Sierra Blanca (New Mexico)

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Sierra Blanca Peak

| photo = Sierra Blanca and electricity pole.jpg

| photo_caption =

| elevation_ft = 11981

| elevation_ref = {{navd88}}{{cite ngs |pid=DR1010 |name=Sierra Blanca |accessdate=2013-02-10}}

| prominence_ft = 5533

| prominence_ref = {{cite peakbagger |pid=4277 |name=Sierra Blanca Peak, New Mexico |access-date=2013-02-10}}

| listing = {{unbulleted list

|North America isolated peaks 74th

|U.S. most prominent peaks 88th

}}

| location = Lincoln / Otero counties, New Mexico, U.S.

| range =

| map = USA New Mexico

| map_width = 230

| map_caption = Location in south-central New Mexico

| map_size = 245

| coordinates = {{coord|33.374323178|N|105.808719667|W|type:mountain_region:US-NM_scale:100000_source:NGS|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| range_coordinates =

| coordinates_ref =

| topo = USGS Sierra Blanca Peak

| type = Stratovolcano complex

| age = 26 to 38 million years

| last_eruption =

| first_ascent =

| easiest_route = Hike south from ski area

}}

File:Sierra Blanca Peak (New Mexico) 3D version 1.gif

File:Sierra Blanca Peak 2.jpg

The Sierra Blanca (Spanish: White Mountains) is an ultra-prominent range of volcanic mountains in Lincoln and Otero counties in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The range is about {{convert|40|mi}} from north to south and {{convert|20|mi}} wide.

Sierra Blanca Peak (White Peak) is the highest mountain in the range at {{convert|11,981|ft}}. It is southern New Mexico's highest peak, as well as the most prominent (5,533 feet) and the 40th highest in the entire state.surgent, [http://www.summitpost.org/the-2000-foot-prominence-peaks-of-new-mexico/332786 "The 2000-foot Prominence Peaks of New Mexico"], ' 'summitpost.org' ', May 3, 2013. Retrieved 2016-12-12. It is also the most southerly peak and land area to exceed 11,000 feet in the continental United States (Only 19 feet shy of being the most southerly area above 12,000 feet). The peak is located on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation, approximately {{convert|10|mi}} west-northwest of Ruidoso and {{convert|30|mi}} north-northeast of Alamogordo.

Geography

The majority of the Sierra Blanca range is within the Lincoln National Forest, and part of this is protected as the White Mountain Wilderness Area. Much of the southern half of the range, including the summit of Sierra Blanca Peak, is within the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation. The peak is sacred to the Mescalero Apache, and requires a permit from the tribe for access. To the south, across the valley of the Rio Tularosa, lie the Sacramento Mountains. To the north is Carrizozo Mountain, and to the northeast lie the Capitan Mountains. On the west side, the range rises high above the Tularosa Basin.

The range serves as the headwaters for the Rio Ruidoso, Rio Tularosa, and Rio Bonito, as well as numerous arroyos draining into the Tularosa Basin, including Nogal Arroyo at the north end of the range.

Sierra Blanca Peak dominates the range and can be seen for many miles, particularly within the Tularosa Basin. It is visible from as far away as Sandia Crest near Albuquerque. It is one of the southernmost points at which alpine ecosystems occur in the United States. Rising more than {{convert|5500|ft|sigfig=2}} above the adjacent Tularosa Basin, it has the highest topographic prominence in the state.{{cite peakbagger |lid=41327 |title=New Mexico Peaks with 2000 feet of Prominence |access-date=2013-02-10}}

The eastern foothills of the Sierra Blanca range include the town of Ruidoso. The area has a number of popular hiking and camping destinations. Sierra Blanca Peak is the towering backdrop and snow-maker for Ski Apache, the southernmost major ski resort in North America. Ski Apache is located mostly on land within the Lincoln National Forest and is operated as a concession under contract to the U.S. Forest Service by the Mescalero Apache Tribe's Inn of the Mountain Gods.{{cite web |url=http://innofthemountaingods.com/ |title=Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino |publisher=Mescalero Apache tribe |access-date=2013-02-10}}

=Climate=

{{Weather box

|location = Sierra Blanca 33.3750 N, 105.8118 W, Elevation: {{cvt|11467|ft}} (1991–2020 normals)

|single line = y

|Jan high F = 35.2

|Feb high F = 36.2

|Mar high F = 42.0

|Apr high F = 47.1

|May high F = 55.3

|Jun high F = 64.6

|Jul high F = 63.9

|Aug high F = 61.7

|Sep high F = 57.9

|Oct high F = 51.5

|Nov high F = 44.6

|Dec high F = 35.9

|Jan mean F = 25.0

|Feb mean F = 25.5

|Mar mean F = 30.5

|Apr mean F = 35.0

|May mean F = 43.2

|Jun mean F = 51.8

|Jul mean F = 52.3

|Aug mean F = 50.9

|Sep mean F = 46.9

|Oct mean F = 40.0

|Nov mean F = 33.6

|Dec mean F = 25.7

|Jan low F = 14.8

|Feb low F = 14.9

|Mar low F = 18.9

|Apr low F = 23.0

|May low F = 31.1

|Jun low F = 39.0

|Jul low F = 40.7

|Aug low F = 40.2

|Sep low F = 35.9

|Oct low F = 28.6

|Nov low F = 22.5

|Dec low F = 15.4

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 3.08

|Feb precipitation inch = 2.58

|Mar precipitation inch = 2.42

|Apr precipitation inch = 1.64

|May precipitation inch = 1.81

|Jun precipitation inch = 2.62

|Jul precipitation inch = 6.28

|Aug precipitation inch = 5.61

|Sep precipitation inch = 4.03

|Oct precipitation inch = 2.77

|Nov precipitation inch = 2.28

|Dec precipitation inch = 3.82

|source=PRISM Climate Group{{cite web

|url= http://prism.oregonstate.edu/explorer/

|title= PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University

|publisher= PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University

|access-date= November 1, 2023

|quote= To find the table data on the PRISM website, start by clicking Coordinates (under Location); copy Latitude and Longitude figures from top of table; click Zoom to location; click Precipitation, Minimum temp, Mean temp, Maximum temp; click 30-year normals, 1991-2020; click 800m; click Retrieve Time Series button.}}

