McRae Canyon

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McRae Canyon is a canyon in the southern Fra Cristobal Range in Sierra County, New Mexico. Its waters are tributary to the Rio Grande, and today flow into the Elephant Butte Reservoir at the head of an inlet in the flooded lower canyon, at an elevation of 4,354 feet / 1,327 meters. Its source is at 33°13′52″N107°05′50″W / 33.23111°N 107.09722°W / 33.23111; -107.09722 , at an elevation of 5,070 feet / 1,545 meters in the southern Fra Cristobal Range. [1] McRae Canyon has one major tributary the Cañon del Muerto that has its confluence an unnamed arroyo that flows into McRae Canyon at 33°11′21″N107°07′32″W / 33.18917°N 107.12556°W / 33.18917; -107.12556 .

Canyon Deep ravine between cliffs

A canyon or gorge is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic timescales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut through underlying surfaces, eventually wearing away rock layers as sediments are removed downstream. A river bed will gradually reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water into which the river drains. The processes of weathering and erosion will form canyons when the river's headwaters and estuary are at significantly different elevations, particularly through regions where softer rock layers are intermingled with harder layers more resistant to weathering.

Fra Cristobal Range

The Fra Cristobal Range, is a 17 mi (27 km) long, mountain range in central-north Sierra County, New Mexico. The range borders the eastern shore of Elephant Butte Reservoir on the Rio Grande, and the range lies towards the southwest of the Jornada del Muerto, the desert region east of the river.

Sierra County, New Mexico County in the United States

Sierra County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 11,988. Its county seat is Truth or Consequences.

History

The Ojo del Muerto, an artesian spring, was located at 33°11′24″N107°07′43″W / 33.19000°N 107.12861°W / 33.19000; -107.12861 , nearby to the west below the confluence of Cañon del Muerto with an unnamed arroyo that flows into McRae Canyon. It was one of the few reliable water sources along the route of the Jornada del Muerto, although stock and water carriers had to travel several leagues (5 or 6 miles) west from the trail to the spring and back. It was also the water source of the Apache in the region and for that reason Fort McRae was built in the canyon nearby below the spring in 1863, to help protect travelers on the Jornada del Muerto and impede Apache movement across the Jornada basin.

Artesian aquifer

An aquifer is a geologic layer of porous and permeable material such as sand and gravel, limestone, or sandstone, through which water flows and is stored. An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer is trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay which apply positive pressure to the water contained within the aquifer. If a well were to be sunk into an artesian aquifer, water in the well-pipe would rise to a height corresponding to the point where hydrostatic equilibrium is reached.

Spring (hydrology) A point at which water emerges from an aquifer to the surface

A spring is a point at which water flows from an aquifer to the Earth's surface. It is a component of the hydrosphere.

Jornada del Muerto

The name Jornada del Muerto is translated loosely from Spanish, historically referring to it as the "Journey of the Dead Man", though the modern literal translation is closer to "The Working Day of the Dead". As a geographic name, "Jornada del Muerto" is the desert region the Conquistadors had to cross to make it from Las Cruces to Socorro, New Mexico. As a name-place, "Jornada del Muerto" is a loose translations of "single day's journey of the dead man" hence "route of the dead man") in the U.S. state of New Mexico was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to the Jornada del Muerto Desert basin, and the particularly dry 100-mile (160 km) stretch of a route through it.

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Cañon del Muerto is a canyon, in Sierra County, New Mexico.

Oscura Mountains, origially known to the Spanish as the Sierra Oscura, are a ridge of mountains, trending north and south, east of the Jornada del Muerto and west of the Tularosa Valley. It is located in Socorro County and Lincoln County, New Mexico. Their highest elevation is Oscura Peak at 8,625 feet / 2,629 meters. Its southern end is at 33°30′30″N106°18′45″W and its north end is at 33°49′15″N106°22′20″W near North Oscura Peak.

References

Coordinates: 33°11′43″N107°09′55″W / 33.19528°N 107.16528°W / 33.19528; -107.16528

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.