Jemez Mountains
| Jemez Mountains | |
|---|---|
 Jemez Mountains
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| Highest point | |
| Peak | Chicoma Mountain |
| Elevation | 3,524 m (11,562 ft) NAVD 88 |
| Coordinates | 36°00′26″N 106°23′04″W / 36.00722°N 106.38444°WCoordinates: 36°00′26″N 106°23′04″W / 36.00722°N 106.38444°W |
| Geography | |
| State/Province | New Mexico |
| Topo map | USGS Polvadera Peak (1977) |
The Jemez Mountains ([ˡheɪmɪz]) or Tsąmpiye'ip'įn in Jemez/Towa are a volcanic group of mountains in Rio Arriba, Sandoval, and Los Alamos counties, New Mexico, United States. The highest point in the range is Chicoma Mountain (also spelled as Tschicoma or Tchicoma) at an elevation of 11,561 feet (3524 meters). The town of Los Alamos and Los Alamos National Laboratory adjoin the eastern side of the range while the town of Jemez Springs is to the west. Pajarito Mountain Ski Area is the only ski area in the Jemez. New Mexico State Highway 4 is the primary road that provides vehicular access to locations in the Jemez Mountains.
The Jemez Mountains lie to the north of the Albuquerque Basin in the Rio Grande rift. They are a classic example of intracontinental volcanism and consist of a broadly circular ridge surrounding the famous Valles Caldera. The most recent known eruption was an obsidian flow dated to 50,000 to 60,000 years before the present; however, most of the volume of the range is composed of rhyolite. The two most recent caldera-forming eruptions, dated to about 1.61 million and 1.22 million years ago, produced massive ignimbrite deposits known as the Otowi and Tshirege members, respectively, of the Bandelier Tuff. Much of the material in these deposits now forms the Pajarito Plateau, a scenic region of canyons and mesas on which Los Alamos is situated. Redondo Peak, the second highest summit in the range at 11,254 ft (3431 m), is a resurgent dome in the middle of the Valles Caldera, which also contains several smaller volcanos. The caldera is segregated by these structures and its rim into multiple lush grass valleys (valles in Spanish, hence the name).
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