New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

 

Cat Hills Volcanic Field


Location: 34°48' to 34°57', 106°45' to 106°55' W, Bernalillo County
Type: Young basaltic scoria cones and flows located along the central axis of the Rio Grande rift
Age: 0.14 ± 0.038 Ma to ~0.1Ma
Significance:

Alignment along fissure-like trend; young age

 


Quarried North Cone

View from the South

Wind Mesa

View from NM Highway 6

Southern Cone


View ABQ Cathills in a larger map

Further Reading

General geology and relation to the Rio Grande rift:
Kelley, V. C., and A. M. Kudo, 1978, Volcanoes and related basalts of Albuquerque basin, New Mexico. New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Circular 156, 30p.

Petrology and Lithology:
Baldridge, W. S., 1979, Petrology and petrogenesis of Plio-Pleistocene basaltic rocks from the central Rio Grande rift New Mexico and their relationship to the Rift, in Riecker, R. E., editor, Rio Grande Rift: Tectonism and Magmatism, American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., p. 323-353.

Explore New Mexico's Volcanoes

New Mexico Volcano Directory
A map of volcanoes and volcanic features around the state, with detailed discussion of each site.

Volcanoes of New Mexico
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