel-cobalt-arsenic-bismuth mineralization, with varying amounts of uranium, copper, antimony, mercury, and zinc. These deposits have been long produced for high grades of silver, and more recently cobalt, nickel, and bismuth, but they are not well studied. The Black Hawk deposits appear to be late Cretaceous in age, and occur within faults of Proterozoic granites, diorites, and metamorphics. Production from the Black Hawk district from 1881-1960 amounts to 1,286,000 oz Ag, 3,000 lbs. Cu, 1,000 oz Au, 4,000 lbs. Pb, and minor tungsten and fluorite. The mineralogical and textural relationships are very similar to those observed from the 5-element system in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada. These include early precipitation of dendritic and skeletal native silver, followed by nickel and cobalt arsenides, such as nickeline, skutterudite, nickelskutterudite, safflorite, and rammelsbergite. This is followed by a sulfide stage and precipitation of minor base metals, such as galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite. The last minerals to precipitate are gangue minerals, typically calcite or siderite, with some quartz. The Black Hawk district shows early uraninite precipitation, whereas the Cobalt, Ontario system shows no such uranium mineralization. This assembly of highly reduced metallic phases indicates a reducing agent component to precipitation, and it is theorized that methane or other organic fluids could have caused this rapid crystallization, leading to the development of the observed dendritic and uneven vein filling mineral","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130811940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Documenting Fracture Networks in Proterozoic Granite, Arroyo Del Tajo, New Mexico","authors":"S. Kelley","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2898","url":null,"abstract":"Recent model-based studies of two geothermal systems in New Mexico (Socorro and Truth or Consequences) suggest that the measured temperatures and chemical compositions of the fluids in these systems are best explained by deep (4–8 km) circulation of groundwater within permeable (10 -14 to 10 -12 m 2 ) fractured Proterozoic basement. A detailed investigation of joint density and connectivity in the Proterozoic Tajo Granite in the Quebradas Backcountry Byway area east of Socorro was initiated to determine if circulation of fluids in fractured Proterozoic crystalline rocks is an important geothermal process. The southernmost outcrop, which is incised by the southern tributary of Arroyo del Tajo, is the focus of this presentation. The Great Unconformity, which separates the granite from the Pennsylvanian Sandia Formation, forms the eastern boundary of the outcrop and the Quaternary Coyote fault forms the western boundary. Fractures in this 1 km (N-S) by 0.35 km (E-W) granite outcrop that are visible on Google Earth images were evaluated. In addition, 16 areas within the exposure near some of the larger fractures were examined in detail. North-northwest striking joints are common 40 to 70 m to the east of the Coyote fault and many of these fractures are filled with fluorite, barite, and quartz. Fracture density is 22 to 27/m within 4 m of the fault zone, dropping to 12/m at a distance of 18 m west of the fault zone. Most of these fractures near the fault zone are short, only 2.6 to 10.8 m long. Connectivity, which is based on the number of systematic joint intersections (nodes) in a square meter, ranges from 42 to 23/m 2 in this same area. In contrast to the relatively short fractures near the fault zone, several E-striking fractures that can be traced 60 to 270 m are common in the southern 0.27 km of the exposure. The spacing between these long, continuous fractures along the southern edge of the exposure ranges from 5.5 to 18.7 m. Northeasterly strikes are more common in the northern half of the exposure and northwesterly strikes are found throughout the outcrop. A NE-striking (65–75°) zone located approximately 0.15 km south of the northern tip of the exposure appears to cut across NW-striking (330–340°) fractures on the Google Earth images; the zone is 40–50 m wide. Field data support this observation; NE-striking iron oxide, calcite, and quartz veins cut the NW-striking fractures and cm-scale offsets across the NW-striking fractures were noted in this area. Iron-rich fluids clearly flowed through fractures in the Tajo Granite throughout the exposure, suggesting that fluids do move through fractured crystalline basement. The spatially variable fracture patterns in this large exposure of granite are related to the fact that the this fault block is rotated to the east above an east-vergent reverse fault along the eastern margin of the Laramide Sierra uplift (perhaps opening the E-striking structures) that was subsequently cut by Rio Grande rift exte","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134488027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Dinosaur Regurgitite From the Paleocene Ojo Alamo Sandstone, San Juan Basin, New Mexico","authors":"J. Fassett","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2922","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2922","url":null,"abstract":"The San Juan Basin (SJB) is a Laramide structural basin in northwest New Mexico