Sierra Grande | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 8,723 ft (2,659 m) NAVD 88 [1] |
Prominence | 1,880 ft (570 m) [1] |
Coordinates | 36°42′20″N103°52′36″W / 36.7055807°N 103.8766323°W [2] |
Geography | |
Location | Union County, New Mexico, U.S. |
Topo map | USGS Capulin |
Geology | |
Mountain type | Stratovolcano |
Volcanic field | Raton-Clayton volcanic field |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | Hike |
Sierra Grande is an extinct stratovolcano in northeastern New Mexico that rises 2,200 feet above the surrounding plain. It is part of the inactive Raton-Clayton volcanic field.
On a clear day, Sierra Grande can be seen from as far away as Texline, Texas, as well as from the summits of the Culebra Range in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. The eastern slopes of Sierra Grande are the easternmost point in the United States with an elevation of more than 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level, [3] and the peak is the highest in the United States east of 104 degrees west.
U.S. Highway 64, U.S. Highway 87 and the Colorado and Southern Railway run along the north and east of the volcano. The town of Des Moines is just to the northeast. To the northwest is Capulin Volcano National Monument featuring Capulin Volcano, an extinct cinder cone also in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field.
Numerous watercourses form on and around the flanks of the volcano, including Pinabete Creek (which feeds into the Dry Cimarron River to the northeast), [4] North Branch Corrumpa Creek [5] and South Branch Corrumpa Creek [6] (which join and become Corrumpa Creek to the east at Weatherly Lake), [7] [8] Seneca Creek, [9] and Carrizo Creek. [10]
Sierra Grande is the largest volcano in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field. Its flows range in age from 3.8 to 2.6 million years. The volcano is largely composed of two-pyroxene andesite, a rock type found almost nowhere else in the Raton-Clayton volcanic field. [11]
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
Capulin Volcano National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in northeastern New Mexico that protects and interprets an extinct cinder cone volcano and is part of the Raton-Clayton volcanic field. A paved road spirals gradually around the volcano and visitors can drive up to a parking lot at the rim of the extinct volcano. Hiking trails circle the rim and lead down into the mouth of the volcano. The monument was designated on August 9, 1916, and is administered by the National Park Service. The volcano is located 5 kilometres north of the village of Capulin.
The Thirtynine Mile volcanic area, part of the larger Central Colorado volcanic field, is an extinct volcanic area located in Park and Teller counties, Colorado, northwest of Cripple Creek and southeast of South Park. The area was the site of significant volcanism in the Paleogene Period about 35 million years ago. Ashfall and lahars (mudflows) from the volcanoes created the conditions for fossilization at what is now Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountains run from Poncha Pass in South-Central Colorado, trending southeast and south, ending at Glorieta Pass, southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The mountains contain a number of fourteen thousand foot peaks in the Colorado portion, as well as several peaks in New Mexico which are over thirteen thousand feet.
A volcanic field is an area of Earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters of up to 100 volcanoes such as cinder cones. Lava flows may also occur. They may occur as a monogenetic volcanic field or a polygenetic volcanic field.
The Sierra Blanca is an ultra-prominent range of volcanic mountains in Lincoln and Otero counties in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The range is about 40 miles (64 km) from north to south and 20 miles (32 km) wide.
The Raton-Clayton volcanic field is a volcanic field located in the state of New Mexico, United States. Capulin Volcano National Monument is located in the volcanic field. It is the northeasternmost volcanic field of the Jemez Lineament and the easternmost Cenozoic volcanic field of North America.
The Lucero volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field located New Mexico, US. The field is located on the transition between the southeastern Colorado Plateau and the Rio Grande rift and was erupted in three pulses, at 8.3−6.2, 4.3−3.3, and 1.1−0 Mya. The field consists of isolated outcrops scattered over an area of about 2,000 square kilometers (770 sq mi) with a total eruptive volume of about 7.3 cubic kilometers (1.8 cu mi).
Red Hill volcanic field, also known as Quemado volcanic field, is a monogenetic volcanic field located in the vicinity of the ghost town of Red Hill in Catron County New Mexico. Red Hill is 24 kilometers (15 mi) east of the larger Springerville volcanic field and includes Zuñi Salt Lake. The area is made up of scoria cone and silicic dome fields. Over 40 volcanic vents have been identified in the field. These erupted basaltic flows, with no other rock types evident in the field.
