Tularosa Basin Research Articles

Radar studies of the earth

Radar backscatter from the ground was investigated in May, 1966, by aircraft and rocket flights over the Tularosa Basin area in New Mexico. An L-band radar with a peak power of 100 kW was flown to an altitude of 165 km, where echoes in orthogonal polarizations were monitored. The purpose of the experiment was to observe the behavior of the radar echo as a function of altitude and subsequently to relate the echo behavior to the measured electrical characteristics of the surface. Soil samples taken from the target area and measured in the laboratory had an average moisture content of 3.6 percent, dielectric constants between 2.8 and 4.8, and loss tangents between 0.001 and 0.2. The loss tangents computed from penetration measurements were somewhat higher (0.37). In most cases, the echo power amplitude appeared to vary as the inverse altitude squared for both the direct- and cross-polarized vertical incidence echo components. The average values for dielectric constant and loss tangent computed from the echo characteristics were e = 3.4 and tan Δ = 0.25, which are in fair agreement with the soil sample measurements. An unexpected result was the observation of a specular cross-polarized echo component.

Ground Water in Southwestern Region: ABSTRACT

The outstanding generalization about ground water in the parts of New Mexico and Texas in this region is that reserves will be exhausted in a few to several decades at the present rate of use. In nearly all areas development has increased exponentially since 1945. In New Mexico some legal check on exploitation is available in the doctrine of priority; in Texas no legal check exists. Generalizations concerning the hydraulics of the important ground-water bodies are: most recharge is close to development; the localities of natural discharge are from a few to 100 miles distant; the exploitation of ground water by wells involves either the depletion of storage or a decrease in stream flow to which it is tributary. The prolific aquifers are unconsolidated deposits of Quaternary and Tertiary age in bolsons, stream valleys, and the High Plains, and limestones especially of Permian and Cretaceous ages. Bolson aquifers include the interconnected water bodies between the Basin Ranges of southwest New Mexico, the Estancia Valley, Tularosa Basin, and the Dell City areas. River-connected aquifers include the alluvium of the Rio Grande and the alluvium and limestones of the Pecos River and other Texas streams. The development of the Roswell Artesian Basin resulted in the New Mexico ground-water law, upon which the laws of nine other western states are modeled. Saturated brines enter the Pecos in the Delaware Basin. The Staked Plains contains probably the largest area of ground-water mining, and one of the largest groundwater reservoirs in the United States. Its size made necessary the first application of a non-steady theory of ground-water movement 30 years ago and the widespread mining resulted in 1963 in the first legal determination that ground water is a depleting mineral resource. The hydrodynamics, development, reserves, and depletion of individual ground-water bodies are given. End_of_Article - Last_Page 2076------------

Comparison of observed tropospheric refraction with values computed from the surface refractivity

Radar elevation-angle errors observed in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico are compared with values predicted from the surface value of the radio refractive index. Although this method of prediction is not particularly efficacious under the conditions of this experiment, encouraging agreement nevertheless was obtained between predicted and observed: a) mean value of elevation angle error, b) variation of elevation angle error with N_{s} , and c), the degree of reduction in the uncertainty of prediction gained over the use of a single-standard atmosphere.

Fungi of New Mexico

SUMMARYA brief history is presented of mycological collections in New Mexico. Isolation of water-molds from some bodies of water in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico and isolation of fungi from the desert soils and gypsum sands of the Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico resulted in reports of 77 species of fungi. Included were 7 species of Saprolegniaceae from elevations exceeding 6700 ft, and 60 species of Fungi Imperfecti.

