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Richard Chamberlin

Richard in Iceland
Richard (on right) and Carlo Doglioni, Universita' La Sapienza, Italy, tour the Hveragerdi geothermal field in southeastern Iceland.

Senior Field Geologist
New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources
New Mexico Tech
801 Leroy Place
Socorro NM 87801-4796
(575) 835-5310 Office Phone
(575) 835-6333 fax

Richard Chamberlin has been making geologic maps in New Mexico for over 25 years. Most of his mapping experience is in Cenozoic volcanic terranes of west-central New Mexico and Neogene extensional basins of the Rio Grande rift. Mapping projects recently completed for the STATEMAP program cover the Loma Creston, Socorro, Lemitar, Luis Lopez and San Lorenzo Spring 7.5' quadrangles. A Reconnaissance Geologic Map of the Quemado 30 x 60' sheet, by Chamberlin, Anderson and Cather, has now been incorporated into the new Geologic Map of New Mexico. Richard is presently mapping the Water Canyon 7.5' Quadrangle for the STATEMAP program.

Domino faulting
Richard uses "domino-block" model to illustrate a common mode of upper crustal extension in the Rio Grande rift near Socorro. Real crustal blocks are not this rigid at depth.

The Socorro-Magdalena region of the Rio Grande rift is a large natural laboratory where field geologists can study ignimbrite calderas, rift structures, rift basins and the interaction of a large volume (7100 km3) bimodal magmatic system with the early rift system. Collaboration with Bill McIntosh and the Argon Geochronology Lab at New Mexico Tech has created a precise temporal framework for the eruptive history of the eastern half of the Oligocene Socorro caldera (Chamberlin et.al. 2004). The Socorro caldera is the easternmost member of a westward younging cluster of six large ignimbrite calderas (31.9-24.3 Ma) in the northern Mogollon-Datil volcanic field. Ongoing research concerns the detailed field relationships, petrology and 40Ar/ 39Ar geochronology of the Magdalena radial dike swarm (MRDS), a large swarm of mafic dikes that radiate outward as much as 125 km from the Socorro-Magdalena caldera cluster.

Richard, along with colleagues Bill McIntosh and Chuck Chapin, recently presented an interpretation of the Oligocene Socorro-Magdalena magmatic system as a "miniplume" at the Penrose Conference, "Plume IV: Beyond the Plume Hypothesis", in Hveragerdi, Iceland. This extended abstract is available at http://www.mantleplumes.org. PDF’s of recent publications and posters can be obtained by sending an email request to Richard.

EDUCATION:

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RECENT PUBLICATIONS & ABSTRACTS:

  1. Chamberlin, R.M., McIntosh W.C., and Eggleston T.L., 2004, 40Ar/ 39Ar Geochronology and Eruptive History of the Eastern Sector of the Oligocene Socorro Caldera, Central Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico: in Tectonics, Geochronology and Volcanism in the Southern Rocky Mountains and Rio Grande Rift, S.M. Cather, W.C. McIntosh and S.A. Kelly (eds.), New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin.
  2. Leuth, V.W., Chamberlin, R.M., and Peters, L., 2004, Age of Mineralization in the Luis Lopez Manganese District, Socorro County, New Mexico: as Determined by 40 Ar/39Ar Dating of Cryptomelane, in press, in Tectonics, Geochronology and Volcanism in the Southern Rocky Mountains and Rio Grande Rift, S.M. Cather, W.C. McIntosh and S.A. Kelly (eds.), New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin.
  3. Chamberlin, R.M., 2004, Preliminary Geologic Map of the San Lorenzo Spring 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Socorro County, New Mexico, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-file Geologic Map Series, OF-GM-86, 31p. 1 plate.
  4. Chamberlin, Richard M., Chapin, Charles E., and McIntosh, William C., 2002, Westward Migrating Ignimbrite Calderas and a Large Radiating Mafic Dike Swarm of Oligocene Age, Central Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico: Surface Expression of an Upper Mantle Diapir?: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 34, No.6, p.438.
    [PDF of poster 5.56 Mb file]
  5. Chamberlin, R.M., Eggleston, T.L., and McIntosh, W.C., 2002, Geology of the Luis Lopez Quadrangle, Socorro County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resource Open File Geologic Map, OF-GM-53, 43p. 1 fig. 3 tables, 2 sheets.
  6. Chamberlin, R.M., 2001, Waning-stage Eruptions of the Oligocene Socorro Caldera, Central New Mexico: in Volcanology in New Mexico, L.S. Crumpler and S.G. Lucas (eds.), New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 18, p. 69-77.
  7. Chamberlin, R.M., Cather, S.M., Nyman, M.W., and McLemore, V.T., 2001, Preliminary Geologic Map of the Lemitar 7.5' Quadrangle, Socorro County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-file Geologic Map OF-GM-38, 28 p. 2 plates.
  8. Chamberlin, R.M., 2001, Modal Mineralogy, Textural Data and Geochemical Data for Caldera-facies Hells Mesa Tuff and a Comagmatic Lava Dome, with Selected Data Plots and Supporting Map Data: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Open-file Report 458, 41 p.

CURRENT PROJECTS:

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