Tularosa Basin

TheTularosa Basinis agraben basinin theBasin and Range Provinceand within theChihuahuan Desert,east of theRio Grandein southernNew MexicoandWest Texas,in theSouthwestern United States.

Geography

The Tularosa Basin is located primarily inOtero County, New Mexico.It covers about 6,500 sq mi (16,800 km²) (35% larger than Connecticut). It lies between theSacramento Mountainsto the east, and theSan AndresandOscura Mountainsto the west. The basin stretches about 150 mi (240 km) north–south, and at its widest is about 60 mi (100 km) east-west. It is geologically considered part of theRio Grande Riftzone, which widens there due to the slight clockwise rotation of theColorado Plateau tectonic plate.

Notable features of the basin includeWhite Sands National Park,Oliver Lee Memorial State Park,theCarrizozo Malpais lava flow,Holloman Air Force Base,and theWhite Sands Missile Rangewith the historicTrinity nuclear test Site.Tularosa Creek flows westward into the Tularosa Basin just north of the village ofTularosa.The distinct northwestern New MexicoTularosa Riveris located inCatron County.

Hydrologically, the Tularosa Basin is anendorheic basin,as no water flows out of it. The basin is closed to the north by Chupadera Mesa and to the south by the broad flat 4000-foot-elevation plain between theFranklinandHueco Mountains,with the conventional boundary taken to be the New Mexico–Texasborder. Surface water that does not evaporate or soak into the ground eventually accumulates atplayas(intermittently dry lake beds), the largest of which isLake Lucero,at 3888 feet elevation, at the southwest end of the White Sandsdunes.TheWhite Sandsare a 710-km²(275-mi²) field of white sand dunes composed ofgypsumcrystals. To the north of Lake Lucero are extensivealkali flats,which produce additional gypsum for wind deposition on the dunes.

History

Upper Paleolithic

TheWhite Sands fossil footprintsin the Tularosa Basin are estimated by the National Park Service to be 21 000 to 23 000 years old and include footprints possibly showing humans stalking agiant sloth.^[1]The footprints are located at the shore of anice ageera lake. As of November 2021, 61 fossil footprints have been found at the site.^[2]

Apache, Spanish, and U.S. 'Old West'

When the Spanish arrived in the Tularosa Basin, they found springs and small streams coming from theSacramento Mountainsthat fed a relatively lush grassland on the eastern side of the basin. While the Spanish tried some sheep ranching and some mining, the area remained firmly under Apache control until the 1850s, when the United States established its military presence at Fort Stanton (in the Sacramento Mountains) (1855–1896), Torreon Fort (nearLincoln) (1850s), and Camp Comfort (1858–1859) at White Sands. Under US military protection, the first permanent settlement was established in 1862, when about 50 Hispanic farmers from theRio Grande Valleymoved toTularosa.Efforts to control the Apache waned somewhat during theAmerican Civil Warand serious American settlement did not begin until the late 1870s, when settlers and cattle ranchers from Texas began moving into the basin. In 1969, theGemsbokwas introduced.

Grasslands and grazing

Thenative grasslandsin the Tularosa Basin were able to support large herds in theWhite wet years of the 1880s. When the Americans first started running cattle, in some places, thenative perennial bunchgrassesgrew 'as high as a horse’s shoulder' - 1.0–2.5 m (3.3–8.2 ft) depending on species. One cowboy estimated in 1889 that 85,000 head weremusteredwithin the basin, but said that was “far too heavy a burden for the range” - or beyond itscarrying capacity.^[3]Severe drought followed for years, and the grassland pastures never recovered from theovergrazing,which continued in many instances for 75 years or more and caused top-soilerosionanddesertification.Even within theWhite Sands Missile Range,where cattle grazing was eliminated in 1945, the effects from the 1890 -1945 period of overgrazing can still be seen nearly everywhere. Many areas that were historically known to be rich perennial grasslands are nowxeric desert shrublands,withcreosote bush—(Larrea tridentata)predominating.

Groundwater salinization

Since surface water was unable to sustain the cattle herds, ranchers turned togroundwater,and the easily reachableaquiferof 'sweet water' was pumped out and depleted from under the basin, leaving onlybrackish water.Applying the groundwater to the surface resulted in additional salts being dissolved and transported back down bygroundwater rechargeinto the aquifer, increasing itssalinity.By 2000, it became clear that salts in the aquifer needed to be significantly reduced if existing levels of water use were to continue. Therefore, in 2004, the Tularosa Basin National Desalination Research Facility was established in the basin atAlamogordo,as a joint project of theFederal Bureau of ReclamationandSandia National Laboratories.It is a national center for researching procedures to reduce brackish water creation and to develop new technologies for desalination as it is increasingly found in present-day inland basin aquifers with agricultural irrigation and potable water withdrawal demands.

Ecology

The Tularosa Basin is in theChihuahuan Desert ecoregion,with the formerGreat Plainsgrassland habitatecotones.Because of the closed nature of the basin, a number of unique ecological niches have developed. A significant number ofendemicspecies are only found in the Tularosa Basin. These include theWhite Sands pupfish(Cyprinodon tularosa) and the Oscura Mountainschipmunk.

Counties

While the Tularosa Basin lies primarily in New MexicanOtero County,it also extends intoDoña Ana,Sierra,Lincoln,andSocorro Countiesin New Mexico, andEl Paso Countyin southwestTexas.

View from theISSduringExpedition 8 Earth observationof the desertJornada del Muertoregion of the Tularosa Basin (showing the dryLake Lucero)

Cities, towns, and ghost towns

Notes

^Guarino, Ben (2021-10-27)."Fossil footprints 'unique in the world' show a human chasing a giant sloth".Washington Post.ISSN 0190-8286.Retrieved2023-10-27.
^"The discovery of ancient human footprints in White Sands National Park and their link to abrupt climate change".United States Geological Survey.Earth Science Matters Newsletter.Retrieved23 April2022.
^Tom Fraser in an interview in 1942, quoted in Sonnichsen, C.L. (1980)Tularosa: Last of the Frontier WestUniv. of NM Press edition, p. 21.

External links

[1] Guarino, Ben (2021-10-27)."Fossil footprints 'unique in the world' show a human chasing a giant sloth".Washington Post.ISSN 0190-8286.Retrieved2023-10-27.

[USGS-2] "The discovery of ancient human footprints in White Sands National Park and their link to abrupt climate change".United States Geological Survey.Earth Science Matters Newsletter.Retrieved23 April2022.

[3] Tom Fraser in an interview in 1942, quoted in Sonnichsen, C.L. (1980)Tularosa: Last of the Frontier WestUniv. of NM Press edition, p. 21.

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