ALGA‐ AND LICHEN‐STABILIZED SURFACE CRUSTS AS SOIL NITROGEN SOURCES

ALGAE AND LICHENS contribute significantly to soil formation in a variety of ecological habitats. Algae have been investigated from the standpoint of nitrogen nutrition in desert (Fogg, 1947) and semidesert soils (Robbins, 1912; F'letcher and Martin, 1948), as a source of oxygen (Harrison and Aiyer, 1913) and nitrogen (Watanabe et al., 1951) in rice fields, and with respect to their possible value as pioneer vegetation in volcanic deposits (Treub, 1888). Soil algae are also recognized as an important agency in stabilizing surface crust in areas denuded of macro-vegetation by drought (Piercy, 1917; Drouet, 1937) or erosion (Elwell et al., 1939; Osborn, 1950) and in improving water infiltration (Booth, 1941). The present study investigates (a) the seasonal incidence of algal species in algaand lichen-stabilized soil crusts from several semi-arid habitats and (b) the amino nitrogen and combined nitrite and nitrate of these surface strata compared to subsurface levels. Observations are based mainly on soil samples collected from the Tularosa Basin in Lincoln and Otero Counties, southcentral New Mexico, from two strikingly contrasting xeric habitats. One, the Alamogordo White Sands (fig. 1), a deposit of drifting, 97 per cent gypsum, lies in the lowest part of the basin, covering an area approximately 28 miles long and 8 to 10 miles wide to a depth of 1000 ft. (Potter, 1938). The other, a recent lava flow, the Carrizozo malpais (fig. 2), extends northward along the main axis of the basin, filling a narrow valley 1/2 to 5 miles wide and 44 miles long to a depth of around 70 ft. toward the center and 10 to 20 ft. along the margins. In addition, samples were collected from that part of the Tularosa Basin immediately surrounding the gypsum sand deposit and the lava flow. This section of the basin floor varies from semidesert, alkaline plain adjacent to the gypsum deposit to typical overgrazed range land adjoining the lava flow on either side. Average annual precipitation in the Tularosa Basin, ranging from approximately 8 in. in the White Sands to 11 in. at the northern tip of the lava flow, is correlated mainly with altitude. The depth of the water table varies from 2 to 3 ft. in the gypsum flats to well over a hundred feet in parts of the surrounding basin floor. METHOD.-Soil crust and subsurface samples were collected in the dried condition from widely separated sections of the gypsum sand, the lava flow, and the surrounding basin floor. In the field,

Fall Foods of Gambel's Quail (Lophortyx Gambelii) in New Mexico

The results of crop analyses of 57 Gambel's quail, collected in the Rio Grande drainage area of New Mexico during October, November, and December are reported. Of a food content totalling 178.9 cc., 91.6% consisted of seeds and fruits (mainly seeds), and 6.5% of greens (mainly alfalfa leaflets). All of the crops contained vegetable material. Animal material, consisting almost entirely of insects (mainly beetles, true bugs, and ants), occurred in 68.4% of the crops, but volumetrically it accounted for only 1.6% of the total food content. Less than 500 individual insects were present, a mere trace compared with the more than 60,000 separate food items identified. This extreme preponderance of vegetable material has been previously reported for other parts of the species' range. Although at least 87 plant species were represented, 22 of these made up 90.4% of the total volume, and 92.8% of the total number of individual items. Plants of the legume, goosefoot, grass, and sunflower families were especially well represented in the diet. Marked use of native legumes such as mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), screwbean (Prosopis pubescens), and peabush (Dalea scoparia) was very noticeable. Equally so was heavy utilization of exotic weeds such as Russian thistle (Salsola kali) and Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense), as well as of exotic crop plants such as sorghum (Sorghum vulgare) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa). It is suggested that flexibility in feeding habits may help to explain the continued success of Gambel's quail in regions greatly altered by farming and grazing. Gambel's quail (Lophortyx gambelii Gambel) is an important game bird in New Mexico. It is widely distributed over the lower elevations of the southwestern part of the state, and ranges up the Rio Grande Valley and drainage area at least to a point well north of Albuquerque. It also occurs eastward of this drainage in and around the Tularosa Basin. It occurs in the San Juan drainage area of northwestern New Mexico, and there are isolated pockets of apparently permanent introduced range elsewhere in the State. Aside from New Mexico, the various subspecies of L. gambelii occupy a rather large area in the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah, as well as the Republic of Mexico. This paper deals with the food habits of Gambel's quail near the eastern periphery of its native range, and is further restricted to the fall season. The conclusions are based on the analysis of 57 crops, distributed as follows: October, 4 crops; November, 38 crops; December, 15 crops. The earliest collection date was October 12 and the latest was December 10. All collections were made during the year 1938-41. Col-

