GEOLOGIC RECONNAISSANCE OF THE SOUTHERN 

 PART OF THE TAOS RANGE, NEW MEXICO 



JOHN W. GRUNER 



University of Minnesota 



INTRODUCTION 



The Taos Range is a part of the Sangre de Cristo Range. Not 

 more than about two-fifths of the Sangre de Cristo Range extends 

 into New Mexico. The larger portion, the Culebra Range and the 

 Sierra Blanca, Hes in southern Colorado. Where the Culebra 

 Range crosses the boundary line into New Mexico it splits into 

 two great uplifts, the Taos Range and the Cimarron Range, which 

 find their continuation in the Mora Range and Las Vegas Range 

 respectively. The Taos Range proper is about 30 to 35 miles long 

 and has an average width of 1 5 miles. Its northern limit is Costilla. 

 Creek, its southern Ferdinand Creek. The region described in 

 this report is situated in north central New Mexico near the 

 Colorado line. (See Fig. i.) 



The southern part of the Taos Range, as seen from the RiO' 

 Grande Valley to the west of it, offers an imposing view. From' 

 an altitude of about 7,000 feet, the elevation of the valley above 

 sea-level, a number of peaks rise to snowy heights within a distance 

 of a few miles. The mountain front is deeply incised by Pueblo 

 Creek, Lucero Creek, and Rio Hondo, which flow westward to, 

 the Rio Grande. (See topographic map, Plate XIII.)' The Red 

 River (called "Colorado Creek" by Stevenson^), of which only a 

 few miles are in the area mapped, has a northerly direction before 

 it turns westward and breaks through the main chain of the 

 mountains below Red River City. 



'The attached topographic map was made by the writer who used as basis a 

 map compiled by the United States Land Office and the United States Forest Service. 

 The peak which is called Taos Peak by Stevenson is generally referred to as Wheeler 

 Peak now. 



2 John J. Stevenson, "Report upon Geological Examinations in Southern Colorado 

 and Northern New Mexico, 1878-1879," Report U.S. Geog. Sur. West of the lootk- 

 Meridian, Vol. 3, Supplement, 1881. 



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