Annual water-resources review, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, 1988

Abstract

Hydrologic data were collected at White Sands Missile Range in 1988. The total groundwater withdrawal in 1988 was 628,525,100 gallons. The 11 watersupply wells in the Post Headquarters well field produced 582,653,000 gallons, or about 92 percent of the total groundwater withdrawal. The seven Range area water-supply wells produced 45,872,100 gallons. The total groundwater withdrawal, excluding 207,500 gallons from Rhodes Canyon, was 7,825,600 gallons more in 1988 than in 1987. Water samples from the Hardin Ranch well and Pine Spring were collected for chemical analysis of major ions, selected minor ions, and trace elements in 1988. One sample was analyzed from a wet-fall/dry-fall precipitation collector for selected chemical constituents. Twenty-seven water samples were collected from 25 other wells throughout the Range area for specif ic-conductance measurements in 1988. The specific conductance ranged from 245 microsiemens per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius in water from test well T-17 to 1,840 microsiemens per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius in water from test well T-14.

The Pleistocene footprints are younger than we thought: correcting the radiocarbon dates of Ruppia seeds, Tularosa Basin, New Mexico

“…Salinity in Salt Creek is also highly variable throughout the length of the stream channel. However, there is a general trend of increasing salinity with increasing distance from its headwaters (Myers and Naus, 2004). Salt Creek also has a higher salinity than the Malpais Spring Figure 1A).…”

“…These springs occur throughout the northern portion of Salt Creek. Groundwater input decreases in the middle portion of the stream, resulting in spatially intermittent surface flows (Myers and Naus, 2004). Eventually, Salt Creek becomes even more sporadic and can sometimes completely dry at the end of the drainage in a Holocene-age deflationary playa named Big Salt Lake.…”

“…Salt Creek also has a higher salinity than the Malpais Spring Figure 1A). However, the Lost River, which is the drainage that Locality-2 is nearby, is located at the eastern edge of the paleo-Lake Otero basin and has the highest salinity of any modern drainage in the Tularosa Basin (Myers and Naus, 2004; Figure 1A). Regardless, water salinity concentrations of the streams range from 2290 to 66,700 mg/L.…”