Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument: Geologic resources inventory report
KellerLynn K. 2018. Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument: Geologic resources inventory report. Natural Resource Report. NPS/NRSS/GRD/NRR—2018/1706. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The Geologic Resources Inventory (GRI) provides geologic map data and pertinent geologic information to support resource management and science-informed decision making in more than 270 natural resource parks throughout the National Park System. The GRI is one of 12 inventories funded by the National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring Program. The Geologic Resources Division of the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate administers the GRI. This report synthesizes discussions from a scoping meeting held in 2006 (see Appendix A). Chapters of this report discuss the significance of the geologic setting, history, and features at Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, highlight geologic issues facing resource managers, and provide information about the previously completed GRI map data. A poster (in pocket) illustrates these data. Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument consists of three noncontiguous units—Abó, Gran Quivira, and Quarai—with a headquarters and main visitor center in Mountainair, New Mexico. The name Salinas relates to the monument’s proximity to salt lakes (las salinas). Salt played an important role in the early settlement and trade of the region. In Spanish colonial times, the area was known as the Salinas Jurisdiction. Through the centuries, this diverse region has supported prehistoric hunter-gatherers and puebloan groups, Spanish missionaries, and European American settlers. The people, places, and stories of the monument reflect a long tradition of cultural diversity, social interaction, and adaptation to a rich but demanding environment (National Park Service 2014). The monument preserves ruins of prehistoric Indian pueblos and associated 17th century Spanish missions, as well as 19th and 20th century rancheros. The pueblos and churches were built of local rock: red sandstones (sedimentary rock consisting of sand-sized grains set in a matrix of silt or clay; see table 1) in the Abó and Quarai units and gray limestone (a sedimentary rock consisting chiefly of the mineral calcite, CaCO3) in the Gran Quivira unit. Although the monument is small, encompassing about 400 ha (990 ac) of federal land, its regional geologic setting is large, incorporating the Rio Grande rift, Manzano Mountains, Estancia basin, and Chupadera Mesa. Permian sedimentary rocks, Tertiary igneous rocks, and unconsolidated Quaternary deposits compose the geology of the monument and represent 299 million years of geologic activity. A geologic time scale (fig. 1) and generalized stratigraphic column (table 1) highlight the timing of geologic events and arrangement of rocks and deposits. This report contains two main tables. Table 1 emphasizes geologic time and takes the form of a stratigraphic column where map units are listed from bottom to top, oldest to youngest. It provides a brief geologic description and setting for each map unit. Notes associated with table 1 define geologic terms used to describe the monument’s rocks. Table 3 summarizes the geologic resource management issues at the Abó, Gran Quivira, and Quarai units in the context of relevant geologic map units. Like table 1, table 3 is ordered stratigraphically. Issues within table 3 are listed alphabetically and include abandoned mineral lands; cave and karst resource management; drainage problems and flooding; energy resource development; erosion (water and wind); paleontological resource inventory, monitoring, and preservation; and wetlands. Most issues can be associated with a particular geologic map unit or units and are listed in table 3. Potential resource management actions for these issues are discussed following the table. A few issues—climate change, earthquakes and other ground shaking, and volcanic activity—are broader in scope, encompassing all of the map units and beyond. These are discussed in “Other Resource Management Issues.”
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- KellerLynn, Katie
- Date of Issue
- 2018-08
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRD , GRI , NRSS , SAPU , SCPN
- Keywords
- abandoned mineral lands, Abó Unit, and preservation, cave and karst resource management, Chupadera Mesa, climate change, drainage problems and flooding, earthquakes and other ground shaking, energy resource development, erosion (water and wind), Estancia Basin, Geologic Features, Geologic Features and Processes, Geologic History, Geologic Processes, Geologic Resource Management Issues, Geologic Resources Division, Geologic Resources Inventory, Gran Quivira Unit, GRD, GRI, Manzano Mountains, Map Units, monitoring, National Park Service, New Mexico, NPS, paleontological resource inventory, Permian Rocks, Quarai Unit, Quaternary Deposits, Resource Management, Rio Grande Rift, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, SAPU, Tertiary Rocks, volcanic activity, wetlands
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Windblown Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Hillslope Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Stream/River Channel Characteristics , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Cave/Karst Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Seismic Activity , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Paleontology | Paleontology