Boot Heel volcanic field explained

Boot Heel volcanic field
Elevation M:2300
Location:MexicoUnited States border
Coordinates:32.5°N -109.25°W
Type:volcanic field
Age:3.2 to 0.3 million years

The Boot Heel volcanic field is located in the Bootheel region of southwest New Mexico, adjacent areas of southeastern Arizona, and northwest Mexico. The field covers an area of more than 24,000 km2.[1] The field includes nine volcanic calderas ranging in age from 26.9 to 35.3 Ma. Extrusive products include rhyolitic ignimbrites along with basalt, andesite, and rhyolite lava flows. The major ash flow tuff sheets produced, range in volume from 35 to 650 km3.[1]

Activity throughout most of the Boot Heel volcanic field paused between 33 and 28 million years ago. The earlier pulse of activity involved less evolved magmas, while the later pulse was relatively depleted in volatiles.[2] The pause in activity has been interpreted as a period of tectonic reorganization along the west coast of North America, including the birth of the San Andreas fault, that temporarily shifted volcanism to the east.[3]

The field includes the Geronimo-Animas volcanic field and the Palomas volcanic field.[4] [5]

Geronimo volcanic field

The Geronimo volcanic field (also known as the San Bernardino volcanic field) is a monogenetic volcanic field and a sub-section of the Boot Heel volcanic field in southeastern Arizona, US.[6]

Calderas

The calderas of the Boot Heel field and their associated ignimbrites include:[1]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Baldridge, W. Scott, Geology of the American Southwest, Cambridge, 2004, pp. 219-223
  2. McIntosh . Wiliam C. . Bryan . Charles . Chronology and geochemistry of the Boot Heel volcanic field, New Mexico . New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series . 2000 . 51 . 157–174 . 11 August 2021.
  3. du Bray . Edward A. . Pallister . John S. . Snee . Lawrence W. . Geochemistry and Geochronology of Middle Tertiary Volcanic Rocks of the Central Chiricahua Mountains, Southeast Arizona . United States Geological Survey Professional Paper . 2004 . 1684 . 10.3133/pp1684. 2027/osu.32435071403786 . free .
  4. Chapin . C.E. . Wilks, M. . McIntosh, W.C. . 2004 . Space-time patterns of Late Cretaceous to present magmatism in New Mexico—comparison with Andean volcanism and potential for future volcanism . New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Bulletin . 160 . 13–40 . 2010-04-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100609230204/http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/bulletins/160/downloads/02chapin.pdf . 2010-06-09.
  5. Web site: Volcanoes of New Mexico . New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science . . 2007-06-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070501202359/http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/sci_volcanoes.html . 2007-05-01.
  6. Book: Wood, Charles A. . Jürgen Kienle . Volcanoes of North America . . 1993 . 287–289 . 0-521-43811-X .