. 
86 The American Geologist. Vebraary,: 17am 
ish and darker soil. From the most southern of these lakes, 
the southern Dog lake, we secured samples of the water carry- 
ing 2.75% salt. The surface deposit was very slight. Along 
the southern shore of this lake the Red Beds are first exposed, 
and the mud flat is strewn with large fragments of amorphous 
and crystallized gypsum. 
Turning eastward we soon began to ascend the low ridge 
south of the Animas hills, passing from the bright red soil of 
the lower red sands of the Jumanez mesa section to the lighter 
soil of the yellow and white sandstones just above. Before 
reaching Pinos Wells we had again returned to the Red Beds, 
possibly toa slightly lower horizon than that exposed in the 
southern Dog lake. Between the Animas hills and Pinos 
Wells, there rises well above the level of the plains the rugged 
peaks of Cerro del Pino. This isolated mountain is composed 
of red granite, and is covered with a fairly abundant growth 
of pines and scrub oak, while dense groves of cedar extend well 
out over the surrounding plains. 
The basins at Pinos Wells resemble the alkali ponds of the 
Antonio Sandoval Grant, being slightly alkaline, but more 
distinctly saline. They were quite dry at the time of our visit, 
while the surface deposit was very slight. Blue clay from 
two feet below the surface carries 1.8% salt, while the surface 
soil (thin scrapings from surface) shows 11.7%. The salt 
basin fifteen miles to the northeast is not much larger than 
one of the smaller lakes of the Antonio Sandoval basin, and 
is similar to the basins at Pinos Wells. A little water was 
standing in some parts of the lake at the time of our visit, 
but was evidently due to recent showers. The water was 
strongly saline to the taste, and slightly alkaline. The sur- 
face deposit about the shores was very thin. Thin scrapings 
from the surface show 9.1% salt, while mixed reddish and 
bluish clay from two feet below the surface show 3.5%. 
Fifteen or twenty miles to the northwest lies Pedernal 
mountain, a low peak on the northern part of the dividing 
ridge. The peak, and the hills of Pedernal just east, are pro- 
duced by an uplift of a quartz-bearing rock similar to that 
of the Tijeras-Coyote dyke.* Along the western base of the 
hills the metamorphism produced by this intrusion is evidenced 
*Bull. Geol. Surv., Univ. N. Mex., vol. ii, Geology of the Albuqueque Sheet, 
C. 1. Herrick and D. W Jonson, 
