Mitten Rock

Mitten Rock is a 6,557-foot (1,999-meter) elevation summit located on Navajo Nation land in San Juan County of northwest New Mexico, United States.[3] Mitten Rock is set in the northeastern part of the Navajo Volcanic Field, a volcanic field that includes intrusions and flows of minette and other unusual igneous rocks which formed around 30 million years ago during the Oligocene.[4] Mitten Rock is one of the major diatremes of the Four Corners area, and with significant relief as it rises 900 feet (270 meters) above the high-desert plain.[5] It is situated about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) southwest of Shiprock, the most famous of these diatremes. Mitten Rock has also been known as "Little Ship Rock."[3] This landmark is called Tséłkǫ, meaning "Rock Is Fire" in the Navajo language.[6] This geographical feature's descriptive name was applied by the US Army in 1892, and was officially adopted in 1915 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.[3] Precipitation runoff from this feature drains into Little Shiprock Wash, which is part of the San Juan River drainage basin. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Mitten Rock is located in a semi-arid climate zone with cold winters and hot summers.[7]

Mitten Rock
Northeast aspect
Highest point
Elevation6,557 ft (1,999 m)[1]
Prominence807 ft (246 m)[1]
Parent peakWhite Rock (6,634 ft)[2]
Isolation5.37 mi (8.64 km)[1]
Coordinates36°36′33″N 108°56′40″W[3]
Geography
Mitten Rock is located in New Mexico
Mitten Rock
Mitten Rock
Location in New Mexico
Mitten Rock is located in the United States
Mitten Rock
Mitten Rock
Mitten Rock (the United States)
LocationSan Juan County, New Mexico, US
Parent rangeChuska Mountains[2]
Colorado Plateau
Topo mapUSGS Mitten Rock
Geology
Age of rockOligocene
Mountain typeVolcanic plug
Type of rockVolcanic breccia

Geology

Mitten Rock is composed of felsic minette, unusual even for the Navajo volcanic field. Felsic minette has a silica content of up to 60%, versus the more typical 48% to 52% silica content of the more typical mafic minettes of most vents in the volcanic field. This magma was likely formed by crystal fractionation of more typical mafic minette magma.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Mitten Rock - 6,557' NM". listsofjohn.com. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  2. Mitten Rock, Peakvisor.com, retrieved December 2, 2020
  3. "Mitten Rock". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  4. Steven C. Semken, The Navajo Volcanic Field, in Volcanology in New Mexico, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 18, p. 79, 2001. ISSN 1524-4156
  5. Robert Julyan, The Mountains of New Mexico, 2006, University of New Mexico Press, page 109.
  6. Stephen C. Jett and Editha L. Watson, Sacred Places of the Navajo, 1993.
  7. Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11 (5): 1633. Bibcode:2007HESS...11.1633P. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007. ISSN 1027-5606. S2CID 9654551.
  8. Roden, M.F. (1981). "Origin of coexisting minette and ultramafic breccia, Navajo volcanic field" (PDF). Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 77 (2): 195–206. Bibcode:1981CoMP...77..195R. doi:10.1007/BF00636523. S2CID 129590194. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
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