Estancia Basin Research Articles

Diatom evidence for a groundwater divide that limited the extent of Lake Estancia, New Mexico, USA, highstands during the Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract A high-resolution time series of diatoms from the Estancia Basin of central New Mexico, USA, reveals decadal to millennial changes in water chemistry during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and suggests that groundwater leakage limited the size of Lake Estancia highstands. Previous work showed that the lake expanded at least five times during the LGM, with each highstand reaching the same elevation; numerical modeling experiments showed that highstands required increases in precipitation of 1.5–2 times that of modern times but also demonstrated that these conditions could have lasted for only a few decades or the lake would have overflowed the basin’s sill. The fact that the lake returned to the same elevation suggests that highstands were climatologically similar. Here we present an alternative scenario, that once the lake reached a particular threshold volume, groundwater leakage prevented further expansion, which means that precipitation increases may have been larger than previously thought. The LGM diatom sequence is dominated by freshwater planktonic species in the Lindavia ocellata complex, the freshwater to brackish littoral species Pseudostaurosira brevistriata, and the brackish to saline benthic species Diploneis cf. smithii, all of which show decadal to centennial oscillations that were likely driven by solar cycles. Canonical correspondence analyses using mineralogical time series as proxies for wetter and drier conditions reveal that diatom assemblages varied with salinity and pH/alkalinity and suggest that groundwater outflow led to variable water chemistry for different highstands of the same magnitude. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling confirms the uniqueness of each highstand in terms of the diatom assemblages. The diatom data presented here are among only a handful of such records for Pleistocene pluvial lakes in the American West and reveal that saline alkaline lakes can yield important information despite valve preservation issues.

Climate history of the southwestern United States based on Estancia Basin hydrologic variability from 69 to 10 ka

Newly acquired UTh dates on gypsum sands contained within Pleistocene lake sediments allow us to extend the record of climatic change in the Estancia Basin of central New Mexico back to ∼69 ka from a previous limit of ∼29 ka. Using a hydrologic balance index (HBI) that reflects variations in sediment mineralogy and bedding characteristics, we find strong similarities to speleothem oxygen isotopic records for the southwestern United States as well as to isotopic variations in Greenland ice cores. Intervals of wetter climate in the Estancia Basin generally appear to correlate to colder conditions in the North Atlantic and conversely. The existence of a pronounced dry period from 18.1 to 17 ka matches in timing the Extrapolar Climate Reversal of Asmerom et al. (2017) at Fort Stanton cave in southern New Mexico and confirms a different origin for this stadial-like event. Furthermore, the new UTh dates support the existing Estancia Basin interpretation of a dry Bølling/Allerød followed by a wet Younger Dryas, a result consistent with speleothem and wet meadow evidence from New Mexico and Arizona (Asmerom et al., 2010, 2017; Polyak et al., 2004; Hall et al., 2012; Wagner et al., 2010) but in conflict with an interpretation of speleothem evidence from central Texas (Feng et al., 2014).

Decadal to millennial-scale solar forcing of Last Glacial Maximum climate in the Estancia Basin of central New Mexico

Lacustrine sediments from the Estancia Basin of central New Mexico reveal decadal to millennial oscillations in the volume of Lake Estancia during Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) time. LGM sediments consist of authigenic carbonates, detrital clastics delivered to the lake in stream flow pulses, and evaporites that precipitated in mudflats exposed during lake lowstands and were subsequently blown into the lake. Variations in sediment mineralogy thus reflect changes in hydrologic balance and were quantified using Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction traces. Radiocarbon dates on ostracode valve calcite allowed the construction of mineralogical time series for the interval ~23,600 to ~18,300ka, which were subjected to spectral analysis using REDFIT (Schulz and Mudelsee, 2002). Dominant periods of ~900, ~375, and ~265yr are similar to cycles in Holocene 14C production reported for a variety of tree ring records, suggesting that the Lake Estancia sediments record variations in solar activity during LGM time. A prominent spectral peak with a period of ~88yr appears to reflect the solar Gleissberg cycle and may help, along with the ~265yrcycle, to explain an ongoing mystery about how Lake Estancia was able to undergo abrupt expansions without overflowing its drainage basin.