The Carrizozo volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field located in New Mexico, US. The volcanic field consists of two lava flows, the Broken Back flow and the Carrizozo lava flow, the second youngest in New Mexico. Both lava flows originated from groups of cinder cones. The Broken Back flow is approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) long and the Carrizozo, one of the largest in the world, is 68 kilometres (42 mi) long, covering 328 square kilometres (127 sq mi) with a volume of 4.2 cubic kilometres (1.0 cu mi).
The Jemez Lineament is a chain of late Cenozoic volcanic fields, 800 kilometers (500 mi) long, reaching from the Springerville and White Mountains volcanic fields in East-Central Arizona to the Raton-Clayton volcanic field in Northeastern New Mexico.
The Rabbit Ears are a pair of mountain peaks in northeastern New Mexico, United States, 8 kilometres north of the city of Clayton. The two peaks were a distinctive landmark along the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail, a major route for westbound settlers in the 19th century. The formation was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963. The name is that of a Native American chief who was killed here in a battle with the Spanish in 1717.
South Carrizo Creek forms either just west of the Oklahoma line in New Mexico, or east inside Oklahoma to the northwest of Wheeless, Oklahoma. It is intermittent. It travels generally northeast through Black Mesa State Park where it is impounded to form Lake Carl Etling, before being joined by Willow Creek and continuing northeast to flow into the Cimarron River.
North Carrizo Creek forms in Baca County, Colorado at the confluence of East Carrizo Creek and West Carrizo Creek, at a point about 6 miles north of the Preston Monument, the tripoint of Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico. North Carrizo Creek then flows generally south-southeast into Oklahoma to join the Cimarron River northeast of Kenton, Oklahoma.
West Carrizo Creek forms in Las Animas County, Colorado west-southwest of Kim, Colorado and flows generally east. It connects with East Carrizo Creek, which forms in Colorado north of Mt. Carrizo and east of Kim, and which flows generally southeast before turning south, to form North Carrizo Creek at a point about six miles north of the Preston Monument, the tripoint of Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Carrizo Creek forms in Arizona north of Cibecue, before flowing generally southeast, being joined by Corduroy Creek around the town of Carrizo, and continuing generally south to join the Salt River.
Carrizozo Creek is a watercourse in the northeast corner of New Mexico, with a small portion extending into the northwestern Oklahoma Panhandle. The creek originates northwest of Clayton Lake State Park and northeast of Grenville, New Mexico about halfway to the Colorado border, being just north of Corrumpa Creek and just west of New Mexico State Road 370. It meanders generally east-northeast into Oklahoma, loops northwest heading back into New Mexico, and then turns generally east flowing into Oklahoma again. Where Carrizozo Creek and the Dry Cimarron River come together in Cimarron County, Oklahoma west of Kenton, the Cimarron River is formed.
Corrumpa Creek is a watercourse in New Mexico and Oklahoma. It originates at Weatherly Lake, located 9 miles east-southeast of Des Moines in Union County, New Mexico. It results from the South Branch Corrumpa Creek, which originates south-southwest of Des Moines and travels generally east, and the North Branch Corrumpa Creek, which originates southwest of Des Moines but passes northeast through the town before continuing generally east-southeast, having their confluence at Weatherly Lake. From that location, Corrumpa Creek meanders in every direction but generally east before turning southeast near the Oklahoma border. It continues into Oklahoma where, at the point where it is joined by Seneca Creek about 4.5 miles northwest of Felt, Oklahoma, it officially becomes the Beaver River.
Seneca Creek, also known as Cienequilla Creek, is a watercourse in New Mexico and Oklahoma. Running south of, and roughly parallel to, Corrumpa Creek, it originates south-southeast of Des Moines, New Mexico and east-northeast of Grenville, and travels generally east, eventually crossing into Oklahoma. Where it finally joins Corrumpa Creek about 4.5 miles northwest of Felt, Oklahoma, the combined stream becomes the Beaver River.