Volcanic history of the Magdalena District, New Mexico

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union
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Abstract

The Magdalena District in central New Mexico comprises the Magdalena Range and Granite Mountain which are block mountains of the Basin Range type. They consist of Carboniferous sedimentary formations on a pre-Cambrian basement and are covered by Tertiary volcanic rocks.

Volcanism in the District was preceded by considerable faulting, tilting, and uplifting very probably in early Tertiary time. The initial volcanic extrusion consisted of latite flows and tuffs now resting unconformably on the Granite Mountain fault-block in the northern part of the District. Subsequent extrusions consisted of alternations of andesites, rhyolites, and latites, and have a minimum thickness of approximately 4,000 feet. Graben faulting, probably in compensation for the effusion of the large volumes of lava, followed and some of the major faults were subsequently the sites of the intrusion of monzonitic and granitic stocks. Late lamprophyre and white rhyolite dikes in large numbers intruded the intrusive as well as earlier extrusive and sedimentary rocks.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Volcanic history of the Magdalena District, New Mexico
Series title Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union
DOI 10.1029/TR014i001p00250
Volume 14
Issue 1
Year Published 1933
Language English
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Description 1 p.
First page 250
Last page 250
Country United States
State New Mexico
City Magdalena
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