New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

 

Navajo Volcanic Field (Chuska Narbona Pass)


Location: 35°, 13' N latitude, 107°, 35' W along the summit of the Chuska Mountains, San Juan County
Type: Large maar-type volcanic center
Age: Mid-Tertiary
Significance:

Rare near-surface preservation of a volcanic vent of the type originally common to many of the volcanic necks of the Chuska-Ship Rock volcanic field, including Ship Rock.


Composition:

Structure: Maar

 

 

 

Basic Geology

The Narbona Pass (also “Washington Pass”)  volcano is a little known example of the explosive vent structures that may have ben common to many of the Navajo volcanic field volcanoes before they were eroded to their current deeper levels of exposure.

Narbona Pass volcano is a volcanic crater that formed from violent explosive activity. Filling with lavas and ash between explosive phases of the eruption resulted in a complex intermingling of sheets of thick trachytic lava flows and plugs. 

 


View Navajo Volc Field/Chuska Mtt./Narbona Pass in a larger map

 

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