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Albuquerque Nm Report - Los Lunas Petrified Wood


larry739

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I mad another trip to the collection area closest to home that I love the most. This area is full of nice petrified wood specimens siting on top of the ground. Most of the samples are about 10 to 50 cm in length and 6 to 10 cm in width. The dominant color is tan but there is ample black, red and yellow too. These samples occur on top of the erosion hills that the nearby huge arroya that runs north and south far down in the valley. The area is also littered with quartz, jasper, agate, apache tears and many other minerals.

The area is open range and not posted. Much of the land is for sale so it must be privately held but permission to collect does not seem to be necessary or required. It might take some research to find out who does own it. Entry to the area is made by turning south off of highway 6 about 5 or 6 miles west of Los Lunas, NM. This is a sandy road by passenger cars seem to be able to handle it without getting stuck. I would not wander off the road without 4WD. The road is located at the SW Livestock Auction on Dalles Road. Stay on Dalles Rd until you cross the busy railroad tracks then turn west (right) on any number of dirt or gravel roads that lead to the erosion gullies where the fossilized wood and colorful rocks are too numerous to count. These eroision gullies continue for 40 or 50 miles all the way down to where US60 intersects I 25. It would take a lifetime to collect it all.

I will post images of some representative samples of the fossils I take from these beds starting with the petrified wood. The geology at the surface is primarily Piedmont (Holocene to upper Pleistocene interspersed with windblown sand and gypsum dunes of the same era. The ground is very easy to dig in and so far no snakes have been seen and only a few cactus so it would be a great place to take kids. I expect I will find mammalian fossils in this area.

It is great place to share since there is absolutely no possibility of ever being collected out.

Larry Robinson on Silver Hill.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Larry... An older post so apparently I'm the only one who thinks so ;) but looks like it would be a fun place to collect, assuming you dont get in trouble with the landowners..

Could pet. wood like this be as young as Holocene or Pleist.? I'm not sure.. I wonder if the geo. maps showed Holo/Pleisto but the source rock for these recent sediments would be older and perhaps contain older pet wood?

I'm also curious about the slab you have put these on - looks like a bedding plane with some trace fossils on it - is this from the same area?

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Could pet. wood like this be as young as Holocene or Pleist.? I'm not sure.. I wonder if the geo. maps showed Holo/Pleisto but the source rock for these recent sediments would be older and perhaps contain older pet wood?

I have been to this place. The area is littered with chunks of petrified wood, jasper and agate. All very worn and weathered. Not far (3/4 mi) from the Rio Grande. Probably older deposits eroding out... the river's ancient path... a glacier? Who knows?

"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

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Did the glaciers go down that far, or is the site high enough in altitude that that could have happened there?

Are there any larger chunks to be found than the ones shown?

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The pieces shown are a good representation of the size and quality of the wood. I have never seen logs or stumps. I am not sure of the altitude though here in ABQ (not far from the site) we are at 5,000'.

"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

point.thumb.jpg.e8c20b9cd1882c9813380ade830e1f32.jpg research.jpg.932a4c776c9696d3cf6133084c2d9a84.jpg  RPV.jpg.d17a6f3deca931bfdce34e2a5f29511d.jpg  SJB.jpg.f032e0b315b0e335acf103408a762803.jpg  butterfly.jpg.71c7cc456dfbbae76f15995f00b221ff.jpg  Htoad.jpg.3d40423ae4f226cfcc7e0aba3b331565.jpg  library.jpg.56c23fbd183a19af79384c4b8c431757.jpg  OIP.jpg.163d5efffd320f70f956e9a53f9cd7db.jpg

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  • 8 months later...

I took my boys (ages 12 and 6) out here today they had an awesome time. We made a pretty good haul, had to leave a lot behind because the back pack we were using was around 60lbs. Don't know what the apache tears, jasper... Look like but I would bet there is lots of it out there. Thanks a lot for the directions here is a pic of the petrified wood we found.

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  • 6 months later...

My husband and I made our first trip to this area today. The scenery is just beautiful. I thought I'd add a couple of comments. First of all the road is not marked so do turn at the Southwest Livestock Auction road. The road had some spots of pooling water but there were little go arounds to avoid the water and mud. At the RR tracks turn right and stay on the main dirt road that bends. Do not follow the railroad track west on the smaller dirt road. This was treacherous with many holes even in my Forester. We continued on south past 2 large buildings which house hazardous waste materials. Eventually we found a turn off. Found several smaller pieces of pet. wood. Got back in the car continued south to the next turnoff. Found some very small pieces there as well. Unfortunately this area is home to target practice too. Many shell casings and broken bottles etc. We had just got out to walk around at the second turnoff when we heard gun shots. Someone was firing off a rifle at the first location not that far from us. So if you do decide to venture out to this area be aware of the target practice! I've attached a map with arrows on the map of the area we drove.

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  • 5 months later...

Last weekend, I made my third trip to this area since 2005 or so and had a good time. The weather was great too, which always helps. The directions above are spot-on. My only other recommendation is to aim for the large tan water tank on the edge of the arroyo. It's a good visual clue you can see from a distance. I can't speak to the shooting as I've never heard/seen anything along those lines. Attached are some pics I took of my haul consisting of pet wood, jasper, agate, and a few other items I liked.

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  • 1 year later...

We went out there and found all sorts of 'fun things'. I would agree that the pictures you see are representative of the pet. wood that is in that area.

What no one mentioned is that there are also clam fossils out there. We were able to find some nice big bi-valve type clams that have been fossilized.

We also found very limited amounts of obsidian. There was so little of it that we almost thought someone had hauled it in and left it there. Jaspar and agates were also out in that location.

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