Hydrogeothermal studies in New Mexico and implications for ground-water resources

Subsurface temperatures and heat-flow data provide valuable information on both regional and local ground-water flow patterns, In the San Juan Basin o f northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado, heat-flow data are use d to estimate basin-scale horizontal flow and predict hydraulic conductivit ies much higher than values measured in pumping tests or laboratory studies , Along the central Rio Grande rift in the Albuquerque Basin, hot water at depth may be present at a number of locations; however, the hydrogeology is such that warm springs are absent, In south-central New Mexico, along the southern Rio Grande rift, a number of warm springs result from tectonic act ivity and erosion exposing aquifers which allow deeply-circulating ground w ater to come near surface, In the Roswell Basin of southeastern New Mexico, recharge to the Pecos River deep aquifer is predicted from depths of simil ar to 1,000-1,500 pm; in addition a ground-water divide appears present nea r the Mescalero ridge, On the Llano Estacado downward ground-water movement from the surface is suggested to depths of similar to 1,000-1,500 m, Along the Rio Grande at Bosque del Apache and Canutillo, and along the Pecos Riv er at Artesia, there appear to be dual-flow systems with river water moving downward to depths of similar to 50-100 m, while upward flaw of ground wat er occurs from much greater depths. This implies separation of the ground-w ater systems at these locales, an important ramification regarding the rech arge of different zones, The deep pumping at Canutillo appears to have exce eded the natural recharge, and this may well be the case at other locales w here pumping depths are below river recharge. Shallow pumping at Canutillo appears to have caused a much greater recharge from the river than was the prepumping case.