The Structural Geology of the Cerrillos Hills Area, New Mexico

The earliest major structural deformation recorded in rocks exposed in the Cerrillos area occurred during the Laramie uplift of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This resulted in an erosional wedging of Upper Cretaceous strata at a rate of 130 feet per mile. Subsequent deposition of the Eocene Galisteo sand, clay, and gravel overstepped this surface in a sourceward direction. At the beginning of work on this project the major problem was to determine the geological structure of the Cerrillos Hills. It was felt that a large-scale geologic map of an area extensive enough to reveal the structurally complex center of the hills was necessary for the solution of this problem and would be a contribution to the geology of the region