300px|thumb|Rio Grande Gorge

The Taos Plateau volcanic field is an area of extensive volcanism in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is the largest volcanic field in the Rio Grande Rift, spreading over . The total erupted volume is estimated at . The age of most of the vents and associated lava flows in the field is estimated to be between 1.8 and 4 million years, with a few 22-million-year-old vents. The composition of the lavas varies from tholeiitic basalt to rhyolite. Landforms include sheet flows, cinder cones, and shield volcanoes. The sheet flows of the Servilleta Basalt are well-exposed in the Rio Grande Gorge carved by the Rio Grande. The highest point of the field is San Antonio Mountain at .

Notable vents

The field contains at least 35 vents, arranged in a rough concentric pattern across. The central part of the field is the most mafic, consisting of tholeiitic basalt shield volcanoes, with andesite vents further out and rhyodacite vents in the outer part of the field. Two small rhyolite domes in the center of the field are exceptions to this pattern.

thumb|Ute Mountain

{| class="wikitable"

|- style="text-align:center; background:#ccc;"

| rowspan="2"|Name ||colspan ="2"| Elevation || Location ||rowspan="2"| Last eruption

|- style="text-align:center; background:#ccc;"

| meters||feet||Coordinates

|- style="text-align:right;"

| style="text-align:left;"| San Antonio Mountain || 3,325 || 10,908 || || -

|- style="text-align:right;"

| style="text-align:left;"| Ute Mountain

See also

  • List of volcanic fields

References

Further reading

  • Documentary: Sleeping Monsters, Sacred Fires: Volcanos Of New Mexico

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