Quaternary history of the Estancia Valley, central New Mexico

Bachhuber, F. W.

doi:10.56577/ffc-33.343

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Highest elevations in the Estancia Valley (>9,000 feet) occur along the western rim of the watershed, on the east flank of the Manzano Mountains. Lowest elevations (~5,900 feet) are found along the central topographic axis of the basin, where a north-south trending series of playas formed by deflation are incised into the valley floor (Bachhuber, 1982). Because the Estancia Valley is a topographically-closed basin, the only outlet for precipitation that falls within the basin boundaries is by evapotranspiration, primarily from the playa lakes.…”

Section: Estancia Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality in New Mexico

Land¹

2016

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Section: Estancia Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality in New Mexico

Land¹

2016

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“…Elsewhere the G l o r i e t a may be i I n e a s t e r n T o r r a n c e County, a t h i n s t r a t i g r a p h i c i n t e r v a l r e p r e s e n t i n g the Grayburg and Queen Formations (Permian) i s preserved. (Bachhuber, 1971(Bachhuber, , 1982S.mith and Anderson, 1982).…”

Section: The Oldest Precambrian Units In the Manzano Mountains Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The geology of Torrance County i s described a s p a r t o f s e v e r a l r e g i o n a l g e o l o g i c r e p o r t s (V. C. Kelley, 1 9 7 2 ; Bates and others, 1947), several reports concerning the geology of the Manzano Mountains (Cavin and others, 1982;Bauer, 1982; Myers, 1 9 8 2 ) , r e p o r t s o f t h e P e d e r n a l H i l l s (Armstrong and Holcombe, 1982; Gonzalez and Woodward, 1 9 7 2 ) , r e p o r t s o f t h e E s t a n c i a B a s i n ( T i t u s , 1969, 1973Bachhuber, 1970Bachhuber, , 1971Bachhuber, , 1982Meinzer, 19121, and one county ground-water report (R. E. Smith, 1957).…”

Section: Previous Geologic Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary report on the geology and mineral-resource potential of Torrance County, New Mexico

McLemore¹

1984

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A preliminary mineral-resource potential assessment of Torrance County involves analyses of available published and unpublished geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and economic data and a brief field reconnaissance study. Mineral-resource potential is an assessment of the favorability that a commodity will occur in economic concentrations in a given area; a classification of high, moderate, low, very low, or unknown is assigned. A high mineral-resource potential exists in areas where the geologic and economic data indicate an excellent probability that economic mineral deposits occur there. Moderate or low mineral-resource potential exists in areas where the data indicate a lesser probability that economic mineral deposits occur. A classification of very low mineral-resource potential is reserved for areas where sufficient information indicates that an area is unfavorable for economic deposits. A classification of unknown mineral-resource potential is reserved for areas where necessary geologic and economic data are inadequate to otherwise classify an area and any other classification (high, moderate, low, or very low) would be misleading. Construction materials, such as sand, gravel, limestone, dolomite, clay, and dimension stone, have a high mineral-resource potential in certain parts of Torrance County. High-calcium limestones and adobe, halite, carbon dioxide, and petroleum have moderate mineral-resource potentials in specific areas of vii Torrance County. The potential for gold and silver deposits, with or without associated copper, in Precambrian greenstones the northern Manzano Mountains also is moderate. Low to moderate mineral-resource potential is assigned to stratabound copper deposits in the Scholle district, to copper and lead (with or without associated gold and silver deposits) in Precambrian metamorphic rocks, to gypsum deposits, and to petroleum reserves in certain portions of Torrance County. The mineral-resource potential for coal, talc, sulfur, and Precambrian stratabound iron-ore is very low in Torrance County. Several areas in Precambrian terranes in Torrance County have significant potential for base and precious metal deposits and uranium mineralization; however, insufficient information exists to assess adequately some of these areas. Therefore, these mineralresource potentials are classified as unknown until additional information becomes available. Additional geologic mapping and geochemical sampling are required in the Precambrian terranes in Torrance County, in north-central Torrance County, in limestone terranes, along the Glorieta Sandstone Member, near active claims, and in other a delineated by the HSSR data as having geochemical anomalies.Mapping of the structural geology, isopach facies maps, and structure-contour maps should be completed in order to delineate favorable areas for oil, gas, and carbon dioxide accumulations.

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“…Most of the fill was deposited in a closed lacustrine basin during the Pleistocene. Smith (1957), Bachhuber (1982), andJohnpeer et al (1987a, b), among others, have discussed the geology of the Quaternary fill.…”

Section: Post-triassic Stratamentioning

confidence: 99%

Subsurface geology and oil and gas potential of Estancia Basin, New Mexico

Broadhead¹

1997

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The Estancia Basin of central New Mexico is an asymmetric, north-south-trending structural depression that originated during the Pennsylvanian. The present-day basin covers 1,500 mi 2 and is defined approximately by the Estancia Valley. It is bounded on the east by the late Paleozoic Pedernal uplift, on the west by the Tertiary-age Sandia, Manzano, and Los Pinos Mountains, on the north by the Española Basin, and on the south by Chupadera Mesa. Depth to Precambrian basement ranges from more than 8,500 ft in a narrow graben (Perro sub-basin) in the eastern part of the basin to less than 1,000 ft on a shelf to the west.Basin fill consists primarily of Pennsylvanian and Wolfcampian sandstones and shales in the Perro sub-basin and sandstones, shales, and marine limestones on the shelf. In the Perro sub-basin, reservoirs are fine-to coarse-grained sandstones with relatively low permeabilities and porosities. On the shelf, reservoirs are mostly fine-to coarse-grained sandstones with porosities that range from 0 to 16% and average approximately 10%. Most limestones on the shelf have less than 5% porosity and are poor reservoirs; however, algal grainstones and recrystallized lime mudstones appear locally to form good reservoirs with porosities that can exceed 20%.Mature to marginally mature dark-gray to black Pennsylvanian shales are probable source rocks. Thermal Alteration Index ranges from 2.0 to 3.2. Shales become thermally mature with depth in the Perro sub-basin. On the western shelf, shales become mature to the west as a result of increased heating from the Rio Grande rift. Total organic carbon exceeds 0.5% in many shales, sufficient for hydrocarbon generation. Kerogen types are mixed algal, herbaceous, and woody, indicating that gas, or possibly gas mixed with oil, was generated. Kerogens in the shales of the Perro sub-basin are entirely woody, gas-prone types. In limestones and shales of the western shelf, kerogens have mixed marine and continental provenance, indicating that both oil and gas may have been generated on thermally mature parts of the shelf.Forty-three exploratory wells have been drilled in the basin. Only 17 of those wells have been drilled to Precambrian. Density of wells that penetrate the lowermost Pennsylvanian is less than one well for every three townships. Most of the wells were drilled before 1950 and lacked modern logs and testing apparatus with which to evaluate fully the drilled section. In spite of this, numerous shows of oil and gas have been reported; many of these shows are well documented by modern logs and tests, especially from wells drilled since 1970. During the 1930s and 1940s, carbon dioxide gas was produced commercially from two small fields on the western flank of the basin.

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Quaternary history of the Estancia Valley, central New Mexico

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality in New Mexico

Overview of Fresh and Brackish Water Quality in New Mexico

Preliminary report on the geology and mineral-resource potential of Torrance County, New Mexico

Subsurface geology and oil and gas potential of Estancia Basin, New Mexico

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