Session: SW Desert and Mountain Pedology (Route 60) and Rim Geology: Albuquerque, NM to Phoenix, AZ

Division: Tours

Title: SW Desert and Mountain Pedology (Route 60) and Rim Geology: Albuquerque, NM to Phoenix, AZ

Lead Community Sponsor:
Cosponsor: SSSA Division: Pedology, SSSA Division: Urban and Anthropogenic Soils, SSSA Division: Consulting Soil Scientists
Community Cosponsor:
Format: None (Admin Only)
Keywords:

Session Description: The 2020 SSSA Pedology tour will begin in Albuquerque, NM the evening of November 4, 2020 with a social and tour orientation 5-8PM. The next morning November 5th we will travel south along the Rio Grande River with focus on the Rio Grande Rift Valley geomorphology, geology and agriculture, including a stop at the Sevilleta LTER and National Wildlife Refuge. The tour will then head west on US-60 and begin observing the mountains of the Basin and Range Province. From there, we will enter upon the Plains of St. Augustin. Here we will observe Pleistocene lake-valley fill, aeolian and lacustrine soils. The Plains contain the Very Large Array radio telescopes and the atomic Trinity Site. The tour will head to the northwest on Friday morning climbing out of the Plains of St. Augustine along the Mogollon slope onto the southern reaches of the Colorado Plateau and the Datil Mountains of the Cibola National Forest. The Rim is an escarpment defining the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. Much of the land south of the Mogollon Rim lies 4,000 to 5,000 feet, with the escarpment rising to about 8,000 ft. Extensive Ponderosa pine forests are found both on the slopes of the Rim and on the plateau north of it. We will observe various forest soils and ecological sites and continue across the Continental Divide onto the rim of the Colorado Plateau. Numerous stops are planned along the tour on the Springerville Volcanic Field. Saturday, we drop off the Colorado Plateau through the Mogollon Rim and Transition Zone to Globe, AZ. We plan stops at open pit mines and we will travel out across the piedmont slopes and alluvial fans into Phoenix. Arrival will be early evening Nov7th at the Phoenix Convention Center.