Tectonics setting and history of late-Cenozoic volcanism in west-central New Mexico
— A. William Laughlin, Aldrich, M. J., Jr., M. E. Ander, G. H. Heiken, and D. T. Vaniman

Extensive late-Cenozoic basaltic volcanism occurred in west-central New Mexico along the central portion of the Jemez lineament (Mayo, 1958). Although the Jemez lineament is usually defined by the northeast- trending (N52°E) alignment of volcanic fields extending from the San Carlos—Peridot area of Arizona in the southwest to the Raton-Clayton area in northeastern New Mexico, our work has concentrated on that portion of the lineament between the Arizona border and Grants, New Mexico. This portion of the lineament is made up of two concentrations of volcanic centers: the Zuni-Bandera field south of Grants and a cluster of small fields in northwestern Catron County (fig. 1). The map of Luedke and Smith (1978) distinguishes about 200 individual vents within the two fields; flows from these vents cover approximately 3,290 km².

 

During the past decade, interest has grown in the tectonics and volcanism of this region. New structural, petrological, geochemical, geophysical, and geochronological data have been reported, and integration of these data is in progress. This paper is a progress report.