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 a rupture 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 as well as 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 (3.1 mi) north of the village of Capulin.
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.
Mount Taylor is a dormant stratovolcano in northwest New Mexico, northeast of the town of Grants. It is the high point of the San Mateo Mountains and the highest point in the Cibola National Forest.
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 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 (5.0 mi) 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.
Jackson Volcano is an extinct volcano 2,900 feet (880 m) beneath the city of Jackson, Mississippi, under the Mississippi Coliseum. The uplifted terrain around the volcano forms the Jackson Dome, an area of dense rock clearly noticeable in local gravity measurements. E.W. Hilgard published his theory of an anticline beneath Jackson in 1860 due to his observations of surface strata. The dome contains relatively pure carbon dioxide which is used in oil production in Gulf Coast oil fields. The noble gas data suggests mantle origins with a date of 70 million years for the Jackson Dome intrusion. Geologists have evidence of repeated uplifts accompanied by dike intrusions and volcanic extrusions, erosion, and sedimentation with one coral reef having developed during a submergence. Much of the oil at the crest of the dome volatilized during a late uplift, but oil production wells numbered over a hundred in 1934.
This timeline of volcanism on Earth includes a list of major volcanic eruptions of approximately at least magnitude 6 on the Volcanic explosivity index (VEI) or equivalent sulfur dioxide emission during the Quaternary period. Other volcanic eruptions are also listed.
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.
East Carrizo Creek rises in Las Animas County, Colorado north of Mt. Carrizo and east of Kim, Colorado, and flows generally southeast before turning south. It joins with West Carrizo Creek at a point about 6 miles north of the Preston Monument to form North Carrizo Creek. 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.