About 150 miles north of El Paso are some lava flows I should have visited more than once.
Figure 1.
The area is variably known as the Malpais Carrizozo and the Valley of Fire State Park, in the Tularosa Basin, north of Alamogordo, NM.
It is noteworthy because the flows are estimated to be only 5,000 years old, the second youngest in the state behind the McCartys Basalts on I-40. From its source, Little Black Peak (a little north of U.S. Hwy 380 and west of U.S. Hwy 54), the basalt flows eventually traveled by lava tubes some 50 miles south, making it one of the longest flows on Earth erupted in the last 10,000 years.
I stopped by there on the way back from Shattuck, OK, with some of my in-laws in 1985. (We might have been returning from a family funeral.) I should have made a return visit, but as I was married by then, I didn't have as much free time and had to concentrate on getting my Thesis Project underway in the Aden Basalts. (I guess I could have emphasized how I needed to see these fresh flows and their source to better appreciate the Aden Flows.)
Figure 2.
I had a few minutes to walk a little way into the flows for photos, but I didn't have my boots or a hat with me. [Please pardon the dust spots on these 35 mm slides.]
Figure 3.
I am not sure if that is Little Black Peak in the right background or not. It might be and if so, a little to the east are a couple of older Scoria Cones called "Broken Back Craters", according to this link. They are very photogenic, too.
Figure 4.
Such pretty, fresh rocks.
Anthony, E. Y., Hoffer, J., Williams, W.J., Poth, J. and Penn, B. Geochemistry and Geochronology of Quaternary mafic volcanic rocks in the vicinity of Carrizozo, New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society 49th Field Conference Guidebook, Las Cruces Country II, p. 117-122, 1998.
NM Museum of Natural History - Carrizozo
USGS Volcanoes, Carrizozo
Volcano Discovery
Volcano Live
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