New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (bureau) is a division of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and functions as the geological survey for the state. Since 1927 the bureau has been conducting research and providing information to scientists, educators, and the public regarding the state’s geology, energy and mineral resources, and geohydrology through publications, maps, data collections, archives, outreach programs, and extensive website.The bureau’s library contains thousands of technical publications, maps, open file reports, bulletins, circulars, memoirs, decision-makers field conference guidebooks, and issues of the quarterly periodical New Mexico Geology. The bureau’s website (http://geoinfo.nmt.edu) contains vast amounts of data, information, publications, articles, features, and links. This information ranges from very technical geologic and natural resource data to more general material useful to New Mexico citizens and visitors curious about the geology and landscapes of our state. Data collections contain more than 20,000 boxes of New Mexico petroleum and mining core, cuttings from more than 15,000 wells, logs from 50,000 wells, plus production data, information databases, data analyses, and test records. The bureau’s geologic and aquifer mapping programs have produced invaluable maps and data.Educating those outside of the fossil fuel industry about petroleum and coal is beneficial to all. The bureau produces two semi-annual, general interest, earth science publications. Fossil fuels are a recurring theme. The entire current issue of Lite Geology (April 2014), geared toward educators and students, is related to new technologies in the oil and gas industry. Past issues contain numerous petroleum and coal articles. Issues of Earth Matters contain articles such as: the bureau’s analytical laboratories, NM’s subsurface data library, NM’s natural gas resources, hydrogeology, carbon sequestration, energy resources, coalbed methane, ongoing research at the bureau, and geologic mapping.The bureau has many other educational outreach efforts that relate to wide-ranging geologic topics, including fossil fuels. Rockin’ Around New Mexico is an annual summer workshop that provides teachers with the scientific background to understand and teach about the geology and natural resources of New Mexico. Held in locations around the state, about 25-30 New Mexico K-12 teachers attend each year. We maintain an extensive mineral museum (14,000 visitors annually) where students enjoy hands-on lessons about connections between minerals and commonly used items. Each fall, bureau staff record radio spots on interesting geologic topics. They are broadcast on the public radio station KUNM during Earth Science Week, and scripts are posted on our website. In short, the Bureau of Geology has gathered materials and developed information used by the extractive industries and the public for over 85 years, which is currently available in multiple formats.