The Franklin Mountains of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
( es, Sierras de los Mansos) are a small range long, wide that extend from
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...
north into
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
.
The Franklins were formed due to crustal extension related to the
Cenozoic Rio Grande rift
The Rio Grande rift is a north-trending continental rift zone. It separates the Colorado Plateau in the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. The rift extends from central Colorado in the north to the state of Chihuahu ...
. Although the present topography of the range and adjoining basins is controlled by extension during rifting in the last 10 million years, faults within the range also record deformation during the
Laramide orogeny
The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the ...
, between 85 and 45 million years ago.
The highest peak is
North Franklin Peak at . Much of the range is part of the
Franklin Mountains State Park. The mountains are composed primarily of
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
with some
igneous
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
intrusions. Geologists refer to them as tilted-block fault mountains and in them can be found 1.25 billion-year-old
Precambrian rocks, the oldest in Texas.
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Gallery
File:Richardson 1908 FranklinMts.jpg, View of the south end of Franklin Mountains from El Paso, showing the abrupt termination of the range, its westward dip slope and terraced bolson deposits on each side. (1908)Organ Mountains
The Organ Mountains (also known as La Sierra de los Órganos) are a rugged mountain range in southern New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument was declared a national monument on May 21, 2 ...
can be glimpsed to the north, in the right part of the image.
File:SFranklin2.jpg, View of South Franklin Mountain (aka Mount Franklin) (29 March 2009)
File:Franklin Moutains from Ranger Peak.jpg, Franklin Mountains with Northwest El Paso Northwest El Paso (better known as West El Paso or the West Side) is an area of El Paso, Texas that is located on the west side of the Franklin Mountains. It is home to some of the most affluent neighborhoods within the city of El Paso, Texas. It h ...
in the background
See also
*Beach Mountains
The Beach Mountains are located on privately owned land roughly north of Van Horn in southwestern Culberson County, Texas. The maximum elevation reached is above sea level. The Beach Mountains occupy a roughly circular area with a diameter of a ...
*Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...
*Davis Mountains
The Davis Mountains, originally known as Limpia Mountains, are a range of mountains in West Texas, located near Fort Davis, after which they are named. The fort was named for then United States Secretary of War and later Confederate President J ...
*Guadalupe Mountains
The Guadalupe Mountains ( es, Sierra de Guadalupe) are a mountain range located in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The range includes the highest summit in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, , and the "signature peak" of West Texas, El Capitan, both ...
*McKittrick Canyon
McKittrick Canyon is a scenic canyon within the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas and Eddy County, New Mexico. The steep, towering walls of McKittrick Canyon protect a rich riparian oasis in the midst of the Chihuahuan Desert.
The majority of ...
*Trans-Pecos
The Trans-Pecos, as originally defined in 1887 by the Texas geologist Robert T. Hill, is the portion of Texas that lies west of the Pecos River. The term is considered synonymous with Far West Texas, a subdivision of West Texas. The Trans-Peco ...
References
External links
*
Mountain ranges of New Mexico
Mountain ranges of Doña Ana County, New Mexico
Mountain ranges of Texas
Mountain ranges of El Paso County, Texas
Geography of El Paso, Texas
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