Folsom Technology and Toolstone Use at the Martin Site, North Central New Mexico

The Martin site is a Folsom camp in the Estancia Basin, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, investigated in 1955 and only briefly described in a 1967 dissertation. Reanalysis of the implement collection was conducted during 2002, and the debitage was described in detail in 2005. The principal goal of the research was to integrate this important assemblage into current models of Folsom lithic technological organization through study of artifact assemblage composition and identification of the raw materials used in the production of stone tools. The assemblage is dominated by large numbers of preforms and channel flakes that are predominantly (95 percent) Edwards chert from west central Texas sources. Despite the location of the Martin site far from known Edwards chert sources, only Folsom points were manufactured, thereby raising questions concerning the relationship between Folsom and Midland and the hypothesis that Midland point manufacture is a raw material conservation strategy employed by Folsom groups at sites distant from sources. We describe the assemblage and discuss the pattern of Folsom raw material consumption and technological organization.

Sulfur isotope signatures in gypsiferous sediments of the Estancia and Tularosa Basins as indicators of sulfate sources, hydrological processes, and microbial activity

In order to reconstruct paleo-environmental conditions for the saline playa lakes of the Rio Grande Rift, we investigated sediment sulfate sources using sulfur isotope compositions of dissolved SO 4 2 - ions in modern surface water, groundwater, and SO 4 2 - precipitated in the form of gypsum sediments deposited during the Pleistocene and Holocene in the Tularosa and Estancia Basins. The major sulfate sources are Lower and Middle Permian marine evaporites (δ 34S of 10.9–14.4‰), but the diverse physiography of the Tularosa Basin led to a complex drainage system which contributed sulfates from various sources depending on the climate at the time of sedimentation. As inferred from sulfur isotope mass balance constraints, weathering of sulfides of magmatic/hydrothermal and sedimentary origin associated with climate oscillations during Last Glacial Maximum contributed about 35–50% of the sulfates and led to deposition of gypsum with δ 34S values of −1.2‰ to 2.2‰ which are substantially lower than Permian evaporates. In the Estancia Basin, microbial sulfate reduction appears to overprint sulfur isotopic signatures that might elucidate past groundwater flows. A Rayleigh distillation model indicates that about 3–18% of sulfates from an inorganic groundwater pool (δ 34S of 12.6–13.8‰) have been metabolized by bacteria and preserved as partially to fully reduced sulfur-bearing minerals species (elemental sulfur, monosulfides, disulfides) with distinctly negative δ 34S values (−42.3‰ to −20.3‰) compared to co-existing gypsum (−3.8‰ to 22.4‰). For the Tularosa Basin microbial sulfate reduction had negligible effect on δ 34S value of the gypsiferous sediments most likely because of higher annual temperatures (15–33 °C) and lower organic carbon content (median 0.09%) in those sediments leading to more efficient oxidation of H 2S and/or smaller rates of sulfate reduction compared to the saline playas of the Estancia Basin (5–28 °C; median 0.46% of organic carbon). The White Sands region of the Tularosa Basin is frequently posited as a hydrothermal analogue for Mars. High temperatures of groundwater (33.3 °C) and high δ 18O(H 2O) values (1.1‰) in White Sands, however, are controlled predominantly by seasonal evaporation rather than the modern influx of hydrothermal fluids. Nevertheless, it is possible that some of the geochemical processes in White Sands, such as sulfide weathering during climate oscillations and upwelling of highly mineralized waters, might be considered as valid terrestrial analogues for the sulfate cycle in places such as Meridiani Planum on Mars.

Wetter or colder during the Last Glacial Maximum? Revisiting the pluvial lake question in southwestern North America

Well-preserved shorelines in Estancia basin and a relatively simple hydrologic setting have prompted several inquiries into the basin's hydrologic balance for the purpose of estimating regional precipitation during the late Pleistocene. Estimates have ranged from 86% to 150% of modern, the disparity largely the result of assumptions about past temperatures. In this study, we use an array of models for surface-water runoff, groundwater flow, and lake energy balance to examine previously proposed scenarios for late Pleistocene climate. Constraints imposed by geologic evidence of past lake levels indicate that precipitation for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) may have doubled relative to modern values during brief episodes of colder and wetter climate and that annual runoff was as much as 15% of annual precipitation during these episodes.

Model estimates of runoff in the closed, semiarid Estancia basin, central New Mexico, USA

The 5000 km2 topographically closed Estancia basin in central New Mexico has been the focus of several palaeoclimatic studies based on changes in the level of late Pleistocene Lake Estancia. A large, unknown volume of surface runoff and groundwater from adjacent mountains contributed to the hydrological balance during highstands and lowstands. The US Department of Agriculture hydrological model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and the US Geological Survey groundwater flow model MODFLOW, with the LAK2 package, were used in this study to estimate runoff and water balance under present climate. A Geographic Information Systems (GIS) interface was used for SWAT, digitized data were applied for soils and vegetation, and limited streamflow data were used to obtain an approximate calibration for the model. Simulated streamflow is generally within 30% of observed values, and simulated runoff for the entire basin is about 8% of the annual inflow volume needed to support lowstands of the former Lake Estancia. Results from the combined models suggest application to other palaeoclimate investigations in semiarid lake basins.

