Estancia news-herald. [volume] (Estancia, Torrance County, N.M.) 1912-19??, 1914-08-13

the highest point $3.50 feet at
Rea's ranch, straight west OF
Estancia, and the two Bosque
peaks, about $500 feet, about five
| miles north of Rea's ranch. To
the northwest of Estancia are
the Sandia Range, 5000 feet, and
the San Pedro mountains, 5000
feet. To the north are the Santa
Fe mountains. To the northeast
are PedernaI mountains which
outline the eastern border of the
valley by running south as a
series of low-lying hills.
The foothills of the mountains
to the west and northwest form
a belt about five or six miles
wide which skirts along parallel
with the main ridges of the
mountains and exhibits many
picturesque canyons with
graceful slopes and rugged
divides. Among these foothills
are numerous springs and sever
al good sized streams, which flow
toward the valley but disappear
into the sub b-strata of it's western
border.
Across the valley there are
practically no breaks in it's sur
face smoothness. There are
however, two or three places
where the valley slopes more
rapidly to the east, giving to the
unframed eye, the appearance of
swell or a ridge of the land.
About six or eight miles east
of Estancia there is line of
lakes extending north and south
for about twenty miles. Nearly
all of these lakes are intermit
tently dry because of rapid
evaporation at the surface.
There are two or three to the
southern end of the series which
seem to maintain a supply of
water annually. On the east and
west sides of these lakes the soft,
po wdery soil has been heaped
into the characteristic shapes of
sand dune region, by the winds
which come across the valley.
These wind blown mounds aud
ridges of white material are visi-
BILE to nearly all parts of the val
ley and give the casual observer
the impression that there is a
ridge of upheaval in that part of
the valley. I am inclined to be-
lieve that this is not true and
that the deep strata are not
noticeably distorted here, but
that this is the shallowesU part
of the valley, in other words,
that the sub-strata are closer
to the surface than elsewhere in
the valley.
The rock structure of the en-
tire central part of New Mexico
is stratified the layers being laid
down beneath water before any
upbeaval occurred in that region.
These layers of stratitied rock
| shall designate as the Primary
Mantle Rock of the valley. When
the upheavals of the deep,
igneous rock beneath the Pri-
mary Mantle Rock, occurred, the
Primary Mantle Rock was ele-
waited in long, irregular folds.
The crestS of these folds are the
present crests and ridge-lineS or
horizons of the mountains sur
rounding Estancia Valley today.
[ did not find any place in these
mountains where the igneous
rock had broken through the
Primary Mantle Rock, but esti-
mate that, in the Manzano range
it would be encountered at a
depth of about four thousand
feet.
When these folds of Primary
Mantle Rock were elevated above
water and attacked by the agents
of erosion they were rapidly dis
integrated and the debris was
carried down the slopes to low
er level where it was spread out
on top of the Primary Mantle
Rock in the form of loose, alluvl,
al sediment. This loose, alluvlal
sediment then took on strait
fed arrangement of its own and
rested on the Primary Mantle
Rock all round the edges OF the
lake floor, some of it even ex
| tending to the center of the val
lev. 1 shall designate this STRAIT