Shiprock along Rte 666 - Shiprock, NM
Posted by: 
DopeyDuck
N 36° 41.332 W 108° 50.295
12S E 693138 N 4062535
Shiprock is an exposed volcanic neck towering 1400ft above the surrounding plain, accompanied by radiating dikes. It was designated a U.S. National Natural Landmark in May 1975.
Waymark Code: WM700K
Location: New Mexico, United States
Date Posted: 08/11/2009
Views: 39
This National Landmark was featured on the Google Sight Seeing website under the volcano section. (
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Don't forget to fulfill the requirements for the Tsé Bit' A'í Earthcache - GCZKG2 while you're there. (
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According to Wikipedia, "Shiprock, (Navajo: Tsé Bit'a'í, "rock with wings" or "winged rock") is a rock formation rising nearly 1,800 feet (550 m) above the high-desert plain on the Navajo Nation and in San Juan County, New Mexico, about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the town of Shiprock, which is named for the peak. Governed by the Navajo Nation, the formation is in the Four Corners region and plays a significant role in Navajo religion, mythology and tradition. It is located in the center of the Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral Puebloan civilization, a prehistoric Native American culture of the Southwest United States often referred to as the Anasazi. Shiprock is a point of interest for rock climbers and photographers and has been featured in several film productions and novels. It is the most prominent landmark in northwestern New Mexico.
Shiprock is composed of fractured volcanic breccia and black dikes of igneous rock called "minette". It is the erosional remnant of the throat of a volcano, and the volcanic breccia formed in a diatreme. The exposed rock probably was originally formed 2,500-3000 feet (750-1,000 meters) below the earth's surface, but it was exposed after millions of years of erosion. Wall-like sheets of minette, known as dikes, radiate away from the central formation. Radiometric age determinations of the minette establish that these volcanic rocks solidified about 27 million years ago. Shiprock is in the northeastern part of the Navajo Volcanic Field; the field includes intrusions and flows of minette and other unusual igneous rocks that formed about 25 million years ago. Agathla, also called El Capitan, is another prominent volcanic neck of this field." Source: (
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