After Spring Semester 1999 a van load of students plus one Tech geology alumnus accompanied Dr. Baker and Dr. Kline on a trip to central and northern New Mexico. We saw, among other things, major faults, minor faults, igneous intrusive rocks and awesome scenery in the Sandia Mountains on the edge of the Rio Grande rift; recent lava flows and many related features at the ice cave area south of Grants; Chaco Canyon and the ruins of the great ancient Anasazi indian city there; Precambrian rocks of the Nacimiento range near Cuba, NM along with upturned Mesozoic and Tertiary rocks on its margin with the San Juan basin; the amazing Valles caldera with its pyroclastic and other volcanic deposits in the Jemez Mountains; flattened cobble metaconglomerate and other metamorphic rocks including schists with such index minerals as staurolite, garnet, and andalusite in the Sangre de Christo Mountains south of Taos; the Harding pegmatite with log-sized spodumene crystals and collectible lepidolite, feldspar, aquamarine beryl, and others; the royal gorge of the Rio Grande at Taos; the Capulin cinder cone; and dinosaur footprints near Clayton, NM.
A few photos are included below.
