New Mexico Geology Trivia Quiz

Answer: Deming

Rockhounds visit this park to gather agate, quartz crystals, opal, and other collectibles that were created during the formation of the volcanic mountains. It is one of the few state parks in the nation where you are allowed to take home what you find!
For more information on New Mexico's State Parks, visit www.emnrd.state.nm.us/nmparks.

Answer: Jemez

A caldera is essentially a volcanic crater that has collapsed. The Valles Caldera was formed by a large eruption - about 100 times as large as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The Valles Caldera is roughly circular and is over 15 miles across.
For more information on the Valles Caldera visit www.vallescaldera.gov.

Answer: Bisti

The Bisti Badlands is a region in northwestern New Mexico made up of Cretaceous rocks, deposited on the shores of an ancient sea roughly 70 million years ago. These sedimentary rocks have eroded into fantastic features called hoodoos. There is also a great deal of petrified wood in these layered rocks.
For more information on BLM's Bisti Wilderness visit http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/misc/bisti.html.

Answer: El Malpais National Monument

The McCarty flow is around 3000 years old. It is one of 8 flows in the Monument that were erupted within the last 125,000 years. The other young flow in New Mexico is the Carrizozo flow in Valley of Fires State Park, which was flowing about 4000 years ago.
For more information on El Malpais visit www.nps.gov/elma.

Answer: Capitan

Smokey Bear was found injured, clinging to the remains of a charred tree after a forest fire raged through the area. The Capitan Mountains lie along the Capitan Lineament, a major structural weakness in the Earth's crust that extends east-west through southern New Mexico.
For more information on Smokey Bear visit www.smokeybear.org.

Answer: Cerrillos

Cerrillos turquoise was traded heavily by the Anasazi people as early as the year 800, and probably earlier. It has been found as far away as the Toltec ruins of central Mexico. Cultures of New Mexico used turquoise as currency through the 16th century. Cerrillos lies on NM highway 14 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, which has been designated as a scenic and historic route and is known as the "Turquoise Trail."
For more information on this area visit www.turquoisetrail.org.

Answer: Colorado Plateau

Uranium mining in north-west New Mexico surged in the 1950's, with diesel-powered machinery becoming available and the federal government entering the picture as a buyer. "Red lung disease" (coughing up blood) quickly became a problem for the underground miners, and radiation poisoning (cancer, etc.) remains a problem families contend with in the predominantly Navajo area.
For more information on uranium mining visit www.wma-minelife.com/uranium/papers/histur.htm.

Answer: Canadian River

The river has incised its canyon over the last 8 million years or so through the Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone (deposited around 120 million years ago) found at the canyon's rim and the older rocks below. The Canadian River is capable of carrying a great deal of water, but throughout most of the year it merely trickles through New Mexico. For more information on the Canadian River visit www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/govdocs/text/greatplains/text.html

Answer: Clayton Lake

Over 500 tracks were uncovered on the spillway of the Clayton Lake dam in a 1982 flood. This is one of the best-preserved and most extensive dinosaur track sites in the United States. It contains footprints from herbivores and carnivores that travelled along an ancient sea around 100 million years ago.
For more information on New Mexico's State Parks, visit www.emnrd.state.nm.us/nmparks.

Answer: Shiprock

Shiprock is the remnant of a volcano that erupted about 30 million years ago. It was the conduit that fed magma to the volcano. Eventually, the magma filling the conduit solidified into a hard, erosion-resistant rock. This section of the volcano was probably around 3000 feet below the surface during the eruption, and all the layers above it and around it have eroded away since then.
For more information about Shiprock visit www.emporia.edu/earthsci/student/kuss1/shiprock.html.