Contributions of La Niña and El Niño to middle Holocene drought and late Holocene moisture in the American Southwest

Eolian landforms in Estancia basin, central New Mexico, record two episodes of extreme drought and low groundwater levels during the middle Holocene (7000-5400 1 4 C yr B.P.), followed by a rise in the water table throughthe late Holocene. Blowouts and associated lunettes formed when water levels fell below the desiccated floor of pluvial Lake Estancia, allowing widespread deflation. Elevation of the water table in the basin is regulated by a balance between evaporation from playas that occupy the blowouts and recharge of aquifers in the adjacent Manzano Mountains. Isotopic analyses of modern precipitation and groundwater reveal that recharge originates primarily as winter moisture, which is amplified during El Ninos and diminished during La Ninas. Thus, changes in the elevation of a reconstructed Holocene water table may reflect systematic changes in El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) circulation.

Rapid changes in Late Pleistocene precipitation and stream discharge determined from medium- and coarse-grained sediment in saline lakes

Sediment-trapping investigations in Pyramid Lake, Nevada show that medium- to coarse-grained clastic sediments suspended in streamflow after periods of low flow can be transported several kilometers in plumes of freshwater discharged over the surface of a saline lake. Analogous conditions are postulated to explain changes in the abundance of detrital quartz in lake clay near the center of Estancia Basin, New Mexico during the Late Pleistocene. Abrupt increases in the abundance of quartz grains mark the onset of lake freshening, and ostracode and trace-metal proxies for salinity indicate repeated, brief episodes of streamflow and lake freshening during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).

A continuous, high-resolution record of late Pleistocene climate variability from the Estancia basin, New Mexico

Lake sediments that accumulated in the Estancia basin, central New Mexico, provide a detailed record of submillennial latest Pleistocene climatic oscillations. Sedimentologic, biologic, and geochemical proxies for changes in salinity and lake level were used to identify episodes of wet and dry climate that occurred between 24 and 12 k.y. B.P., as dated by 14C by means of accelerator mass spectrometry from shoreline and basin-center deposits. These dates determine the timing and duration of the episodes of wet and dry climate. The lake expanded and contracted repeatedly during the last glacial maximum and fluctuated near its highest elevation several times during the interval ca. 20 to 15 k.y. B.P. A pronounced lowstand lasting ∼1 k.y. occurred between ca. 15 and 14 k.y. B.P., followed by two more highstands of the lake between ca. 14 and 12.5 k.y. B.P. Desiccation of the perennial lake after 12 k.y. B.P. was followed by a final, poorly dated highstand at ca. 10 k.y. B.P. The record of lake-level fluctuations from the Estancia basin provides a high-resolution record of changes in water budget in a basin, the comparatively simple physiography and hydrogeology of which ensured a direct response to the strong climatic fluctuations that occurred during the last glacial maximum and termination.

Evaporation from groundwater discharge playas, Estancia Basin, central New Mexico

Bowen ratio meteorological stations have been deployed to measure rates of evaporation from groundwater discharge playas and from an adjacent vegetated bench in the Estancia Basin, in central New Mexico. The playas are remnants of late Pleistocene pluvial Lake Estancia and are discharge areas for groundwater originating as precipitation in the adjacent Manzano Mts. They also accumulate water during local precipitation events. Evaporation is calculated from measured values of net radiation, soil heat flux, atmospheric temperature, and relative humidity. Evaporation rates are strongly dependent on the presence or absence of standing water in the playas, with rates increasing more than 600% after individual rainstorms. Evaporation at site E-12, in the southeastern part of the playa complex, measured 74 cm over a yearlong period from mid-1997 through mid-1998. This value compares favorably to earlier estimates from northern Estancia playas, but is nearly three times greater than evaporation at a similar playa in western Utah. Differences in geographical position, salt crust composition, and physical properties may explain some of the difference in evaporation rates in these two geographic regions.

