Geology of the Las Vegas area
— Robert H. Lessard and Waldemere Bejnar

The purpose of this paper is to describe the geology in the vicinity of Las Vegas, New Mexico. The study area is here defined as being bordered on the south by the village of Romeroville, on the east by the Pecos Arroyo River, on the north by the northern termination of a large mesa which is located approximately 1 mile to the northwest of Storrie Lake, and on the west by the village of Hot Springs.

 

The first part of the report deals with the geomorphology of the Las Vegas area, including an examination of the area's meteorology which strongly influences the discharge of the two principal streams that flow through the region. These streams have been responsible for the formation of many of the area's physiographic features. One of them, the Gallinas River, has cut a deep valley into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and has exposed a sequence of rocks ranging in age from Precambrian to Cenozoic. The stratigraphy of these rocks will be examined together with the area's paleogeography and an investigation of the structural evolution of the Las Vegas area. A description and possible explanations of the origins of the Montezuma hot springs will be presented.