Mineralogy and Petrology of the Santo Tomas-Black Mountain Basalt Field, Potrillo Volcanics, South-Central New Mexico
JERRY M. HOFFER Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79900 Mineralogy and Petrology of the Santo Tomas-Black Mountain Basalt Field, Potrillo Volcanics, South-Central New Mexico ABSTRACT called the Santo Tomas-Black Mountain basalt field (Hoffer, 1969c). The Santo Tomas-Black Mountain basalts The Santo Tomas-Black Mountain basalt were erupted during the Quaternary from field includes four major centers, each with four centers. Six lava flows are present at one or more cones and associated flows Black Mountain, three at Santo Tomas, and (Hoffer, 1969a). From north to south, the one each at Little Black Mountain and San four volcanic centers are Santo Tomas, San Miguel. The basalts are grouped into three Miguel, Little Black Mountain, and Black major types of phenocryst mineralogy: (l) Mountain. The largest volume of lava has plagioclase abundant, (2) olivine abundant, been extruded from the Black Mountain and and (3) both olivine and plagioclase abundant. Santo Tomas centers where six and three All three types are alkali-olivine basalts, individual flows, respectively, have been showing high alkali-silica ratios and total mapped (Hoffer, 1969a). Each of the two alkali content increasing with silica. intervening centers, Little Black Mountain Seven periods of basaltic extrusion among and San Miguel, shows only a single flow. the centers have been established on the No flow from a given center coalesces with basis of field evidence, phenocryst mineralogy, those from neighboring centers, but all ap- and pyroxene-olivine ratios. K-Ar dates show pear to be closely related in time (Kottlowski, the basalts to be less than 0.3 X 106 m.y.
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