Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1901-07-26

sandstone has been even more inter
csting for there can not longer be any
doubt that the turquols of these IA.
mines, worked in prehistoric
times to an almost incredible extent
Is due to the metamorphic action OF
the aegerite-syenite on the shay bed
in sandstones Of the red & Among
the curious divergent reports that
have been made In the light of the en-
tire ~cnvironing country. Professor
Blake scem to have been the only
n who recognized the scdimcntary
series. but he considered II Carbuni-
ferrous. The igneOus intrusive has
been Identified rs trachite. but this Is
because only the altered material was
examined. II is a most remarkable
sycnitc whose iron magnetism miner
M IL an "undescribcd pyrovenc with
the optical character but not the
chemical composition Of aegoriteiau-
Cite. The same rock Is responsible
for the ortiz gold belt and the placer
material upon which the Edison com.
pany exp rimcnted behind closed
bars.
SALT AND GYPSUM.
But probably of much greater i'm
portance 10 the territory than the cop
per or %turquois Is the great salt and
gypsum industry that one day may
place New Mexico In the lead In these
directions. Especially interesting from
n geological AS well as an economic
point of view are the circumstances
which transformed the deep sea on
ditions of the carboniferous In the
west to n time of shallow water and
]lagoons Of salt and gypsum. The
great fields OF white gypsum sand col
lccted by the winds from of the salin.
as Of bona Ana county and the bot
tomless crater conduit filed with su-
persaturated brine in western Socor-
ro county are simply two marked in
stances Of the conditions accompany.
ing the transition period between the
pcrmian and the Juratriassic all
over the territory.
The recent interest I'm oil has
brought To light the unexpected fact
that In some places the sands Of the
red beds are saturated with asphalt
over large areas. While ne product
i've wells have SO far bceon found
and the lack of suitable owe may
prove an indispensable difficulty to
collection OF oil In this horizon on a
large scale there Is abundant proof
that the vegetable masses Of the late
rcrmian or early Jura-triassic have
been productive of quantities Of oil
in western New Mexico.
CRETACEOUS CORRELATIONS.
IAN interesting result OF the pal.
eontological work of our survey has
been to show that a large group Of
Ignite long supposed to be Of Larimie
< and actually containing such
well known I.arimie fossils as Os-
trCa glabra Is followed by n thick ser
icrs of marine CrctaceoUs with fossils
like those of the upper FoX.hills group.
Below the shales In question In Nc
kinlcy county extensive oil indlca-
lions have beer found that have CIV
en- rise to the oil excitement in New
Mexico. The oil 30 far zen is of
very high gravity and has an asphalt
base but IN no case so far has the oil
been reached by deep boring and the
character of the deeper oil Is n mat
ter of con .%ccture solely. In the shales
Of. northeastern New Mexico immcdi-
atcly beneath the Trinidad coal meas.
ures tsupposcdly of Larimic age) oil
IL found and associated with marine
fossils like Inoceramus fragilis. This
IL undoubtedly the same zone ms that
which furnishes the oil of Florence,
Colo, and will no doubt furnish good
supplies within the territory also.
CARBONIFEROUS.
more practically romuncrative
than the above mentioned have been
the geological applications from n stu
dy Of the carboniferous lead.silvev
horizons, but here one treads peril.
Ously near the present day problems
where conflicting interests are con
cerned and moreover IL must he re-
membcrcd that the time of the con
grcss IL too precious for anyone to
%monopolize n large share of II. |
venture to hope that the instances
cited may AFFORD fresh evidence of
the ~desirability of n closer union be-
tween theoretical geology and the
technical economic training In the
work of the practical mining engi-