Ship Rock

As a Colorado native, I am always fascinated to learn about mountain ranges and formations besides the Rockies in my own neck of the woods. However, I find myself close by passing through Colorado’s neighbor, New Mexico. The only prior experience I have with the mountains of New Mexico is one trip I recall where I came to rock climb. Now years later I return and am visiting a specific formation in the North Western half of the state known as Ship Rock. The name is quite self-explanatory as I instantly picture a large ship coming from the sea and crushing into the formation.

Like all igneous rock, Ship Rock is the result of a volcanic eruption from over 30 million years ago. Additionally, it’s composition is made up of volcanic rock, breccia, which are essential fragments from pyroclastic rocks which are disgorged during a volcanic eruption. What I did not know was that Ship Rock is actually considered to be a volcanic neck, rather than a volcano itself, think of the human body. The neck of a volcano is the formation of rocks that occupy the conduit of a volcano after weathering and erosion have taken place. This igneous rock was crystallized in the vent and the mass left behind from the congealed magma is the neck. Essentially this is the throat “or neck” of the volcano. It is also referred to as a pipe like feature. This 1,700-foot structure also has six dikes, or wall like formations generated from magma forced into bedding surfaces into another host rock. When it was formed, Ship Rock was virtually hundred to thousands of meters below ground. Now millions of years of erosion later, it was become a breathtaking landscape with a substantial and unique history to it. One thing I can conclude after admiring and analyzing this exceptional land mass, I am certainly not in Colorado anymore and my journey is only beginning. Stay tuned next week as I share my latest travel adventure.

Citations:

Lutgens, F. K. (2018). Essentials of Geology (13th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson Education.

 New Mexico Tech. (2018, April 05). The Ship Rock Landform. Retrieved July 15, 2018, from https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/landmarks/shiprock/home.html

Smithston Phillips, P. (2017). Ship Rock. Outdoor Photography. https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/on-location/favorite-places/shiprock/