Cabezon Peak is a large

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged mag ...

that is a prominent feature in northwestern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. It rises to in elevation, and nearly 2,000 feet above the floor of the Rio Puerco Valley. Cabezon Peak is two miles south of the old

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

Cabezon Cabezón is the Spanish word for "stubborn" or "big-headed". In Chile, cabezon means intelligent. Cabezon or cabezón may refer to: Fish species * Cabezon (fish) (''Scorpaenichthys marmoratus''), a species of fish in the family Cottidae * '' Cach ...

and the

Rio Puerco The Rio Puerco is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. From its source on the west side of the Nacimiento Mountains, it flows about ,Calculated in Google Earth generally south to join the Rio Grande about south of B ...

. This volcanic neck is formed of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

and is part of the Mount Taylor volcanic field. A volcanic neck or plug is formed when

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...

from an existing volcano solidifies in the pipe or neck and the surrounding sediment is eroded away. Marine

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

rocks of the

Mancos Shale The Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous (Upper Cretaceous) geologic formation of the Western United States. The Mancos Shale was first described by Cross and Purington in 1899 and was named for exposures near the town of Mancos, ...

and

Point Lookout Sandstone The Point Lookout Sandstone is a Cretaceous bedrock formation occurring in New Mexico and Colorado. Description The formation consists of two informal members. The lower is a sequence of thinly bedded sandstone and shale, while the upper is a ...

are exposed around the base of Cabezon Peak. Cabezon means “big head” in Spanish. This stems from a

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

myth which holds that it is the head of the giant Ye’i-tsoh after being slain by the twins Nayenezgani and To’badzistsini. The first geologist to study Cabezon Peak was likely Clarence E. Dutton, who also photographed the peak in 1884–1885. Further studies were carried out by

Douglas Wilson Johnson Douglas Wilson Johnson (1878–1944) was an American geographer and geomorphologist known for his contributions to the understanding of coastal processes and landforms. Johnson was a descendant of a slave-holding American family of English roots. ...

in 1907 and C.B. Hunt in 1938. All identified the peak as an exhumed volcanic neck. Mesa Prieta is south of Cabezon Peak.

Geology

Cabezon Peak is the solidified core of a volcano that erupted 2.658 ± 0.032 million years ago, based on argon-argon dating. The eruption at this volcano likely began with lava fountains from the vent, which built up a

scoria cone Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock that was ejected from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains or clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) ''G ...

Lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

later ponded in the interior of the cone, solidifying into a massive plug.

Erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

then stripped away the less resistant scoria, leaving the highly resistant plug visible today. The visible plug is nearly cylindrical in shape; it is approximately across at its base, and tapers to . The plug is composed mostly of basalt columns, about in diameter, that are vertical in the upper part of the plug but splay outwards at its base. The topmost part of the plug is

scoria Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock that was ejected from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains or clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) ''G ...

that remains from the original cone. The lava erupted at Cabezon Peak was

alkaline basalt Alkali basalt or alkali olivine basalt is a dark-colored, porphyritic volcanic rock usually found in oceanic and continental areas associated with volcanic activity, such as oceanic islands, continental rifts and volcanic fields. Alkali basalt is ...

in composition; that is, a lava relatively low in

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

, and moderately enriched in

alkali metal The alkali metals consist of the chemical elements lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K),The symbols Na and K for sodium and potassium are derived from their Latin names, ''natrium'' and ''kalium''; these are still the origins of the names ...

s. The basalt that solidified from this lava contains visible crystals (

phenocrysts 300px, feldspathic phenocrysts. This granite, from the Switzerland">Swiss side of the Mont Blanc massif, has large white plagioclase phenocrysts, triclinic minerals that give trapezoid shapes when cut through). 1 euro coins, 1 euro coin (diameter ...

) of

olivine The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers quickl ...

clinopyroxene The pyroxenes (commonly abbreviated to ''Px'') are a group of important rock-forming inosilicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rocks. Pyroxenes have the general formula , where X represents calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe II) ...

plagioclase Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more prope ...

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldsp ...

, and

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...

in a very fine-grained

matrix Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...

. The origin of the alkaline basalt is uncertain. It may have formed in the

upper mantle The upper mantle of Earth is a very thick layer of rock inside the planet, which begins just beneath the crust (at about under the oceans and about under the continents) and ends at the top of the lower mantle at . Temperatures range from appro ...

where hot rock crept upwards beneath the

Rio Grande rift The Rio Grande rift is a north-trending continental rift zone. It separates the Colorado Plateau in the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. The rift extends from central Colorado in the north to the state of Chihua ...

. The basalt of Cabezon Peak contains a small number of

xenolith A xenolith ("foreign rock") is a rock fragment (country rock) that becomes enveloped in a larger rock during the latter's development and solidification. In geology, the term ''xenolith'' is almost exclusively used to describe inclusions in igne ...

s, fragments of solid rock that were entrained in the magma from the upper mantle or lower crust.

Gallery

File:Cabezon Peak.JPG, Cabezon Peak is a volcanic plug located near the "ghost town" of Cabezon, NM File:Cabezon Peak WSA (9443604052).jpg, Cabezon Peak in northwestern New Mexico Image:Cabezon Peak NM airphoto.jpg, Oblique air photo of Cabezon Peak, facing north File:Cabezon Peak WSA (9440824897).jpg, Winter scene

References

External links

{{commons category, Cabezon Peak * Cabezon Peak
Weather forecast
* Cabezon Peak
Bureau of Land Management
* Cabezon Peak flyover
YouTube
Volcanoes of New Mexico Geology of New Mexico Landforms of Cibola County, New Mexico Volcanic plugs of the United States

Geology

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links