New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

Collection of old calderas in extreme southwestern New Mexico

 Rhyolite, andesite

These calderas are part of the widespread volcanism that swept the Southwest during the Miocene. Like the Datil-Mogollon field to the immediate north, these have been broken up as part of the Basin and Range faulting and deeply dissected. Nonetheless, the centers of volcanism, and the faul-encircled extremely thick sections of outflow materials such as ash-flow tuffs and thick viscous lavas are evidence for the locations of the original calderas.

View Bootheel Volcanic Field in a larger map

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