{{Short description|Landform in McKinley and San Juan counties, New Mexico and Apache County, Arizona}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
''[[Image:NE AZ-NW NM NASA.jpg|thumb|right|330px|Satellite image of northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, including the [[Four Corners Monument]] (FC). Snow dusts higher elevations in the image. Labeled natural features are the Chuska Mountains (CM), the [[Carrizo Mountains]] (C), [[Monument Valley]] Navajo Tribal Park (MV), [[Black Mesa (Arizona)|Black Mesa]] (B), [[Canyon de Chelly National Monument]] (CdC), and the Defiance Uplift-([[Defiance Plateau|Plateau]]) (D). Labeled towns are [[Farmington, New Mexico]] (F), [[Gallup, New Mexico]] (G), [[Window Rock, Arizona]] (W), and [[Kayenta, Arizona]] (K).]]
-The '''Chuska Mountains''' are an elongate range on the southwest [[Colorado Plateau]] and within the [[Navajo Nation]] whose highest elevations approach 10,000 feet. The range is about 80 by 15 km (50 by 10 miles). It trends north-northwest and is crossed by the state line between [[Arizona]] and [[New Mexico]]. The highlands are a [[dissected plateau]], with an average elevation of about {{convert|2740|m|abbr=on}}, and subdued topography. The highest point is [[Roof Butte]] (36.4601° N, 109.0929° W) at {{convert|2994|m|abbr=on}}, near the northern end of the range in [[Arizona]]. Other high points include the satellite [[Beautiful Mountain]] at {{convert|2861|m|abbr=on}} and [[Lukachukai Mountains]] at {{convert|2885|m|abbr=on}}, both also near the northern end, and Matthews Peak at {{convert|2911|m|abbr=on}}. The [[San Juan Basin]] borders the Chuskas on the east, and typical elevations in nearby parts of that basin are near {{convert|1800|m|abbr=on}}. The eastern escarpment of the mountains is marked by slumps and landslides that extend out onto the western margin of the San Juan Basin. To the north, the Chuskas are separated from the [[Carrizo Mountains]] by Red Rock Valley, which is today commonly referred to as Red Valley.
+The '''Chuska Mountains''' ({{lang-nv|Chʼóshgai}}) are an elongate range on the southwest [[Colorado Plateau]] and within the [[Navajo Nation]] whose highest elevations approach 10,000 feet. The range is about 80 by 15 km (50 by 10 miles). It trends north-northwest and is crossed by the state line between [[Arizona]] and [[New Mexico]]. The highlands are a [[dissected plateau]], with an average elevation of about {{convert|2740|m|abbr=on}}, and subdued topography. The highest point is [[Roof Butte]] (36.4601° N, 109.0929° W) at {{convert|2994|m|abbr=on}}, near the northern end of the range in [[Arizona]]. Other high points include the satellite [[Beautiful Mountain]] at {{convert|2861|m|abbr=on}} and [[Lukachukai Mountains]] at {{convert|2885|m|abbr=on}}, both also near the northern end, and Matthews Peak at {{convert|2911|m|abbr=on}}. The [[San Juan Basin]] borders the Chuskas on the east, and typical elevations in nearby parts of that basin are near {{convert|1800|m|abbr=on}}. The eastern escarpment of the mountains is marked by slumps and landslides that extend out onto the western margin of the San Juan Basin. To the north, the Chuskas are separated from the [[Carrizo Mountains]] by Red Rock Valley, which is today commonly referred to as Red Valley.
==Peaks==
-Major peaks of the Chuskas include:<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>
+Major peaks of the Chuskas include:<ref name="peakbagger_2004_chuskapeaks" />
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Rank !! Peak Name !! Elevation (Feet) !! Elevation (Meters) !! Subrange
|}
==Reservation==
-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">{{cite web
+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 Highway 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
|last = Pynes
|first = Patrick
|year = 2002
|oclc = 48504439
}}</ref>
-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 Highway 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">{{cite book
+<ref name="sides_2007_carsonconquest">{{cite book
|last = Sides
|first = Hampton
|title = Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West
|page = 95
|oclc = 148836980
}}</ref>
-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}}
+}}
==General references==
* Lucas, Spencer G., Semken, Steven C., Berglof, William R., and Dana S. Ulmer-Scholle (editors), ''Geology of the Zuni Plateau'', New Mexico Geological Society Fifty-fourth Annual Field Conference, 424 p., 2003.
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