Zonation of Vegetation within the Tularosa Basin, New Mexico

The vegetation on two unusual substrates (lava and gypsum sand) is compared, and causative factors influencing distribution are dis- cussed. The Tularosa Basin in south central New Mexico provides a situa- tion which illustrates the interaction of several rigorous environ- mental factors in determining plant distribution. The north central part of the basin is an arid valley upon which two strikingly contrast- ing smaller environments are superimposed. One, a deposit of drifting gypsum, the Alamogordo White Sands, lies in the lowest part of the basin at the site of a Quaternary lake. The other, a lava bed, the Carrizozo malpais or badlands, believed to have been extruded within the past one thousand years, parallels the main axis of the basin, approximately the northern two-thirds lying within the Upper Sonoran and the lower third with the Lower Sonoran Zone. The lava flow extends at the southern tip to within 15 miles of the gypsum sand. The present paper analyzes the several causal factors determining plant distribution in the gypsum deposit, the neighboring lava flow to the north, and the alkaline plain surrounding these two areas. PHYSIOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE. - Bounded on the south by a low divide and on the three remaining sides by mountains, the Tularosa Basin is an internal drainage area approximately 40 miles wide with a long axis extending north and south for 150 miles. There are no permanent lakes or streams, flood waters discharged from the moun- tains being absorbed by the highly porous gypseous soil. The water table of the basin floor varies from 25 to more than 100 feet deep except in a small area west of the lava where it lies at around 200 feet (Meinzer and Hare, 1915). Somewhat west of the southern tip of the lava water emerges from the margin as the gypseous Malpais Spring. Annual precipitation varies with altitude, over a period of 23 years averaging 8.20 inches at 4,156 feet between the gypsum bed and the southern tip of the lava, but for the same period amounting to 11.37 inches at Carrizozo along the east margin of the lava toward the norther tip at an altitude of 5,438 feet (Benson, 1933).

Gross Modifications in Certain Plant Species Tolerant of Calcium Sulfat Dunes

The survival of vegetation in dune regions ordinarily depends upon a species plasticity which permits one or more of several possible adjustments to moving sand. A dune tolerant plant can usually endure temporary complete or permanent partial burial of the crown, elongate beyond accumulating drifts, greatly increase absorptive surface, withstand extensive exposure of the root system, or check the undermining action of wind erosion. Burial of vegetation, which usually results in defoliation and death, in certain plant species causes stem elongation which keeps young foliar portions of the crown sufficiently aibove the sand surface for survival. Such stems ordinarily produce adventitious roots at any level covered by moist sand. Certain species anchor the drifting substrate by a tangled growth of stems or roots. A number survive by the meristematic activity of creeping rhizomes. A few, chiefly the annuals, propagate successfully on and between the dunes by seed alone. The present study was initiated to discover gross modifications, especially in the main axes, of plant species growing in the nitrogen deficient gypsum dunes of the White Sands south and west of Alamogordo, New Mexico, and to compare this flora with that of certain quartz sand dunes. Locale.-This drifting gypsum deposit, which covers approximately 224 square miles, differs from the usual dune area in that the substrate is 96-97% calcium sulfate (Coville and MacDougal, 1903; Byers, 1936). Over a range approximately 28 miles long and 8 to 10 miles wide brilliantly white dunes 20 to 40 feet high alternate with narrow, wind-formed hollows. Windward slopes are long, rising gently at about a 300 angle, while leeward slopes are formed by sand slipping over the dune crests and settling at an angle of approximately 700. The darker, lighter weight impurities are blown free of the drifts where the winnowed gypsum, being heavier, remains. The water table in the flats lies 2 to 3 feet below the surface, and the pH of the substrate is 7.5 (Byers, 1936). Only one of the several soil chemists who have analyzed this gypsum sand reports any trace of nitrogen. Quantitative tests also indicate insufficient amounts of potassium and phosphorus for normal plant growth. Evolution of the dunes.-The White Sands lie in the Tularosa basin, which at this point contains gypsum carried from the Chupadora formation in the mountains on either side and deposited as valley fill, much of it in standing water, to a depth of 1000 feet (Potter, 1938). Gypsum forming the gradually growing dunes continues to 'be derived by wind excavation of an adjacent alkali flat, which represents the surface of the original de-

