The Datil-Mogollon Section is a physiographic section of the larger

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within w ...

province, which in turn is part of the larger

Intermontane Plateaus In the context of physical geography, the Intermontane Plateaus is one of eight physiographic regions of the contiguous United States. The region consists mostly of plateaus and mountain ranges lying between the Rocky Mountains on the east and ...

physiographic division. It is a transitional area between the

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, charac ...

and the Colorado Plateau Province. It is also a newly defined unit that includes the southern part of the area previously designated the Datil Section.

Geology

The Datil-Mogollon Section is located along the southeastern rim of the

, in

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 ...

and eastern

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

West

Most of the Datil-Mogollon Section in Arizona is the White Mountain

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 ...

. It is an extensive area covered with thick lavas and

tuffs Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

. There are also remnants of large stratovolcanoes, mainly composed of basaltic andesite. High tablelands are capped with tuffs,

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

, and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

lavas, and volcanic-derived conglomeratic sandstones and mudstones.

South

The principal structure of the southeastern Datil-Mogollon area is a large central-type volcano, Mount Taylor, that rises to . It is surrounded by numerous smaller volcanic centers and

volcanic neck 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 fo ...

s with extensive lava-covered mesas and valleys to the south. The largest

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a ...

is long and about wide, with an upper elevation of above the surrounding plain, and is capped with about of lava. The ancient lava flows extend southward into the Mexican Highlands section of the Basin and Range Province and consequently that border of the Colorado Plateau Province is ill-defined. The principal structure of the southwestern Datil-Mogollon Section is the

Mogollon Rim The Mogollon Rim ( or or ) is a topography, topographical and geological feature cutting across Northern Arizona, the northern half of the U.S. state of Arizona. It extends approximately , starting in northern Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapa ...

in Arizona. It extends approximately from northern

Yavapai County Yavapai County ( ) is a county near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Prescott. Yavapai County comprises the Pr ...

eastward to near the border with New Mexico.

East

The Datil-Mogollon Section is bounded on the east by basins of the

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 Chihuah ...

, which are part of the Mexican Highland Section of the Basin and Range Province. Along the eastern edge of the Datil-Mogollon, the Mexican Highland extends northward along the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

depression to the

Southern Rocky Mountains The Southern Rocky Mountains are a major subregion of the Rocky Mountains of North America located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, the central and western portions of Colorado, the northern portion of New Mexico, and ext ...

. The boundary between the depression and the uplifted Colorado Plateau is sharply defined by the westernmost faults of the depression. The transition has several large structural basins and block-faulted ranges.

North

To the north are other physiographic sections of the Colorado Plateau Province. From east to west they are the Navajo Section in New Mexico and Arizona, and the southeastern Grand Canyon Section.

References

External links

{{- Colorado Plateau Physiographic sections Regions of New Mexico Regions of Arizona Landforms of Catron County, New Mexico Mogollon Rim White Mountains (Arizona) Plateaus of Arizona Landforms of New Mexico