A Conceptual Model to Link Anomalously High Temperature Gradients in the Cerros del Rio Volcanic Field to Regional Flow in the Espanola Basin, New Mexico

Abstract:

Temperature-depth well data along with electromagnetic (EM) data were collected by students of the Summer of Applied Geophysics Experience (SAGE) 2015 field season in the Espanola Basin, New Mexico. The data from this year, in addition to data acquired since 2013, were used to construct a conceptual east-west cross-section of the Espanola Basin and the adjacent highlands in order to evaluate the regional flow system. Vertical geothermal gradients from several monitoring wells were measured using a thermistor. Anomalously warm geothermal gradients were mapped in the Cerros del Rio volcanic field in the basin just east of the Rio Grande. Temperature gradients are up to 70℃/km, while the background geothermal gradients in the Rio Grande rift zone generally show 28℃-35℃/km. This anomaly extends to the Buckman well field, which supplies water to the city of Santa Fe. Overpumping of this well field has led to subsidence in the past. However, discharge temperature plots indicate that the temperature gradients of the Buckman field may be rebounding as pumping is reduced.

Audiomagnetotelluric (AMT) and transient electromagnetic (TEM) data were acquired in the vicinity of three monitoring wells. TEM and AMT methods complement each other with the former having depths of investigation of less than ten to hundreds of meters and AMT having depths of investigation comparable to the wells deeper than 500m. These datasets were used collectively to image the subsurface stratigraphy and, more specifically, the hydrogeology related to shallow aquifers. The EM data collected at these wells showed a trend indicating a shallow aquifer with a shallower resistive layer of approximately 100 ohm-m at 70-100 meters depth. Beneath this resistive layer we resolved a more conductive, clay-rich layer of 10 ohm-m. These resistivity profiles compliment the electrical logs provided by Jet West, which indicate shallower sandstone interbedded with silt on top of more silt-dominant layers.

Our proposed conceptual model of the regional flow system in the Espanola Basin addresses the anomalously high geothermal gradients in the monitoring wells in and near the Cerros del Rio volcanic field in addition to the recovering water levels in the Buckman well field.

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