}}

Volcanology

Sierra Blanca is a massive complex of volcanic rocks, including pyroclastic materials, lava flows, and intrusions. An ancient and heavily eroded volcanic pile, it is the largest mid-Tertiary volcanic complex east of the Rio Grande, with an estimated volume of erupted products of {{convert|185|cumi}}. Eruptions began about 38 million years ago, and extended over a twelve-million-year period. Most of the eruptions produced voluminous lava flows and breccias, with numerous intrusive dikes emplaced throughout the complex. The final activity produced the intrusions which form the present-day Sierra Blanca Peak. Following the volcanic period, the range's topography was modified by Pleistocene glaciation, block faulting, and erosion.{{cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=Tommy B. |title=Sierra Blanca Igneous Complex, New Mexico |journal=Geological Society of America Bulletin |date=1972 |volume=83 |issue=8 |pages=2341 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1972)83[2341:SBICNM]2.0.CO;2|bibcode=1972GSAB...83.2341T }}

Between 2007 and 2014, the Sierra Blanca complex was geologically mapped, and the following stratigraphy was adopted:{{cite journal |last1=Kelley |first1=Shari |last2=Koning |first2=Daniel J. |last3=Goff |first3=Fraser |last4=Cikoski |first4=Colin |last5=Peters |first5=Lisa |last6=McIntosh |first6=William |title=Stratigraphy of the northwestern Sierra Blanca volcanic field |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=2014 |volume=65 |pages=197–208 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/65/65_p0197_p0208.pdf |access-date=29 July 2021}}

Godfrey Hills Group
Husk Windmill Formation (28.7–28.2 Ma): trachytic lava flows and tuff
Crawford Canyon Trachyte (28.6 Ma)
Rose Peak Trachyte (28.6 Ma)
'Palisades Tuff (28.7 Ma): trachytic tuff
Lopez Spring Formation (34–28.7 Ma): lava flows of diverse composition
Nogal Peak Trachyte (31.4 Ma)
Church Mountain Phonolite (32.7 Ma)
Walker Group
Three Rivers Formation, divided into members:
Buck Pasture Tuff
Double Diamond Member (36–34 Ma), laterally discontinuous volcaniclastics, basaltic trachyandesite, phonotephrite, and trachyte
Argentina Spring Tuff (36 Ma)
Taylor Windmill Member: Maroon volcaniclastic sediments interbedded with flows of trachybasalt to trachyte
Rattlesnake Member: plagioclase-bearing basaltic trachyandesite flows
Hog Pen Formation: interbedded debris flows and basalt to basaltic trachyandesite flows

These rest on the Sanders Canyon Formation, an Eocene sedimentary rock unit.{{sfn|Kelley|Koning|Goff|Cikoski|2014|p=203}} They are intruded by the Three Rivers, Rialto, and Bonito Lake stocks. The Three Rivers Stock, which underlies Sierra Blanca Peak itself, is the largest of these and consists of multiple intrusions, and is composed mostly of syenite to alkali feldspar granite. It was emplaced 29 to 28 million years ago and is interpreted as the shallow magma chamber below a deeply eroded caldera.{{cite journal |last1=Goff |first1=Fraser |last2=Roback |first2=Robert C. |last3=McIntosh |first3=William |last4=Goff |first4=Cathy J. |last5=Kluck |first5=Emily C. |title=Geochemistry and geochronology of intrusive and volcanic rocks of the Three Rivers stock, Sierra Blanca, New Mexico |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=2014 |volume=65 |pages=183–196 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/65/65_p0183_p0196.pdf |access-date=29 July 2021}}

The volcanic complex is part of the High Plains alkaline province, which lies along the boundary between the tectonically stable High Plains and the tectonically active western United States. It formed in the Sierra Blanca Basin, a northeast extension of the Tularosa Basin, during the time when the Rio Grande rift first began to open.{{sfn|Kelley|Koning|Goff|Cikoski|2014|p=197}}

References

New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science: [https://web.archive.org/web/20070501202359/http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/sci_volcanoes.html Volcanoes of New Mexico] and {{cite web | title= Sierra Blanca Volcano | url = http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/volcano/sblanca.html | access-date= 2007-03-26}}

External links

{{cite gnis |id=920702 |name=Sierra Blanca Peak}}
[http://www.discoverruidoso.com/ "Village of Ruidoso Tourism Office"].
[http://www.skiapache.com/ "Ski Apache resort"].
[http://innofthemountaingods.com/ "Inn of the Mountain Gods "Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino"].

Category:Mountain ranges of New Mexico

Category:Mountains of New Mexico

Category:Volcanoes of New Mexico

Category:Extinct volcanoes of the United States

Category:Eocene volcanoes

Category:Oligocene volcanoes

Category:Landforms of Lincoln County, New Mexico

Category:Landforms of Otero County, New Mexico

Category:Stratovolcanoes of the United States

Category:Complex volcanoes

Category:Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America

Category:Sacred mountains of the United States