Combined geophysical studies at Kilbourne Hole maar, New Mexico
— Lindrith Cordell

During March 1975, in support of an evaluation of geothermal potential of federal land, the U.S. Geological Survey made gravity, air and ground magnetic, resistivity, audio-magnetotelluric, telluric, and magnetic variation studies in the vicinity of the Kilbourne Hole maar. In this paper I will state our viewpoint, summarize the geophysical findings, and then describe in particular the gravity and magnetic data. The following guidebook papers by Jackson and Bisdorf, Hoover and Tippens, O'Donnell and others, and Towle and Fittermann will describe the other data sets.

 

Unusually well developed maare of late Pleistocene age occur at Kilbourne and Hunts Holes and elsewhere both locally and regionally. At Kilbourne maar the crater is about 2 km in diameter, 60 m deep, and rimmed with hills of cross bedded, base surge and air-fall material up to 60 m high on the downwind side of the crater. The maare were described by DeHon (1965). In contrast to DeHon, however, I find neither geological nor geophysical evidence to show that the maare are related to surficial geologic structure.