Mesa de Maya

The Mesa de Maya is a prominent volcanic tableland rising 500 feet (150 m) to 1,200 feet (370 m) above the Great Plains in southeastern Colorado. A narrow finger of the mesa extends eastward through the northeastern corner of New Mexico and a few miles into Oklahoma where it is known as Black Mesa. The elevation of the Mesa de Maya ranges from 4,800 feet (1,500 m) at its easternmost extension to 6,902 feet (2,104 m) in the west.

The high mesas eastward from Raton, New Mexico and Trinidad, Colorado are sometimes collectively called the Mesa de Maya, Raton Mesas, or the Raton mesa region. All the mesas are volcanic in origin caused by lava flows which solidified into basalt. Over time the softer sedimentary rock surrounding the basalt eroded leaving several distinct large elevated tablelands with precipitous sides which include the Mesa de Maya.

Mesa de Maya originated from a balsaltic lava flow 180 million years ago. Originating in Colorado at a place named Piney Mountain, the lava flow measures 55 miles long, from one-half (1 km) to 8 miles (13 km) wide, and 600 feet (180 m) thick. The uneroded portion of the lava flow consists today of the Mesa de Maya and Black Mesa.

Mesa de Maya's westernmost extension is 11 miles northeast of Branson, Colorado in Las Animas County, Colorado. The principal part of the mesa is about 24 miles long, extending southeast, and six miles wide with elevations from 6,902 feet (2,104 m) sloping downward to the east to 5,600 feet (1,700 m). The top of the mesa is grassland, mostly shortgrass prairie and steppe vegetation; the slopes leading to the top are mostly forested, primarily by juniper and pinyon pine with a few ponderosa pines and quaking aspen in cooler and wetter locations. Mesa de Maya is the only place in Colorado where mesquite is found. North Carrizo Creek has its headwaters on the Mesa de Maya.

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