All visitors are required to wear an approved mask or face covering over the nose and mouth at all times when in the museum.
You are here
New Mexico Volcano Collection
Select any of the volcanic features on the map above or selct from the list below for more information. The information on these pages is a work in progress. Check back for updates.
Volcano Page List
Type:
Basaltic fissure eruptions & scoria/spatter cones
Significance:
Young example of a long basaltic fissure eruption, many small volcanologic details preserved and within a few minutes drive of Albuquerque
Location:
35.2° N, 106.8° W, Bernalillo County
Type:
Significance:
Collection of old calderas in extreme southwestern New Mexico
Location:
31° 20' to 32° 20' N, 107° 50' to 109° +' W, Hidalgo County
Type:
Basaltic volcanic field consisting of scoria cones, and maar type eruptions
Significance:
Exposures of shallow basaltic volcanoes on shore of Elephant Butte Reservoir
Location:
33°16'41.9"N, 107°10'12.1"W
Type:
Basaltic lava flow
Significance:
One of the largest volume young (morphologically preserved) lava flows on Earth
Location:
33° 20' N to 33° 53' N, 106° W, Lincoln County
Type:
Clusters of scoria cones, intermediate thick lava flows
Significance:
Cat Hills is one of the youngest volcanic fields in the Rio Grande rift; Los Lunas volcano is a complex of thick lava flow eruptions; Tomé volcano is the site of an anuual relgious pilgramage
Location:
35.1°, -106.5°
Type:
Basaltic volcanic field, including one small shield volcano, and sveral maars
Significance:
RElatively unmapped and unexplored volcanic field. Appears to be somewhat similar to basaltic eruptions of Mesa Chvato (north of Mount Taylor).
Location:
34°47'01.5"N, 107°49'17.97"W
Type:
Pliocene Composite volcano, scoria cones, maars, viscous domes, volcanic necks
Significance:
Classic late Cenozoic volcanic field with diverse array of volcanic morphologies and compositions; thick viscous flow domes of basaltic andesite; numerous hydromagmatic eruptions; section in White Rock Canyon exposes numerous hydromagmatic deposits
Location:
35° 30' to 35° 52' N, 106° 05' to 106° 20' W, Santa Fe County
Type:
Field of ash-flow calderas and associated volcanic rocks
Significance:
A collection of giant calderas (sites of "super eruptions") from the beginning of New Mexico's "Age of Volcanoes", the mid- Cenozoic.
Location:
32° 00' to 34° 30' N, 106° 30' to 109° 00' W, Socorro County
Type:
Mostly intermediate composition (monzonitic) intrusions and a few mesa-capping basaltic lava flows; local alteration and mineral deposits including turquoise
Significance:
The Ortiz Mountains are the site of an active gold mine and the site of the first gold rush in the continent; the Cerillos monzonite intrusions are famous for the turquoise that was mined there in the 19th century
Location:
35°15'16.6"N, 106°21'48"W
Type:
Late basaltic scoria cones and lava flows
Significance:
Relatively young and well preserved Basin and Range type scoria cone eruption and associated flows
Location:
31°55'41.86", 108°52'55.67"
Type:
Basaltic scoria cones and associated lava flows
Significance:
Basalts moderately late in age of eruption on the eastern margins of the Datil-Mogollon field and west of the Engle volcanic area
Location:
33°04'02.1", 107°34'23.97"
Type:
Basaltic shield volcano / lava field
Significance:
Large volume, young age, unusual vent structure, and other-worldly isolation; significant lava inflation in surrounding field
Location:
33°28' to 33°40' N, 106°42' to 107°08' , Socorro County
Type:
older intermediate-rhyolitic lava flows, tuff, and intrusions
Significance:
A distal outlier of the San Juan volcanic field, it is within the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and partly rsponsible for unusual rare earth ores
Location:
36°34'11.92", 105°31'16"
Type:
Black Butte is a remanant of an older lava flow; the Los Piños volcanoes are small basaltic scoria cones and lava flows
Significance:
Isolated small volcanic rocks and eruption sites near the southern end of the Albuquerque basin part of the Rio Grande rift
Location:
34°27'43.3"N, 106°25'51.5"W
Type:
Basaltic shield volcano, scoria cones, associated lava flows; older basaltic mesas
Significance:
Location:
34°42' N, 107° 20' W, Valencia County
Type:
Composite volcano
Significance:
Second largest young volcano in New Mexico; classic composite volcano; long-lived history and complete development
Location:
35° 13' N latitude, 107° 35' W longitude, Cibola County
Type:
Group of intrusions and associated extrusive rocks. (Chuska Mountains, northwestern New Mexico)
Significance:
The most famous example of a volcanic neck; unusual near-surface preservation of mafic mid-Tertiary volcanoes
Location:
Chuska Volcanic Field, approx. 35° 25' to 37° N and 108° 25' 109° Ship Rock, 36° 41' N, 108° 40' W, San Juan County
Type:
Volcanic field consisting of scoria cones, shield volcano, and lava flows
Significance:
Volcanic field at the foot of the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo (Rocky) Mountains and Fort Union and Santa Fe trail
Location:
35° 40' N to 36° 20' , 104° 40' W to 105° 12' W, Mora County
Type:
Scoria cones, shield volcanos, and maars
Significance:
Youthful volcanic field in Basin and Range setting; several youthful maars and cinder cones
Location:
31° 45' to 32° 15' N, 106° 47' to 107° 21' W, Doña Ana County
Type:
Extensive volcanic field of scoria cones, silicic volcanoes, and lava flows
Significance:
Large and young monogenetic scoria cones; extreme diversity of lava compositions from very mafic to dacitic
Location:
36 to 37.3° N latitude, 103.1 to 104.3° W longitude, Union County
Type:
Cluster of monogenetic scoria cones, maars, and associated lava flows.
Significance:
Several youthful maars and significant neotechtonic structures; Zuni Salt lake maar is a classic youthful hydromagmatic crater
Location:
33° 50' to 34° 39' N , 108° 25' to 108° 00' W, Catron County
Type:
Shallow exposures of the surface and near-surface interiors of small basaltic scoria cones
Significance:
These volcanic necks are significant because they offer a rare look at the inside of small volcanoes. And they are dramatic and scenic because of their situation within the bright sandstones and shales of the Mesa Verde Group.
Location:
35°34'05.5"N, 107°10'12.12"W, Cibola County
Type:
Basaltic fissure eruptions & scoria/spatter cones
Significance:
Compact volcanic field; numerous fault scarps; classic shield volocano
Location:
35° 25' to 35° 35'N, 106° 25' to 106° 35'W, Bernalillo County
Type:
Massive complex of intermediate and silicic volcanic rocks intruded into pyroclastic materials, lava flows, and debris
Significance:
Largest mid-Tertiary volcanic complex east of Rio Grande; eastern-most mountain of the Basin and Range Province; southern-most U. S. volcanic complex that towers into the Arctic/Alpine life zone.
Location:
33.4° N latitude, 105.7° W longitude, Otero County
Type:
Active mid-crustal magma-filled sill
Significance:
One of the best examples of a mid-crustal, seismically "bright" magam boundies in the continental US; Yellowstone and Long Valley caldera are the other two
Location:
3400'53.7"N, 106°17'14.0"W; Socorro County
Type:
Outlying flows and tuffs from series of ash flow calderas in the central and southern San Juan volcanic field
Significance:
The southern type of the extension San Juan volcanic field, site of multiple super eruptions much like the Datil-Mogollon field of southwestern NM
Location:
36°37'18.27", 106°18'59.39"
Type:
Tholeiitic sheet flows, scoria/spatter cones, and silicic shield volcanoes and domes
Significance:
Largest volcanic field within the Rio Grande rift and unusual silicic shield volcanoes
Location:
36° 36' N latitude, 105° 48' W longitude, Taos County
Type:
Four scoria cones and associated basaltic lava flows.
Significance:
Unusual location on summit of Tusas Mountains; flows from the twin Brazos cones flowed several thousand feet down in elevation along the Brazos Box to the lower elevations at Tierra Amarilla.
Location:
36° 30' to 36° 45'N, 106° 18' to 106° 38' W, Rio Arriba County
Type:
Ash-flow caldera, viscous domes, basaltic flows
Significance:
One of the largest young calderas on Earth; type area for resurgent ash-flow calderas
Location:
Valles Caldera, 35° 35' to 36° 15' N, 106° 10' to 106° 48' W;, Sandoval County
Type:
Holocene scoria cones, shield volcanoes, spatter cones and lava flows
Significance:
Youthful volcanic field; the McCartys lava flow is one of the youngest and longest lava flows on the continent.
Location:
35° N, 108° W, Cibola County
data-href="http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/node/174"
data-layout="standard"
data-action="like"
data-show-faces="true">