A NEW SPECIES OF PHEIDOLE FROM THE SOUTHWEST

The genus Pheidole is abundantly represented in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, but heretofore no member of the subgenus Ceratopheidole Pergande, has been recorded from the United States. A few specimens belonging to this group were received from Mr. C. P. Stroud, who collected them near Car rizozo, New Mexico, in the vicinity of the lava beds of the Tula rosa Basin. All of the ants are workers, but as far as can be ascertained from the published descriptions of the several New World forms in the group, it appears they represent a new spe cies. Pheidole (Ceratopheidole) clydei sp. nov. Worker. Length 2.8-3 mm. Head, exclusive of the mandibles, slightly longer than broad, sides some what convex, and posterior margin straight; occipital angles evenly rounded. Eyes convex and located midway between the anterior and posterior borders of the head. Clypeus convex, produced anteriorly, its margin smooth, but sinuate or broadly emarginate in the middle. Mandibles of the usual shape, with two large, apical teeth, and five to six denticles along the incisor mar gin. Antennae long and slender, the scape only slightly curved, and extend ing approximately i its length beyond the occipital corners of the head. Funiculus with an elongated, 4-segmented club, the segments subequal in length, and each about 1i to 2 times as long as wide, or even slightly longer. The remaining funicular segments slender, and about 1i times as long as wide. Thorax narrow, prothorax a little more than j as wide as the head; humeral angles rounded. Thorax is profile convex, but low; pro-mesonotal suture present and slightly impressed, meso-epinotal suture distinct. Epi notum long, flat, and nearly horizontal; declivity only j to i as long as the basal face. Spines long and sharp, fully i as long as the epinotal base, and directed slightly upward and outward. Petiole long and narrow, almost 3 times as long as wide; the node in profile low, with a long, concave an terior slope, and much shorter posterior slope. Postpetiole about as long as wide, convex above and flat beneath, subglobose, and twice as wide as the petiole. Abdomen of the usual shape. Front and gula shining, clypeus indistinctly granular, the remainder of the head sculptured with coarse punctures, giving a subopaque to opaque appear

A Survey of the Insects of White Sands National Monument, Tularosa Basin, New Mexico

The White Sands National Monument is situated in Tularosa Basin (Fig. 1), an area of internal drainage bounded on the east and west by a series of fault ranges and by relatively high ground on the north and south. The chief deposit of the basin is valley fill. In addition to the White Sands, there are several other large areas of ecological importance. West of the White Sands and adjacent to that area is a large salt flat. At the south end of this flat is an intermittent salt lake, Lake Lucero. North of the White Sands and not quite contiguous with that area is the malpais, a recent lava deposition. South of the White Sands and separated from it by a distance of about 20 miles is a large area of reddish silica dunes. This dunes area surrounds the low Jarilla mountains and extends into the Hueco Basin to the south.