Structurally Dependent Source Rock Maturity and Kerogen Facies, Estancia Basin, New Mexico: ABSTRACT

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 1,600 mi{sup 2} (4,100 km{sup 2}). It is bounded on the east by the late Paleozoic Pedernal uplift, on the west by the Tertiary-age Manzano and Los Pinos Mountains, on the north by the Espanola basin, and on the south by Chupadera Mesa. Depth to Precambrian basement ranges from 9,000 ft (2,700 m) in a narrow graben in the eastern part of the basin to less than 1,500 ft (460 m) on a shelf to the west. Basin fill consists primarily of Pennsylvanian and Wolfcampian sandstones and shales in the graben and sandstones, shales, and marine limestones on the shelf 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 eastern graben. 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 possiblymore » gas mixed with oil, was generated. Kerogens in shales of the eastern graben are entirely continental, gas-prone types. In limestones and shales of the western shelf, kerogens have a mixed marine and continental provenance, indicating that both oil and gas may have been generated on thermally mature parts of the shelf.« less

Evidence from Western North America for Rapid Shifts in Climate During the Last Glacial Maximum

The Estancia basin in southwestern United States contains evidence for strong and rapid pulsations in the supply of moisture brought into the region during the last ice age. The pulses were recorded during episodes of stream discharge that spread plumes of fresh water laden with quartz sand over the saline lake. The largest pulses in stream discharge lasted only a few decades, were organized into cycles that were spaced approximately 200 to 250 and 2000 years apart, and were of sufficient magnitude to freshen and maintain the lake at its maximum recorded elevation.

Earthquakes near Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1976–1981

The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a 66‐month‐long study of earthquake activity near Albuquerque, New Mexico, during 1976–1981. Analysis of over 1000 hypocenters with magnitudes as large as 3.2 revealed that most of the seismicity fell into three regions: (1) the Socorro and Albuquerque areas of the Rio Grande rift, (2) the Mount Taylor area of the Jemez lineament, and (3) the Estancia basin. In the rift the hypocenters are shallow and largely confined to regions beneath the basins. Composite fault plane solutions suggest both normal and strike‐slip faulting with an average T axis oriented WNW‐ESE. Most of the young faults of the rift are seemingly inactive, and the rift as a whole cannot be delineated on the basis of seismicity.

Results of Pilot Studies of Project NURE from New Mexico: Estancia Basin and Area Northeast of Grants Mineral Belt: ABSTRACT

Results of Pilot Studies of Project NURE from New Mexico: Estancia Basin and Area Northeast of Grants Mineral Belt: ABSTRACT

Late Paleozoic Sediments Derived From Pedernal Uplift: ABSTRACT

The Pedernal uplift, elongated northward from southern Otero County, New Mexico, to the present-day position of Pedernal Hills, was a late Paleozoic feature 40-75 mi wide and about 225 mi long; at the time of maximum development, the uplift connected southward with the Diablo platform and northeastward with Sierra Grande arch and Amarillo-Wichita uplift. This is Hill's (1958) Pedernal-Sacramento-Otero uplift, Adams' (1962) Pedernal arch, and Meyer's (1966) Pedernal uplift, but differs from Galley's (1958) Pedernal massif which he extended northeastward to encompass the southern Sierra Grande arch. The southern Pedernal area was beneath pre-Pennsylvanian seas, which derived their minor detritus from Penasco dome of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The Pedernal uplift emerged during Early Pennsylvanian time. Sediments which became sandstone, dark shale, and silty limestone were deposited westward in Orogrande and Estancia basins and eastward in Delaware basin. During Desmoinesian time, there was wide expansion of shallow seas; the Pedernal barely was awash, and provided only silt and clay for the limestone-choked seas, except for some deltaic subgraywacke in the Orogrande basin. Uplift of the northern part of the Pedernal uplift during late Desmoinesian time supplied arkose northeastward to the Rowe-Mora basin and westward to the Joyita-Los Pinos area and Estancia basin Beginning in late Missourian, the uplift took on the aspect of a tilted fault block, with the western edge higher (especially near Ruidoso) and providing more detritus westward into the Orogrande and Estancia basins, whereas only minor amounts of fine-grained materials swept eastward into the Delaware basin. These conditions continued into Virgilian time, culminating during the late Virgilian and early Wolfcampian with the westward dumping of a thick sequence of subgraywacke, arkose, and red to dark shale. Early Wolfcampian sediments derived from the west side of the Pedernal uplift range from quartzite and granite-cobble conglomerate to red shale, but by middle Wolfcampian the major detritus source was the Uncompahgre highland of north-central New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. Reddish clastics from this highland flooded Wolfcampian seas southeastward where Abo redbeds intertongue with Hueco Limestone. By late Wolfcampian time, most of the Pedernal uplift was buried beneath redbeds; only locally, as at the present-day Pedernal Hills and Pajarita Mountain, did remnant Precambrian-rock monadnocks rise above the red clastic flood. Higher remnants supplied minor detritus to lagoonal seas during Leonardian time. End_of_Article - Last_Page 537------------

