Second-day trip 1 road log: From Albuquerque to Tijeras, Cedar Crest and Sandia Crest
— Spencer G. Lucas, Adam Read, Karl E. Karlstrom, John W. Estep, Barry S. Kues, Orin J. Anderson, Gary A. Smith, and Frank J. Pazzaglia

Today's route ascends Sandia Crest, some 5000 ft above the City of Albuquerque, to take in what has to be the most extensive geologic vista in New Mexico. To reach it, we leave the city on old US-66, heading east through Tijeras Canyon. Stop 1, in the Canyon, examines the southern contact (and inferred base) of the Sandia Granite, where we discuss the tectonic and thennal setting of itse~placement. Stop 2, on the eastern flank of the Sandia uplift, is in the Tijeras syncline at Cedar Crest. Here, we compare the exposed Jurassic strata to the Jurassic section seen in the Hagan basin on the first day's tour. This leads us into broader issues of changes in tectonic style, sedimentation and climate in the Southwest during the transition from Middle to Late Jurassic.

At Stop 3, we examine the profound nonconformity (the so-called "great unconformity") between Proterozoic granites and Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks, a hiatus of more than one billion years. Models of glacioeustatically driven Pennsylvanian sedimetation and local Laramide faults also are prominent issues at this stop. Stop 4 presents us with a rare opportunity to examine quartzite of probable Mississsippian age exposed in the Sandia uplift and pursue broader issues of what exactly happened in north-central New Mexico during the "great unconformity" hiatus.

The last stop, at Sandia Crest, gives us an areal view of about 10% of New Mexico. Here, we focus on the age the Sandia uplift, a controversial and unresolved problem. Discussion will also range across the geologic features in our field of view, from the Colorado Plateau edge and Rio Grande rift to the west and south, to the southern High Plains and Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and north.