and southwest Colorado. The rocks outcropping in the central basin comprise Late Cretaceous through Paleogene strata. The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary is well exposed and lies between the Cretaceous Fruitland-Kirtland Formations (FK) and the Paleocene Ojo Alamo Sandstone (OA). The OA rests on an unconformable erosion surface that truncated underlying Cretaceous strata. The basal OA hiatus is about 7 m.y. in the south-central part of the basin with the entire Maastrichtian absent. Dinosaur fossils are present in both the Cretaceous FK and the Paleocene OA strata in the SJB. The presence of dinosaur fossils in the Paleocene OA was once thought to possibly be due to reworking of K fossils into Pg strata, but that possibility was proved untrue by the discovery of multiple fossils of a single animal in a small group in the OA. In addition, chemical fingerprinting of K and Pg fossils shows that K and Pg fossils have distinctly different chemical compositions. Field work near the multiple-fossil site above resulted in the discovery in the OA of an assemblage of dinosaur bone fragments concentrated within an envelope of iron cemented sandstone. This site is at the top of the lower of two beds of OA about 5 m above the base of the OA. The sandstone envelope is elliptical, measuring 28 x 35 cm. The larger bone fragments are about 10 cm in size and are in the upper central part of the assemblage. Frill bones and a single limb-bone end are identifiable; the other bone fragments are not diagnostic. There are about 50 bone fragments in this assemblage with most of the largest ones within the outline of the envelope and some of the smaller ones outside the envelope. It is apparent that all the bone fragments were originally within the envelope, but recent erosion has moved the smaller, lighter fragments a short distance outside their original position. The only logical explanation for this bone-fragment assemblage is that it represents the regurgitated remains (regurgitite) of the meal of a carnivorous dinosaur. Based on the presence of frill bone fragments, this meal could have been of a juvenile ceratopsian. All the fragments have sharp broken edges making it unlikely that they moved all the way through the digestive system of a carnivore, thus the most obvious solution is that they were regurgitated. The sandstone envelope containing the bone fragments is red-brown sandstone that must have resulted from the iron-rich mucous of the host causing the bone-containing package to cement the sandstone in its present compact shape. Owl pellets are a modern analog of regurgitate produced by an animal carnivore containing the undigestible bones of prey. This bone assemblage is another example of Paleocene dinosaur bones from the OA that could not have been reworked from underlying Cretaceous strata.","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129747706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Alteration and geochemistry of Clinkers in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico","authors":"Devlon R. Shaver, V. McLemore, Evan J. Owen","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2933","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2933","url":null,"abstract":"Clinkers are the result of coal seam fires that alter adjacent strata into rocks with a generally red/orange, brick-like appearance. Coal seam fires burn at temperatures of over 500 degrees C, causing the surrounding rock and minerals within, to be altered, fused, or even melted. Clinker gets its name from the ringing sound it makes when struck, due to glassy, pyro metamorphosed minerals within the rock. Clinkers can be composed of various sedimentary rocks that were bedded with the coal seams during the burning process and include shales, claystone-s, and sandstones. These rocks impart different textures and affect the geochemical compositions of the clinker. Most underground coal fires that result in clinker are caused by wildfires, lightning strikes, or even heat from the oxidation of pyrite or marcasite contained in coal igniting exposed coal seams. Clinker is used as an aggregate in road construction, and is also used in glass production, refractories, and as a soil amendment. Chemical analysis of neighboring unburned coal deposits with a similar composition to the pre-burned clinker would provide insight into whether critical minerals including rare earth elements (REE) have been concentrated, depleted, or altered during the clinker formation. With the recent interest in charactering coal wastes such as ash for their critical mineral potential, trace element chemistry would show if clinkers could be a potential source of critical minerals. All of our samples are from the San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico as no clinker deposits are found in the Raton Basin. Comparing the REE profiles of clinker to standards such as average European shale show that the pyro-metamorphosis of coal and adjacent strata into clinker has not caused any significant variation in the concentration of REE. REE in clinkers range from 105-306 ppm total REE. Some samples contain elevated Fe 2 O 3 concentrations (>50%) as well as elevated P 2 O 5 (0.03-0.17% P 2 O 5 ) concentrations. compared to adjacent coal samples. P 2 O 5 correlates with the