mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in northern
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, Ke ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, in
Santa Fe County
Santa Fe County ( es, Condado de Santa Fe; meaning ''Holy faith'' in Spanish) is located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 144,170, making it New Mexico's third-most populous county, after Bernalillo Cou ...
, northeast of the
Sandia Mountains
The Sandia Mountains (Southern Tiwa: ''Posu gai hoo-oo'', Keres: ''Tsepe,'' Navajo: ''Dził Nááyisí''; Tewa: ''O:ku:p’į'', Northern Tiwa: ''Kep’íanenemą''; Towa: ''Kiutawe'', Zuni: ''Chibiya Yalanne'') are a mountain range located i ...
and due north of the San Pedro Mountains. The Ortiz include Placer Peak, the highest peak in the range at 8,858 feet, Lone Mountain at 7,310 feet, Cedar Mountain at 7,041 feet, Cerro Chato at 6,965 feet, and the foothills known as the Los Lomas de la Bolsa.
Geology
The Ortiz Mountains are on the east side of 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 Chihuahu ...
, with the Santa Domingo Basin and Hagan Basin of the rift to their west, with the Sandia uplift to the southwest, and the Espanola Basin and the Estancia Basin to the east. They form part of the watershed boundary between the Rio Grande and the Pecos River.
The Ortiz Mountains are part of the larger Ortiz porphyry belt of Santa Fe County, and consist of late
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
igneous rock
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma o ...
s and their sedimentary host rock. Other members of the Ortiz porphyry belt are South Mountain, the San Pedro Mountains and the Cerrillos Hills. These porphyry intrusions were followed by movement on the Tijeras-Canoncito fault and later mid Oligocene (31.4–27.9 ma) intrusions of stocks and
dike
Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to:
General uses
* Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian"
* Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment
* Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice
* Dikes ...
s with mineralization including both base and precious metals.
History
Placer mining for gold in the Ortiz Mountains was carried out by the early Spanish using Indian slave labor, but the first significant placer workings began in 1821. The underground Ortiz Mine was opened in 1822. By 1832, several gold-bearing
veins
Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated b ...
had been discovered. The first gold
lode
In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure (or crack) in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock.
The current meaning (ore vein) dates from the 1 ...
mine in the
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
was in the Ortiz, as well as the first railroad in New Mexico. The gold separation mill was the work of
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
. But following World War I, mining costs had risen and the low grade ores and relative lack of water resulted in the last mines being closed.
In 1973,
Consolidated Gold Fields
Consolidated Gold Fields was a British gold-mining company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Hanson in 1988.
History
Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa was fou ...
opened an open pit on the Cunningham Hill deposit, the same deposit that the Ortiz Mine had worked. Using the heap and leach method, they extracted approximately 250,000 ounces of gold before closing in 1986. A joint venture of LAC Minerals and Pegasus Gold Corporation did exploratory work beginning in 1989 primarily investigating the Carache Canyon and Lucas Canyon deposits. They did open a new
adit
An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adit ...
into the Carache Canyon deposit, but stopped after 1719 feet due to regulatory issues, lawsuits and a declining gold price.
Ecology
Precipitation averages twelve inches per year. The lowest elevations are '' Artemisia''
shrublands
Spring Park is a small area in London, England. It is within the London Borough of Bromley and the London Borough of Croydon, straddling the traditional Kent-Surrey border along The Beck. Spring Park is located north of Addington, west of West ...
, known as
sagebrush steppe
Sagebrush steppe is a type of shrub-steppe, a plant community characterized by the presence of shrubs, and usually dominated by sagebrush, any of several species in the genus '' Artemisia''.piñon-juniper woodlands at higher elevations.
Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve
The Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve (OMEP) opened to the public in 2003. The 1,350-acre reserve was created as settlement of a lawsuit by residents against Lac Minerals. It is owned by Santa Fe County and managed by the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.