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• Vermejo and Raton Formations <br />The coal-bearing Vermejo and Raton Formations are so lithologically <br />similar that they constitute a single hydrologic unit. A few wells <br />penetrate the Vermejo Formation where it crops out on the eastern <br />margin of the Park Plateau and considerably more derive water from <br />the middle member of the Raton Formation over its extensive outcrop <br />area. Development of the Raton Formation as an aquifer is concentrated <br />in the upper member, mainly because it occurs near the heads of <br />drainages, where much former agricultural property is currently <br />being converted into residential use. <br />Ground water is transmitted by interlayered sandstone and siltstone <br />of the upper Raton member, lower Raton Sandstone and conglomerate <br />and numerous sandstone lenses and a few thick coal seams in the middle <br />Raton member and Vermejo Formation. As evidenced by springs, most <br />• water-bearing sandstone is slabby arkosic (e.g. Midway School Spring, <br />T33R65S10) and underlain by confining layers of coal (e.g. Rock Crack <br />Spring, T33R67510)_ or shale (e.g. Midway School Spring). Most of the <br />water is transmitted through pores and bedding planes, but some, as <br />in Rock Crack Spring, and Berwind Spring 32R65502 percolates through <br />fractures. Some commercial coal beds (greater than 4 feet thick) <br />transmit ground water through fractures, also. For example, Water, <br />Waste, and Land, Ltd. (.1980) reports discharge from the Allen and <br />Maxwell mines and in test holes penetrating the Maxwell seam; Jacks <br />Mine Spring (.T33R65506) and a well in T32R66536 both derive water <br />from the Boncarbo seam. <br />~~ <br />75 <br />