Geology Landscapes: Summer Reading and Guidebooks

Many excellent general books can guide you through the geologic facets of New Mexico’s spectacular geologic landscapes.

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources has two excellent publications describing the geology of New Mexico Public Lands: “The Geology of Northern New Mexico’s Parks, Monuments, and Public Lands” (2010) and “The Geology of Southern New Mexico’s Parks, Monuments, and Public Lands” (2020).

That volume includes Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and San Lorenzo Canyon just south of Valencia County and the Manzano Mountains State Park and Salinas Pueblo Mission at Abo just east of Valencia County. These two books can be purchased from their website (geoinfo.nmt.edu) or when you visit the free spectacular mineral museum in Socorro (open weekends except holidays).

The 1987 Roadside Geology of New Mexico has been updated by Magdalena Sandoval Donahue and Lucy Chronic, with beautiful photographs of geologic landscapes and geologic maps of road segments crisscrossing our state. (Roadside Geology of New Mexico- Second Edition, 2024).

The geology of the Sandia Mountains is presented in detail with extensive graphics in “New Mexico’s Magnificent Sandias Mountain” (2023) by Dirk Van Hart, who also has a 2013 guidebook on the geologic and historic features along US-550 from Bernalillo to Bloomfield: “Old Forty-Four; A Historical and Geological Excursion Over New Mexico’s Old Route 44 (now Part of US-550)”.

A well-illustrated and informative book includes 60 must-visit geologic sites in our state: Nathalie Brandes’ “New Mexico Rocks! A guide to Geologic Sites in the Land of Enchantment” (2021). The geology of each site is described in detail with maps and photographs.

The geologic sites listed closest to Valencia County include San Lorenzo Canyon just north of Socorro, the Sandia Mountains and Petroglyphs near Albuquerque, and the salt deposits east of Mountainair.