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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 Chihuahua, Mexico, in the south. The rift zone consists of four basins that have an average width of . The rift can be observed on location at Rio Grande National Forest, White Sands National Park, Santa Fe National Forest, and Cibola National Forest, among other locations. The Rio Grande rift has been an important site for humans for a long time, because it provides a north–south route that follows a major river. The Rio Grande follows the course of the rift from southern Colorado to El Paso, where it turns southeast and flows toward the Gulf of Mexico. Important cities, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Española, Las Cruces, El Paso, and Ciudad Juárez, lie within the rift. Geology The Rio Grande rift represents the easternmost m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Española, New Mexico
Española is a city primarily in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. A portion of the central and eastern section of the city is in Santa Fe County. Founded as a railroad village some distance from the old Indian town of San Juan de los Caballeros (now renamed Ohkay Owingeh), it was named Española and officially incorporated in 1925. It has been called the first capital city in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was at 10,526. Española is within the Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Los Alamos combined statistical area. The city is home to Northern New Mexico College. History Etymology Española was referred to as ''La Vega de los Vigiles'' ('the Vigils' Meadow') before the presence of railroads. ''La Española'' means 'Spanish woman', and folk history attributes the name to railroad construction workers who named the area after a woman who worked in a small restaurant in the area. In fact the name is a shortened form of ''Plaza Española'' ('Spanis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precambrian
The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the Phanerozoic Eon, which is named after Cambria, the Latinized name for Wales, where rocks from this age were first studied. The Precambrian accounts for 88% of the Earth's geologic time. The Precambrian is an informal unit of geologic time, subdivided into three eons ( Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic) of the geologic time scale. It spans from the formation of Earth about 4.6 billion years ago ( Ga) to the beginning of the Cambrian Period, about million years ago ( Ma), when hard-shelled creatures first appeared in abundance. Overview Relatively little is known about the Precambrian, despite it making up roughly seven-eighths of the Earth's history, and what is known has largely been discovered from the 1960s onwards. The Precambrian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sediments
Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand and silt can be carried in suspension (chemistry), suspension in river water and on reaching the sea bed deposited by sedimentation; if buried, they may eventually become sandstone and siltstone (sedimentary rocks) through lithification. Sediments are most often transported by water (fluvial, fluvial processes), but also wind (aeolian processes) and glaciers. Beach sands and stream channel, river channel deposits are examples of fluvial transport and deposition (geology), deposition, though sediment also often settles out of slow-moving or standing water in lakes and oceans. Desert sand dunes and loess are examples of aeolian transport and deposition. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleogene
The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the first period of the Cenozoic Era, the tenth period of the Phanerozoic and is divided into the Paleocene, Eocene, and Oligocene epochs. The earlier term Tertiary Period was used to define the time now covered by the Paleogene Period and subsequent Neogene Period; despite no longer being recognized as a formal stratigraphic term, "Tertiary" still sometimes remains in informal use. Paleogene is often abbreviated "Pg", although the United States Geological Survey uses the abbreviation "" for the Paleogene on the Survey's geologic maps. Much of the world's modern vertebrate diversity originated in a rapid surge of diversification in the early Paleogene, as survivors of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event took advantage of empty ecolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sangre De Cristo Mountains
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountains run from Poncha Pass in South-Central Colorado, trending southeast and south, ending at Glorieta Pass, southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The mountains contain a number of fourteeners, fourteen thousand foot peaks in the Colorado portion, as well as several peaks in New Mexico which are over thirteen thousand feet. The name of the mountains may refer to the occasional reddish hues observed during sunrise and sunset, and when alpenglow occurs, especially when the mountains are covered with snow. Although the particular origin of the name is unclear, it has been in use since the early 19th century. Before that time the terms "La Sierra Nevada", "La Sierra Madre", "La Sierra", and "The Snowies" (used by English speakers) were used. Accordi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alamosa
