# Bolson

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A **bolson** is a [desert](/source/Desert) [valley](/source/Valley) or [depression](/source/Depression_(geology)), usually draining into a [playa](/source/Sink_(geography)) or salt pan, and entirely surrounded by recently [uplifted](/source/Geologic_uplift) hills or mountains. Bolsons are sites of active deposition of sediments ([aggradation](/source/Aggradation)).[1] They are a type of [endorheic basin](/source/Endorheic_basin) characteristic of [basin and range topography](/source/Basin_and_range_topography).

The term was an [Americanism](/source/American_English) originating in the 1830s and 1840s during the explorations of the far west of [North America](/source/North_America), particularly of what became the [Southwestern United States](/source/Southwestern_United_States) and northern [Mexico](/source/Mexico).[2][3] It was derived from the [Spanish](/source/Spanish_language) *bolsón* (large purse).[2]

Examples of this type of formation would be the [Hueco Bolson](/source/Hueco_Bolson) in the western [Trans-Pecos](/source/Trans-Pecos) of [Texas](/source/Texas), and the [Mesilla Bolson](/source/Mesilla_Bolson) in southern [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico) and the northeastern part of [Chihuahua](/source/Chihuahua_(state)), Mexico.

Water can accumulate over millennia in deep sediments to form a **bolson [aquifer](/source/Aquifer)**. Many have been tapped for human use.[4]

## References

1. * Connell, Sean D. (2001). "Stratigraphy of the Albuquerque Basin, Rio Grande Rift, Central New Mexico: A progress report". *New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Open File Reports*. **454B**: A8. [CiteSeerX 10.1.1.524.6206](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.524.6206)

1. [bolson](https://www.britannica.com/science/bolson) from www.britannica.com accessed July 29, 2018

1. [bolson](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bolson) from dictionary.com accessed July 29, 2018

1. [The Hueco Bolson: An Aquifer at the Crossroads](https://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/hueco_bolson.htm) from utminers.utep.edu accessed July 29, 2018

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