Zuñi Mountains
The Zuñi Mountains (Navajo: Naasht'ézhí Dził or Ńdíshchííʼ Ląʼí[1]) are a mountain range located mainly in Cibola County of northwestern New Mexico, United States,[2] with a small portion extending into McKinley County.[3] The range is located largely in the Cibola National Forest,[3] lying south of Interstate 40 from southeast of Gallup to southwest of Grants. The range is about sixty miles (97 km) long and forty miles (64 km) wide.[4] The highest point is Mount Sedgwick, 9,256 feet (2,821 m); elevations in the range go down to 6,400 feet (1,950 m).[4]
Location
The Zuñi Mountains are located at 35°10′4″N 108°19′0″W / 35.16778°N 108.31667°W / 35.16778; -108.31667, surrounded by the Zuni Indian Reservation, the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation, and El Morro National Monument to the southwest, El Malpais National Monument to the south, Acoma Pueblo to the east, and the Navajo Nation to the north. The towns of Grants, Gallup, and Ramah are located northeast, northwest, and southwest of the range, respectively. The Zuñi Mountains sit on the Continental Divide and form part of the southeastern edge of the Colorado Plateau.
History
The history of the range includes ancient and continuing use of the mountains by local native peoples, including the Zuni, Acoma, and Navajo; extensive logging in the early half of the 20th century; and agriculture and mining (including copper and fluorspar) in the mid-20th century.[4]
Geology
The Zuñi Mountains form a northwest–southeast trending uplift with a core of Precambrian granite and metamorphic rocks, surrounded by Late Permian and Triassic to Jurassic strata. A total of 20,000 ft (6,000 m) of previously overlying layers of Cretaceous and older sedimentary rocks have been eroded away from the highest part of the range, but appear in outlying areas to the west and to the northeast in San Juan Basin. Precambrian rocks in the range were uplifted during the Ancestral Rocky Mountains orogeny as part of the Zuni-Defiance Uplift in the Pennsylvanian Period.[5] The current physiographic expression of the range is the result of uplift during the Cretaceous–Paleogene Laramide Orogeny approximately 80 to 40 million years ago.[6]
See also
References
- ^ Wilson, A Navajo Place Names Guilford, CT: Audio-Forum, 1995
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Zuñi Mountains
- ^ a b New Mexico Atlas and Gazetteer, Second Edition, DeLorme Mapping, 2000.
- ^ a b c Butterfield, Mike, and Greene, Peter, Mike Butterfield's Guide to the Mountains of New Mexico, New Mexico Magazine Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-937206-88-1
- ^ Halka Chronic, Roadside Geology of New Mexico, Mountain Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87842-209-9, p. 34, p. 75.
- ^ Cather, Steven M. (2004). "Laramide orogeny in central and northern New Mexico and southern Colorado". In Mack, G.H.; Giles, K.A. (eds.). The geology of New Mexico. A geologic history: New Mexico Geological Society Special Volume 11 (PDF). pp. 203–248. ISBN 9781585460106. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
External links
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- Zuni Mountains at the New Mexico Tourism Department
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- Black Mountain (Catron County)
- McKnight Mountain
- Cerro Grande
- Chicoma Mountain
- Redondo Peak
- South Baldy
- Pyramid Peak
(Cibola County)
- Mount Taylor
- West Blue Mountain
Manzano Mountains | |
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Sandia Mountains |
Cimarron Range |
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Taos Mountains |
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Others |
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- Haystack Mountain
- Mount Sedgwick
- Aden Crater
- Alamo Hueco Mountains
- Animas Mountains
- Brazos Mountains
- Caballo Mountains
- Canjilón Mountain
- Canyon Creek Mountains
- Capitan Mountains
- Capulin Peak
- Cedar Mountain Range
- Datil Mountains
- Dirty Point
- Doña Ana Mountains
- Eagle Peak
- East Potrillo Mountains
- Elephant Butte (Hidalgo County)
- Elephant Butte (Sierra County)
- Fajada Butte
- Florida Mountains
- Franklin Mountains
- Granite Peak
- Guadalupe Mountains
- Guadalupe Mountains (Hidalgo County)
- Hosta Butte
- Hueco Mountains
- Huérfano Mountain
- Jicarilla Mountains
- Jornada del Muerto Volcano
- Ladron Peak
- Little Burro Mountains
- Little Hatchet Mountains
- Little San Pascual Mountain
- Luera Mountains
- Sierra Nacimiento
- Ocate Peak
- Ortiz Mountains
- Picacho Mountain
- Robledo Mountains
- San Antonio Mountain
- San Mateo Mountains (Socorro County)
- Sierra Aguilada
- Sierra Blanca
- Sierra de las Uvas
- West Potrillo Mountains
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