The Albuquerque volcanic field is a monogenetic

volcanic field A volcanic field is an area of Earth's Earth's crust, crust that is prone to localized volcano, volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters ...

in the

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- ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, United States. It is located about west of the city of

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, and is contained within the borders of

Petroglyph National Monument Petroglyph National Monument stretches along Albuquerque, New Mexico's West Mesa, a volcanic basalt escarpment that dominates the city's western horizon. Authorized June 27, 1990, the monument is cooperatively managed by the National Park ...

. The field was active from 190,000 to 155,000 years ago and includes

lava flows Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or unde ...

cinder cones A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep, conical landform of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic ash, clinkers, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions or lav ...

, and

spatter cones Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

. The oldest lava flows cover about . The cones are aligned and possibly formed above two roughly north-south trending fissures. Vulcan (also called J Volcano) is the highest feature. Its base is made of cinder, but the crater contains a lava dome that was cut by an explosive eruption.

Notable vents

The field consists of six named volcanoes. From north to south, they are *Butte Volcano, elevation *Bond Volcano, elevation * Vulcan or J Volcano, elevation *Cinder Volcano, elevation *

Black Volcano Black Volcano is an inactive volcano located near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is part of the Albuquerque volcanic field. Black Volcano is located directly north of JA volcano. Black Volcano is the second of five volcanoes (traveling south to ...

, elevation *

JA Volcano JA Volcano is an Volcano#Volcanic activity, inactive volcano located near Albuquerque, New Mexico. JA Volcano is the southernmost of 5 volcanoes in a 5-mile chain within the western boundary of Petroglyph National Monument. The volcano has been ...

, elevation Cinder Volcano has little

topographical prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

and is not usually considered one of the main volcanoes. The cone was much higher in the past but was substantially eroded by mining activity, with the cinder material extracted for use in landscaping,

cinder blocks A concrete block, also known as a cinder block in North American English, breeze block in British English, or concrete masonry unit (CMU), or by various other terms, is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. The u ...

, and railroad beds. The three closely spaced southern volcanoes, JA, Black, and Vulcan, are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Three Sisters". These three volcanoes are accessible by hiking trails and a parking area administered as part of

Vulcan

The largest of the cones in the Albuquerque volcanic field is Vulcan, named after the Roman god of fire. From a vantage point on top of the cone 200 feet above mesa, the alignment of the 5-mile-long chain of vents is particularly noticeable. Vulcan is a spatter cone, formed primarily by fire fountains that were active in the central vent and in smaller vents on flanks of the cone. (Spatter forms when blobs of lava are emitted from a vent, and cool as they fly through the air, and the partially molten blobs then land on the side of the cone to weld together to form a hard crust.) Fragmented cinder and spatter material and lava flows dip at angles as high as 55° away from the central vent on the eastern and southern side of the Vulcan. The spatter material is thickest on the southeastern side of Vulcan, indicating that it was blown by the wind toward the south and east during the fountaining events. A solidified lava pond that consists of a massive gray basalt with weakly developed columnar jointing occupies the crater of Vulcan. Radial, sinuous lava tubes 8 to 20 inches across and 300 feet long are preserved on the northeast and northwest flanks of Vulcan.

Black Volcano

Black Volcano is an

inactive volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fou ...

near

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. Black Volcano is directly north of

JA volcano JA Volcano is an Volcano#Volcanic activity, inactive volcano located near Albuquerque, New Mexico. JA Volcano is the southernmost of 5 volcanoes in a 5-mile chain within the western boundary of Petroglyph National Monument. The volcano has been ...

. Black Volcano is the second of five volcanoes (traveling south to north) within the western boundary of

. North of Black Volcano are Vulcan, Bond and Butte volcanoes. The date of its last eruption is unknown, but is believed to have been more than 150,000 years ago.

JA Volcano

JA Volcano is an

located near

. It is the southernmost in the chain of five volcanoes within the western edge of

References

External links