DOI: 10.5066/p9x55wlu
title: Digital subsurface data from USGS Regional Aquifer System Analysis of the San Juan basin and adjacent areas, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico

description: The San Juan basin is a significant physical and structural element in the southeastern part of the Colorado Plateau physiographic province. The San Juan basin is in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah and has an area of about 21,600 square miles. The basin is about 140 miles wide and about 200 miles long. In the 1980's and 1990's, the San Juan basin was the focus of the U.S. Geological Survey's Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (RASA) study. Investigation of the San Juan structural basin began in October 1984 with an objective, among others, to define and evaluate the aquifer system. As part of this analysis, a multi-publication series of reports were produced as Hydrologic Atlas 720 (HA-720) that described on 1:1,000,000-scale maps the subsurface configuration and hydrogeology of the San Jose, Nacimiento, and Animas Formations (Levings and others, 1990; HA-720-A), the Ojo Alamo Sandstone (Thorn and others, 1990; HA-720-B), the Kirtland Shale and Fruitland Formation (Kernodle and others, 1990; HA-720-C), the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone (Dam and others, 1990; HA-720-D), the Cliff House Sandstone (Thorn and others, 1990; HA-720-E), the Menefee Formation (Levings and others, 1990; HA-720-F), the Point Lookout Sandstone (Craigg and others, 1990; HA-720-G), the Gallup Sandstone (Kernodle and others, 1990; HA-720-H), the Dakota Sandstone (Craigg and others, 1990; HA-720-I), and the Morrison Formation (Dam and others, 1990; HA-720-J). This digital dataset contains spatial datasets corresponding to the contoured subsurface maps produced by the U.S. Geological Survey's Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (RASA) San Juan basin study. The data define the elevation, thickness, and extent of principal stratigraphic units of the basin. The digital data describe the following stratigraphic units: the San Jose Formation, the Ojo Alamo Sandstone, the Kirtland Shale and Fruitland Formation, the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone, the Cliff House Sandstone, the Menefee Formation, the Point Lookout Sandstone, the Gallup Sandstone, the Dakota Sandstone, and the Morrison Formation. Digital data for each unit are contained in individual features classes within a geodatabase (also saved as individual shapefiles). Feature classes have a single attribute, either elevation or thickness, that represents the contoured value. Contoured values are given in feet, to maintain consistency with the original publication, and in meters. Levings, G.W., Craigg, S.D., Dam, W.L., Kernodle, J.M., and Thorn, C.R., 1990b, Hydrogeology of the San Jose, Nacimiento, and Animas Formations in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720A, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720A. Thorn, C.R., Levings, G.W., Craigg, S.D., Dam, W.L., and Kernodle, J.M., 1990b, Hydrogeology of the Ojo Alamo Sandstone in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720B, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720B. Kernodle, J.M., Thorn, C.R., Levings, G.W., Craigg, S.D., and Dam, W.L., 1990, Hydrogeology of the Kirtland Shale and Fruitland Formation in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720C, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720C. Dam, W.L., Kernodle, J.M., Thorn, C.R., Levings, G.W., and Craigg, S.D., 1990c, Hydrogeology of the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720D, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720D. Thorn, C.R., Levings, G.W., Craigg, S.D., Dam, W.L., and Kernodle, J.M., 1990a, Hydrogeology of the Cliff House Sandstone in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720E, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720E. Levings, G.W., Craigg, S.D., Dam, W.L., Kernodle, J.M., and Thorn, C.M., 1990a, Hydrogeology of the Menefee Formation in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720F, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720F. Craigg, S.D., Dam, W.L., Kernodle, J.M., Thorn, C.R., and Levings, G.W., 1990, Hydrogeology of the Point Lookout Sandstone in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720G, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720G. Kernodle, J.M., Levings, G.W., Craigg, S.D., and Dam, W.L., 1989, Hydrogeology of the Gallup Sandstone in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720H, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720H. Craigg, S.D., Dam, W.L., Kernodle, J.M., and Levings, G.W., 1989, Hydrogeology of the Dakota Sandstone in the San Juan structural basin, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah: Hydrologic Atlas 720I, accessed at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ha720I.