Albuquerque Volcanic Field, New Mexico

The Albuquerque volcanic field is made of monogenetic volcanoes that produced lava flows, cinder cones, and cinder and spatter cones. It is located about 11 km west-northwest of the city of Albuquerque. The oldest lava flows cover about 60 square km. The cones are aligned and possibly formed above two roughly north-south trending fissures. J cone (also called Vulcan) is the highest feature. Its base is made of cinder but the crater contains a lava dome that was cut by an explosive eruption. This photo of J cone is from the west looking across the old quarry. The Albuquerque volcanic field was active from 170,000 to 70,000 years ago. Photo by Geoffrey Johnson.

J cone. Photo by Geoffrey Johnson.

Source of Information:

Baldridge, W.S., 1979, petrology and petrogenesis of Plio-Pleistocene basaltic rocks from the central Rio Grande rift, New Mexico, and their relation to rift structure: in Riecker, R.E. ed., Rio Grande rift: Tectonism and magmatism: American Geophysical Union Special Publication, p. 323-353.

Kelly, V.C., and Kudo, A.M., 1978, Volcanoes and related basalts of Albuquerque Basin, New Mexico:NM Bureau Mines Min. Circular 156, 30 p.

Wood, C.A., and Kienle, J., 1993, Volcanoes of North America: Cambridge University Press, New York, 354 p.

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