Global Volcanism Program

Taos Plateau

Google Earth Placemark with Features

Cite Volcano Profile

United States
Basin and Range Volcanic Province
Cluster | Volcanic field
Pleistocene

Country
Volcanic Region
Landform | Volc Type
Last Known Eruption

36.83°N
105.83°W
3,087 m
10,128 ft
327818

Latitude
Longitude
Summit
Elevation
Volcano
Number

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Taos Plateau.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Taos Plateau.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Taos Plateau.

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

327818

Pleistocene

3,087 m / 10,128 ft

36.83°N
105.83°W

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Cluster

Volcano Types
Volcanic field

Tectonic Setting

Rift zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Geological Summary

The massive Taos Plateau volcanic field covers an area of 7000 km² along the Rio Grande Rift in north-central New Mexico and was active from about 10 million to 1.8 million years ago. The Red Hill lava flow is of probable Pleistocene age (Dungan et al., 1989).

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Dungan M A, Thompson R A, Stormer J S, O'Neill J M, 1989. Rio Grande Rift volcanism: northeastern Jemez zone, New Mexico. New Mexico Bur Mines Min Resour Mem, 46: 435-486.

Wood C A, Kienle J (eds), 1990. Volcanoes of North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ Press, 354 p.

Eruptive History

The Global Volcanism Program is not aware of any Holocene eruptions from Taos Plateau. If this volcano has had large eruptions (VEI >= 4) prior to 12,000 years ago, information might be found on the Taos Plateau page in the LaMEVE (Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions) database, a part of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Red Hill

Pyroclastic cone

Photo Gallery

The Global Volcanism Program has no photographs available for Taos Plateau.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Taos Plateau in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Taos Plateau. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Taos Plateau. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

Large Eruptions of Taos Plateau

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).