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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
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