The Picuris Mountains are a mountain range in northern
New Mexico. They are considered a subrange of the
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
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, country= United States
, subdivision1_type= States
, subdivision1=
, parent= Rocky Mountains
, geology=
, orogeny=
, area_mi2= 17193
, range_coordinates=
, length_mi= 242
, length_orientation= north-south
, width_mi= 120
, w ...
.
Geography
The mountains are located to the east of
Dixon Dixon may refer to:
Places International
* Dixon Entrance, part of the Inside Passage between Alaska and British Columbia
Canada
* Dixon, Ontario
United States
* Dixon, California
* Dixon, Illinois
* Dixon, Greene County, Indiana
* Dixon, Indi ...
and surround
Picuris Pueblo
Picuris Pueblo (; Tiwa: P'įwweltha ’ī̃wːēltʰà is a historic pueblo in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is also a census-designated place (CDP) and a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people. The 2010 ...
to the west, north, and east. The range resembles a triangle with its base to the east, along the valley of the Rio Grande del Rancho. The northwest face lies along the valley of the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
and the southern face lies along Rio Pueblo and
Embudo Creek.
History
The area was first visited by Europeans on July 13, 1598, when
Juan de Oñate visited Picuris Pueblo.
Geology
The range is underlain by
Precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
rock beds of the
Hondo Group and
Vadito Group
The Vadito Group is a group of geologic formations that crops out in most of the Precambrian-cored uplifts of northern New Mexico. Detrital zircon geochronology and radiometric dating give a consistent age of 1700 Mya for the group, correspondi ...
.
It is the namesake for the
Picuris orogeny.
Economy
Mining has been historically important in the Picuris Mountains. The
Harding Pegmatite Mine
The Harding Pegmatite Mine is a former adit mine that extracted lithium, tantalum, and beryllium from a Precambrian pegmatite sill. It ceased operations in 1958 and its owner, Arthur Montgomery, donated it to the University of New Mexico, whi ...
was operated off and on from about 1900 to 1958, when it was donated to the
University of New Mexico as an outdoor geological laboratory. At one time, the mine made New Mexico the leading producer of
beryllium among the United States.
Copper has been mined at Copper Hill north of the Harding Mine. Other commodities historically mined in the range include
tungsten, optical
calcite
Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...
,
bismuth, and
aluminosilicates. , the MICA mine was the only producer of
muscovite west of the
Appalachian Mountains.
See also
References
Mountain ranges of New Mexico
{{NewMexico-geo-stub