+Much of the range is Navajo Nation Forest; ponderosa pine, spruce, and fir are among the important tree varieties. Trees there were cut and transported more than 75 km (about 50 miles) to the east to construct pueblos in [[Chaco Culture National Historical Park]] in the San Juan Basin as early as 974 A.D. Following a period of contentious debate, logging in the Chuskas was suspended in 1994. There has been discussion among the tribal government about resuming logging at some future time.<ref name="pynes_2002_chuskaessay" />
+
+The forests of the Chuska Mountains and of the Defiance Uplift receive higher rainfall than the surrounding lowlands, and these highlands typically receive regular winter snowfall. Runoff from snowmelt and seasonal thunderstorms along the crest of the Chuskas generates more than half the surface water of the [[Navajo Nation]]. Canyons of [[Canyon de Chelly National Monument]] were cut by streams with headwaters in the Chuskas.
+
+The Chuska Mountains are sparsely populated. Nearby settlements are small, including [[Crystal, New Mexico]], [[Lukachukai, Arizona]], and [[Toadlena, New Mexico]]. Trading posts at Crystal and at Two Grey Hills (about 10 km east of Toadlena), are associated with distinctive patterns used in Navajo rugs. A paved road, [[New Mexico State Road 134]], crosses the range through Narbona Pass.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}
+[[Narbona Pass]] was originally called {{lang|nv|Beesh Lichii'l Bigiizh}} ({{lang-en|Copper Pass}}), and was the location where Navajo warriors led by [[Narbona]] decisively defeated a Mexican slaving expedition under Captain [[Blas de Hinojos]].<ref name="sides_2007_carsonconquest" />
+Later it was renamed Washington Pass, after Colonel [[John M. Washington]], who commanded a military expedition against the Navajo. [[Narbona]] was a Navajo headman killed in an encounter with Washington's troops in 1849.
+
+==Geology==
+
+The Chuska Mountains and the Defiance Uplift immediately to the southwest form one of the prominent uplifted highlands of the [[Colorado Plateau]]. The uplifted region is separated from the [[San Juan Basin]] to the east by the Defiance and associated [[monocline]]s. Relative uplift, basin subsidence, and monocline formation began in the early stages of the [[Laramide orogeny]] about 75 to 80 million years ago. Although the Chuska Mountains can be considered part of the [[Defiance Uplift]], they stand higher. They are capped by an erosional remnant of [[Chuska Sandstone]], a unit locally more than 500 meters thick. The flat-lying Chuska Sandstone rests [[Unconformity|unconformably]] on [[Mesozoic]] rocks deformed in the Defiance monocline. [[Biotite]] in layers of altered [[volcanic ash]] within the Chuska Sandstone has yielded radiometric ages of 35 and 33 million years by [[argon-argon dating]]. The Chuska Sandstone is formed of sand [[dune]] deposits, and it appears to be a remnant of a huge [[Oligocene]] sand sea, the Chuska [[erg (landform)|erg]]. The erg hypothesis is consistent with major exhumation of the central Colorado Plateau in the late Oligocene and early [[Miocene]] (e.g., from about 26 to 16 million years ago). If so, then major uplift of the central Colorado Plateau may postdate the Laramide orogeny.
+
+[[Lamprophyre|Minette]] of the [[Navajo Volcanic Field]] intruded and was extruded through the Chuska Sandstone. Minette makes up the two highest points: Roof Butte and Matthews Peak. A [[maar]] complex, containing [[pyroclastic]] and extrusive minette, is exposed along New Mexico Highway 134 in Narbona Pass (Brand et al., 2008). Argon-argon dating of four minette samples at Narbona Pass yielded consistent ages of 25 million years. Very little [[Petroleum|oil]] has been produced in Arizona, and much of that production has come from a minette [[Sill (geology)|sill]], the [[reservoir rock]] of the Dineh-bi-Keyah field in the northwestern Chuska Mountains near Roof Butte. The sill is intruded into lower [[Pennsylvanian (geology)|Pennsylvanian]] [[sedimentary rock]]s. The producing rock is both porous and fractured, and it is characterized by large [[poikilitic]] [[sanidine]] grains with inclusions of [[Diopside|diopsidic]] [[augite]] and biotite: [[potassium-argon dating]] of the biotite yielded 25.7 million years. This pulse of magmatism at about 25 million years may have been accompanied by uplift of the Defiance-Chuska high in addition to the uplift during the Laramide orogeny.
+
+[[Helium]]-rich [[Natural gas|gas]] has been extracted from [[Devonian]] strata in the Dineh-bi-Keyah field. Additional economic resources have included [[uranium]], mined from some of the Mesozoic strata, particularly from the [[Morrison Formation]] in the Lukachukai Mountains at the northwest end of the Chuska Mountains.
+
+==See Also==
+* [[Chuska Valley]]
+
+==References==
+{{Commons category|Chuska Mountains}}
+{{Reflist|refs=
+
+<ref name="peakbagger_2004_chuskapeaks">{{cite web
+ |last = Slayden
+ |first = Greg
+ |year = 2004
+ |title = Chuska Mountains
+ |url = https://www.peakbagger.com/range.aspx?rid=13443
+ |website = Peakbagger.com
+ |access-date = 2023-08-25
+ |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050302011638/http://www.peakbagger.com/range.aspx?rid=13443
+ |archive-date = March 2, 2005
+ |url-status = live
+ |quote = Major Peaks of the Chuska Mountains
+ }}</ref>
+
+<ref name="pynes_2002_chuskaessay">{{cite web
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