Volcanism in the Mount Taylor region, New Mexico
— L. S. Crumpler

Mount Taylor and its adjoining field of late Cenozoic cones am domes, Mesa Chivato, are prominent features on the western horizoi of Albuquerque (fig. 1). The purpose of this paper is to synthesize out current knowledge about volcanism in the Mount Taylor region.

 

Volcanic fields occur intermittently along the margin of the Colorado Plateau, and locally, it is difficult to categorically define where on volcanic field ends and another begins. In this review the Mount Taylo region shall be defined as a region bounded on the east by Mesa PrieL in the Rio Puerco valley, on the west by the Bandera volcanic field on the north by Cabezon Peak volcanic neck, and on the south by Zuni Salt Lake (fig. 2). The Mount Taylor "field" encompasses Pliocene Pleistocene basalts and differentiated rocks capping high mesas at the foot of the Mount Taylor composite volcano and adjacent high mesas The Mount Taylor region includes the collective areas of volcanisn overshadowed by Mount Taylor, such as the volcanism in the Bander area of the Zuni Mountains and the young McCartys lava flow (see Maxwell, this guidebook).