Alamosa is the home rule city that is the county seat of Alamosa County, Colorado, United States. Alamosa is located along the Rio Grande. The city population was 9,806 in the 2020 United States census. The city is the commercial center of the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, and is the home of Adams State University. History The Alamosa, Colorado, post office opened on March 12, 1878, and the Town of Alamosa was incorporated on August 12, 1878. The town was established by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and quickly became an important rail center. Alamosa was the terminus of the D&RG until 1881, when the line was extended to Monte Vista. The railroad had an extensive construction, repair, and shipping facility in Alamosa for many years and headquartered its remaining narrow-gauge service here with trackage reaching many points throughout southwest Colorado and northern New Mexico. Alamosa County was created on March 8, 1913, with Alamosa as its first and only s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basin And Range Province
The Basin and Range Province is a vast United States physiographic region, physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and Northern Mexico, northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating between narrow faulted mountain chains and flat arid valleys or basins. The physical geography, physiography of the province is the result of Extensional tectonics, tectonic extension that began around 17 million years ago in the early Miocene epoch. The numerous ranges within the province in the United States are collectively referred to as the "Great Basin Ranges", although many are not actually in the Great Basin. Major ranges include the Snake Range, the Panamint Range, the White Mountains (California), White Mountains, and the Sandia Mountains. The highest point fully within the province is White Mountain Peak in California, while the lowest point is the Badwater Basin in Death Valle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salida, Colorado
Salida ( ; Spanish language: , "exit") is the statutory city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Chaffee County, Colorado, United States. The population was 5,666 at the 2020 census. History The Arkansas, Colorado, post office opened on June 16, 1880, but was renamed Salida on March 28, 1881. Salida, meaning "exit" in Spanish, was named on account of its location near the point where the Arkansas River flows out of the valley and into Bighorn Sheep Canyon, upstream from the Royal Gorge. The Town of Salida was incorporated on March 23, 1891. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad built their 3 foot narrow-gauge railroad up from Texas Creek and built a station at Salida, known at the time as "South Arkansas" in 1880. bypassing the nearby community of Cleora. Rather than risk their settlement withering away from lack of rail service, it is said that the population of Cleora moved to Salida ''en masse''. That same year, the railroad continued from "South ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leadville, Colorado
Leadville ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,633 at the 2020 United States census. It is situated at an elevation of . Leadville is the highest United States Cities and Towns above 10,000 feet, incorporated city in the United States and is surrounded by two of the tallest Fourteener, peaks in the state, Mount Elbert and Mount Massive. Leadville is a former silver mining town that lies among the headwaters of the Arkansas River within the Rocky Mountains. The Leadville Historic District, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, contains many historic structures and sites of Leadville's mining era. In the late 19th century, Leadville was the second most populous city in Colorado, after Denver. History Settlement T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albuquerque Basin
The Albuquerque Basin (or Middle Rio Grande Basin) is a structural basin and ecoregion within the Rio Grande rift in central New Mexico. It contains the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque. Geologically, the Albuquerque Basin is a half-graben that slopes down towards the east to terminate on the Sandia Mountains, Sandia and Manzano Mountains, Manzano mountains. The basin is the largest and oldest of the three major basins in the Rio Grande rift, containing sediments whose depth ranges from . The basin has a semi-arid climate, with large areas that count as semi-desert. Paleo-Indian traces dating back 12,000 years show that the climate used to be wetter and more fertile than it is today. The Rio Grande flows through the basin from north to south, and Rio Grande Valley (New Mexico), its valley has been irrigated for at least 1,000 years. Intense irrigation began in the late nineteenth century with new dams, levees and ditches which has caused environmental problems. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Espanola Basin
The Espanola basin is a structural basin in northern New Mexico. It is located in the Rio Grande watershed and is part of the Rio Grande rift. The definition of its boundaries is not fully settled, but the basin is usually defined such that it includes the cities of Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Espanola. Geology The basin is part of the Rio Grande rift, a north-south sequence of structural basins that have developed where tectonic forces have pulled the Colorado Plateau away from the interior of North America. The basin is partially filled with sediments eroded from the higher ground to the east and west or brought in by the ancestral Rio Grande. The Jemez volcanic field is located on the western margin of the basin and has contributed additional volcanic sediments to the basin. The sediments formed the Tesuque Formation and Chamita Formation of the Santa Fe Group. The basin began forming during the middle to late Oligocene, around 25 million years ago. The early basin was mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