light REE such as lanthanum and cerium This correlation suggests that monazite, a light REE phosphate mineral could be present in the clinker in trace amounts. Only a small number of samples are currently available for analysis and petrographic study, additional samples are needed for more definitive interpretations","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132901565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pennsylvanian Silicification of Shallow Marine Fossils in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico","authors":"P. Carey, Deborah Petrak Green","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2906","url":null,"abstract":"The frequently red silicification of northern New Mexican Pennsylvanian fossils, especially brachiopods, is well-known to collectors but, as of yet, has not been described in detail or explained in the geological literature of New Mexico. In general, the process is interpreted as early, shallow burial, replacement diagenesis produced in calcite skeletons surrounded by marine water enriched in dissolved silica. Usually, fossil shells in limestones are silicified, while the enclosing calcite matrix is not. This is because replacement silicification is favored in the microscopic environments in the shell that contain organic matter, which upon decay, produces the more acidic conditions necessary for silica precipitation concomitant with calcite dissolution. Pore-water enrichment is ascribed to episodic increases in dissolved silica, principally produced either by variations in the delivery of primary silica by rivers or by changes in the delivery of wind-blown dust, which could be climatically controlled. Two occurrences that have been linked to red silicfication at other localities are not petrographically abundant in these rocks, namely sponge spicules or pyrite.","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"85 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121915337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of geology and legacy mines in post-wildfire water quality","authors":"S. Murphy","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2914","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2914","url":null,"abstract":"Wildfires can lead to increased surface runoff, erosion, and conveyance of sediment, ash, pollutants, and debris to surface water during storm events. This can result in decreased water quality, loss of reservoir storage capacity, stream habitat degradation, and increased treatment costs for drinking-water providers. Studies have shown that the range and magnitude of post-wildfire water-quality effects vary widely and that important factors include burn severity, wildfire extent and post-fire precipitation. Less is known about the role of underlying geology and mineralogy. Wildfires have become a common occurrence in the western U.S., a region with a diverse array of underlying geology and mineralogy as well as a large number of legacy mining sites. The intersection of legacy mining and post-wildfire hydrologic response poses an increasing risk to many water supplies in this region due to the risk of increased delivery of metals to water bodies. There are several potential post-wildfire pathways for metal transport to surface water after wildfire: precipitation falling directly onto mine waste surfaces after vegetation on the waste has burned, leading to the dissolution and transport of metals to streams; increased surface runoff and stream flow that erode and transport metal-rich sediment deposits from hillslopes and streambanks to streams; remobilization of the metals from streambeds; and increased flow, and greater fluctuation, of water through underground mine workings and delivery of this water to the stream network. The role of these processes in post-wildfire water quality must be accounted for in different regions across the western U.S. The USGS is working to advance our ability to measure, model and predict potential impacts of wildfires on water supplies.","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"2000 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125728793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bedrock and Neotectonic Characterization of an Unnamed Range-Bounding Rio Grande Rift Fault South of Socorro, New Mexico","authors":"Jonathan Anaya, K. Gallant, Daniel M. Runyan, Antonio Chavez, Riley Heath, V. Prush","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2941","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2941","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125925194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Laramide Porphyry Systems of New Mexico: Geochronology and Critical Mineral Potential","authors":"Kyle T. Stafford, V. McLemore, N. Iverson","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2895","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2895","url":null,"abstract":"Southwest New Mexico hosts a number of Laramide age porphyry copper deposits. These deposits are associated with intrusions inferred to be the remnant cores of stratovolcanoes formed by subduction and arc magmatism during the Laramide Orogeny (~75-45 Ma). These porphyry copper deposits are large, low grade (<0.8% Cu), and contain disseminated copper and molybdenum sulfides, breccias, and