Zeller Peak is a mountain
summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used ...
located in
Hidalgo County,
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 ...
, United States.
Description
Zeller Peak is located at the northern end of the
Big Hatchet Mountains
The Big Hatchet Mountains are an 18 mi (29 km) long, mountain range in southeast Hidalgo County, New Mexico, adjacent the northern border of Chihuahua state, Mexico.
The range lies just south of a westerly excursion of the Continental ...
which are set in the
New Mexico Bootheel
The New Mexico Bootheel is a salient which comprises the southwestern corner of New Mexico. As part of the Gadsden Purchase it is bounded on the east by the Mexican state of Chihuahua along a line at extending south to latitude 31°20′0″ ...
. It is set within the Big Hatchet Mountains Wilderness Study Area, on land managed by the
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
. The remote mountain is situated 70 miles southwest of the town of
Deming, two miles north of
Big Hatchet Peak, and can be seen from
Highway 81
Route 81 or Highway 81 may refer to:
International
* Asian Highway 81
* European route E81
Australia
* Escort Way (New South Wales)
* Mulligan Highway and Peninsula Developmental Road – Queensland State Route 81
* (Victoria)
Canada
* Newf ...
.
Topographic relief
Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...
is significant as the summit rises above the
Playas Valley
The Playas Valley is a lengthy and narrow 60-mi (97-km) long, valley located in Hidalgo County, New Mexico in the Bootheel Region; the extreme south of the valley lies in Chihuahua. Playas, NM is located in the northeast. The valley is notewort ...
in one mile, and above the
Hachita Valley
The Hachita Valley, (Spanish language ''hacho'', hatchet-(axe), ''hachita'', little hatchet; ''Little Hatchet Valley''), is a small valley in southwest New Mexico. The valley is in the east of the New Mexico Bootheel region and borders Chihuahua ...
in one-half mile.
Etymology
This landform's toponym was officially adopted by the
United States Board on Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...
in 1979 to honor Dr. Robert A. Zeller Jr. (1921–1970).
[United States Board on Geographic Names (1979), ''Decisions on Names in the United States, Decision List 7903'', Department of the Interior, p. 16] Zeller was a geologist and naturalist who spent more than 10 years studying the geology of the Big Hatchet Mountains,
and wrote his Ph.D. dissertation about these mountains. Following his death in an airplane crash in Arizona, he was remembered as one of the most able geologists to ever live and work in the state of New Mexico.
[Robert Julyan (1996), ''The Place Names of New Mexico'', University of New Mexico Press, , p. 384]
Gallery
File:Big Hatchet Mountains WSA (9440550727).jpg, Zeller Peak (right of center) and Big Hatchet Peak in back to left
File:Big Hatchet Mountains NM.jpg, Zeller Peak to the right
File:Big-hatchet-peak.jpg, Road is pointed at Zeller Peak
See also
*
List of mountain peaks of New Mexico
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All ...
*
References
{{reflist
External links
* Zeller Peak
weather forecast
Mountains of New Mexico
Mountains of Hidalgo County, New Mexico
North American 2000 m summits
New Mexico Bootheel