Sedimentary Basins of Central and Southwestern New Mexico: ABSTRACT

Major sedimentary basins in this, the eastern part of the Basin and Range province, are the Orogrande and Pedregosa basins of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Wolfcampian age, the San Mateo-Lucero and Estancia basins of Pennsylvanian age, the Carrizozo and Quemado-Cuchillo (Foster, 1957) evaporite basins of Leonardian age, the Early Cretaceous basin near the Hatchet Mountains, and the continental basins of vols canic piles of Late Cretaceous age near Elephant Butte and Steeple Rock. Numerous Cenozoic intermontane graben basins dot the region, with the southern part of a long north-south string of interconnected grabens now followed by the Rio Grande and called the Rio Grande structural depression. Sediments filling the Cenozoic basins are mainly of Late Miocene. Pliocene and Pleistocene in age. Pre-Mississippian Paleozoic rocks remain only south of about 33°45^prime N. Lat. The basal Paleozoic unit, the Cambrian-Ordovician Bliss Sandstone, thickens depositionally southward and southwestward. The Early Ordovician El Paso Limestone thins northward due to intra-Ordovician erosion whereas the Middle and Late Ordovician Montoya Dolomite is relatively uniform in thickness where overlain by Silurian rocks. The Silurian Fusselman Dolomite thins northward partly due to erosion during Late Silurian and Early Devonian time. The Devonian shaly strata are relatively uniform in thickness, although marking the first large scale influx of clay and silt; as with all older Paleozoic rocks they appear to have been deposited in shallow epicontinental seas. The Pedregosa basin was autogeosynclinal, receiving thick deposits of Middle Mississippian crinoidal limestones, Late Mississippian arenaceous calcarenites, Pennsylvanian limestones, and Wolfcampian interbeds of limestone, black shale, and redbeds. The Orogrande basin began as a poorly defined autogeosyncline in which siliceous Middle Mississippian limestones and Late Mississippian arenaceous calcarenites were deposited, then became zeugogeosynclinal during Late Pennsylvanian time as detritus was swept westward from the Pedernal landmass, and during Wolfcampian time was filled by limestones and shales that grade northward into redbeds. The Estancia basin was a small Pennsylvanian zeugogeosyncline, and the San Mateo-Lucero basins were autogeosynclines connecting the Pennsylvanian seas orthward toward the San Juan and Paradox basins. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1879------------

Pennsylvanian Paleogeology and Search for Oil in Lucero Basin, Central New Mexico: ABSTRACT

The Lucero basin of central New Mexico was an area of Pennsylvanian sedimentation representing a significant widening of the central New Mexico seaway or accessway from the Paradox geosyncline on the north to the Sonoran geosyncline on the south. Several such basins along this accessway include the Lucero, San Mateo, and Orogrande, all of which have slightly different post-depositional geologic histories. This accessway, of which the Lucero basin is a part, ranged from 50 to 130 miles in width, and received up to 3,000 feet of Pennsylvanian sediments which form the Sandia, Madera, and Red Tanks formations. This seaway was in existence between Atokan and Virgilian time but was widest during Desmoinesian and Missourian time. Pennsylvanian marine sedimentation was limited on the west by the Zuni positive, on the east by a long sinuous platform west of the Estancia basin and the Pedernal positive, and on the northeast by the Penasco positive. Fine clastic sediments from the Zuni and medium to coarse sediments from the Penasco make up less than one-fourth of the Pennsylvanian section which is predominantly limestone. The sharp downwarp of the Estancia basin on the east, as a southerly basin of the central Colorado-Sangre de Cristo seaway, resulted in entrapment of westerly moving coarse clastics from the Pedernal uplift. The Sandia-Manzanita-Manzano-Joyita tectonic alignment (of Tertiary age) was a long narrow platform or sill which separated the thick clastic-filled Pennsylvanian section of the Estancia basin from the somewhat thinner but normal basinal and shelf carbonate section of the Lucero basin. Bioherms grew on the gently shelving east sides of the central New Mexico accessway as indicated by outcrops of calcarenite mounds containing Chaetetes sp. corals in the Sandia and Manzano mountains. Inasmuch as the Pennsylvanian outcrops at Monte de Belen and Gray Mesa along the Lucero uplift show basinal lithologic character in Desmoinesian and early Missourian strata and the entire section thins to zero westward onto the Zuni positive, it is likely that similar reefoid masses will be found in the subsurface in the area surrounding the corner common to Catron-Socorro-Valencia counties. Because of Laramide folding and Tertiary faulting, the eastern two-thirds of the Pennsylvanian Lucero basin is buried deeply beneath the valley fill of the Rio Grande trench, and parts of the platform between the Estancia basin on the east and the Lucero basin on the west now stand high as the Sandia-Manzano block-fault mountains. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1108------------