stockwork veinlets associated with porphyritic intrusions. These deposits also contain many accessory minerals categorized as “critical minerals”, such as PGEs (platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium, and ruthenium), tellurium, indium, germanium, gallium, and rhenium. These critical minerals were not the main target of these deposits historically, and are recovered from the anode slimes remaining after copper is refined. New detailed geochronology, mineralogy, geochemistry, along with geologic mapping are refining the location of critical minerals within specific systems and will identify porphyry systems with elevated critical minerals that could become economic once again. A new compilation of the geochronology of these copper porphyry and related districts reveals there are two main pulses of arc magmatism in New Mexico that produced mineralized deposits, ~75-71 Ma and ~58-54 Ma. However, many of these deposits and associated Laramide intrusions have very limited geochronology available. Many of these districts were dated with the older and less precise K-Ar method, while others provide conflicting and/or questionable intrusion emplacement ages. Plutons and mineralized portions of these deposits are currently being prepared for modern, high-precision 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. These new ages will provide more accurate and precise emplacement ages for the plutons. A second set of samples from the mineralization areoles will allow us to assess the timing of mineralization, both hypogene and supergene where present. Updated geochronology combined with new whole rock and trace element geochemistry, along with mineral characterization via electron microprobe analysis will identify which phases bear these critical minerals and their abundance. The ultimate goal is to determine a correlation, if one exists, between these critical minerals and the ages of emplacement and mineralization. Districts we have targeted so far include the Hillsboro district, Tres Hermanas district, Camel Mountain – Eagle’s Nest district, Black Hawk district","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123640459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Utilizing Benthic Macroinvertebrates to Assess the Impacts of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire on Water Quality in Regional Watersheds","authors":"Kennis Romero, Mary Frances Bibb, Daryl Williams, J. Lindline, S. Medina","doi":"10.56577/sm-2023.2920","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56577/sm-2023.2920","url":null,"abstract":"Wildfires can have short-and long-term impacts on the health of a watershed. The loss of vegetation, abundance of charred materials, and destabilization of hillsides can increase stream sedimentation and impact water quality. This project assessed the 2022 Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Wildfire’s impact on water health in regional streams using macroinvertebrate numbers and populations as proxies for water quality. Approximately 115,542 acres burned in the Headwaters Gallinas River Watershed, 21% of which were classified USFS Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team as high burn severity while approximately 34% of the 40,150 acres burned in the UPW were classified as high burn severity. Such classification raised concerns for post-fire impacts to water quality from increased river discharge, hillside erosion, and fire sedimentation. We followed the NM Water Quality Bureau’s SOP for Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling; Section 6.1 Wadeable Streams/Rivers and collected samples from two sites along both the Upper Pecos River and Gallinas River over a 6-week period following August 2022 fire containment. The Upper Gallinas Canyon site was at Canovas Canyon (35°41’51’’N; 105°25’00’’W) and Lower Gallinas Canyon site was at the National Avenue Bridge (35°35’41’’N; 105°13’28’’W). The Upper Pecos River site was at 35°35’00’’N; 105°40’20’’W and Lower Pecos River site was at the Village Bridge (35°34’35’’N; 105°40’10’’W). The Gallinas River was more degraded post-fire than the Upper Pecos River. Macroinvertebrate species observed in the Gallinas River (worms, black flies, scuds, dragon flies, and riffle beetles) were more pollution tolerant, indicating poor to moderate water quality, while those observed in the Upper Pecos River (stoneflies, nymphs-adults, caddis flies, mayflies) were more pollution sensitive, indicating good water quality. Both systems showed decreasing numbers and diversity in macroinvertebrate species from upper to lower sites, indicating diminishing downstream water quality. These observations suggest that (1) the Headwaters Gallinas Watershed shows poorer aquatic ecosystem health relative to the Upper Pecos River Watershed; (2) both systems remain vulnerable to post-fire floods and water quality impairments; and (3) downstream sites in particular should be monitored for water quality health and targeted for stream bank restoration.","PeriodicalId":208607,"journal":{"name":"New Mexico Geological Society, 2023 Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, Theme: \"Geological responses to wildfires\"","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130291084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}