Dark Coloration in the Reptiles of the Tularosa Malpais, New Mexico

IN 1932 Bradt described the mammals of the black lava Malpais of the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico and noted the close approximation between the colors of the animals and of the surrounding rocks. In the same year Benson described several new dark colored rodents from the lava, and Dice and Blossom in 1939 summarized the relationships between soil and pelage colors in the mammals of this and numerous other areas of the desert southwest. The latter authors demonstrated the general rule that dark colored forms were correlated with dark soils, while pale forms were correlated with light soils. In the Malpais, they found five species of mammals that tended toward dark coloration. In the contiguous snow-white gypsum dunes of the White Sands National Monument, they noted three species of mammals with pallid pelage tones. In less distinctively colored areas, mammals tended to approach the reds, yellows, buffs, and browns of their native substratum. Smith (1943) has described the pale lizards of the White Sands (Uta stansburiana stejnegeri Schmidt, Sceloporus undulatus consobrinus Baird and Girard, Holbrookia maculata ruthveni Smith, and Cnemidophorus perplexus Baird). Color notes on the reptiles from adjacent normal colored regions are readily available. The reptiles of the Malpais have not been studied, and in order to examine their colorations, three collecting trips were made across various portions of the lava in 1948. Color notes were made in the field. Comparative studies were made, largely, from preserved material. The Malpais of the Tularosa Basin consists of about 120 square miles of recent vesicular dull black lava extending north and south in a narrow irregular strip about 44 miles in length. It is bordered by arid plains and hills which determined the shape of the flow and which now bear the flora and fauna of the Chihuahuan biotic province. The lava is exceedingly rough and almost impassable. In places it is 50 or more feet in thickness. The surface displays such features as secondary terraces, collapsed bubbles and flow channels, pressure domes, knife-like ridges, extensive crevasses, crumpled and up-thrust extrusions, pahoehoe formations, cinder cones, and at the northern end a low crater. The surface is weathered but little. Enough glassy edges remain to damage even the heaviest boots. The violent winds of this part of the continent have buried the northern toe of the beds in drifted sand and loess. They have also carried into the lava sufficient pockets of soil to support a sparse growth of desert plants. In the northern portions (elevation about 5300 feet) ephydra and small junipers dominate. Farther south the more prominent large plants are mesquite, cholla, prickly pear, sotol, lecheguilla, atriplex, and near Malpais Spring (4150 feet) at the southern end of the beds, large Allenrolfia shrubs.

Annotated List of Mammals of the Tularosa Basin, New Mexico

Two trips were made to the Tularosa basin of southern New Mexico to study the Chihuahua deer-mouse. Fmm October 5 to December 10, 1938, extensive trapping was done to collect large breeding stocks of deer-mice. From February 24 to May 24, 1940, certain tracts in the mesquite near Alamo'gordo were trapped intensively in a study of the home ranges of this species, and incidental trapping was done in some other parts of the basin. In the course of the two trips, various distributional records and ecological notes were obtained which supplement previous studies of the mammals of all or part of the region by Dice (1930), Bradt (1932), and Benson (1933). The present report lists the species and races of mammals recorded from that part of the Tularosa basin extending from the vicinity of Carrizozo in the north, south to Escondida. It also contains all of the original information about their life histories and ecology available to me except the home range and population data from the 1940 trip. These will be published at a later date, as will the data on the breeding stocks.

An Expedition to the Tularosa Basin

An Expedition to the Tularosa Basin

An Expedition to the Tularosa Basin

An Expedition to the Tularosa Basin

The Mammals of the Malpais, an Area of Black Lava Rock in the Tularosa Basin, New Mexico

As a member of the University of Michigan-Walker-Harris Expedition of 1927, the writer became interested in the mammals of the Malpais lava bed area lying in the Tularosa Basin just west of Carrizozo, Lincoln County, New Mexico. The expedition was able to spend but a single night at Malpais Spring,' which lies at the extreme southern end of the lava bed, yet the trap lines operated on this one night resulted in the discovery of a new subspecies of pocket mouse and a new subspecies of woodrat. The pocket mouse has been described by L. R. Dice as Perognathus intermedius ater, and the woodrat as Neotoma albigula melas.2 Both the pocket mouse and the woodrat are very dark in color, much darker than the related forms found in the surrounding region. This dark color, corresponding to the dark color of the lava beds themselves, suggested further work in the area. The writer returned to the lava beds for parts of the two succeeding summers, and obtained additional specimens of each of the new subspecies named, as well as various other small mammals. The time actually spent in work on the lava bed was too brief, and the season, late July and early August, too unfavorable, for the securing of conclusive data on mammalian distribution, or on the relationships of the mammals of the lava to those of the adjacent areas, but some of the results obtained were interesting, and may stimulate further work in the region. Lava beds in the west are often termed Malpais, a Spanish word meaning bad country. The Malpais west of Carrizozo certainly merits this name, for it is a jagged mass of black rock, almost impassable even on foot, and used only to a limited extent as a goat pasture. A road has recently been completed across the Malpais from Carrizozo to Socorro, and is expected to attract travelers on account of the unusual

Geology and Water Resources of Tularosa Basin, New Mexico. O. E. Meinzer , R. F. Hare

<i>Geology and Water Resources of Tularosa Basin, New Mexico</i>. O. E. Meinzer , R. F. Hare