In the morning, we will travel about 15 miles southeast of Santa Fe to examine the relation between the intrusions forming the Cerrillos Hills and their contacts with the smectite-rich Mancos Shale. We will also consider the economic and social aspects of these intrusions that have produced turquoise from at least 600 BCE as well as lead, zinc, and silver. In the afternoon, we will travel north to the Española Basin to examine ash beds that are units of the Santa Fe Group, ashes from explosive volcanism in the Jemez Mountains immediately to the west. Here we will puzzle our way through alteration of the volcanic ashes to clay minerals and zeolites, which seems to be releasing U into the local groundwaters as uranyl carbonates with values ranging from less than 1 µg/L to as high as 1820 µg/L. As for the general geology of this area, the Cerrillos Hills are part of a string of intrusions that make a boundary between the Española Basin and the Albuquerque Basin. Both basins are members of a series of basins from the Upper Arkansas graben in central Colorado to the New Mexico-Texas border. These basins, which collectively form the Rio Grande rift, are filled mostly with Miocene sediments. They were initially isolated and drained internally until the basins relatively recently (~1 Ma) cut through the divides and established a through-going drainage. If you would like to learn more: Chapin and Cather (1994) Tectonic Setting of the Axial Basins of the Northern and Central Rio Grande Rift; in Keller and Cather, editors, Basins of the Rio Grande Rift. Geological Society of America Special Paper 291, pp. 5-25.

Tuesday June 5, 2007
Harding Pegmatite and Adobe Demo
Half-day field trip (lunch included)
Cost: $50 (Limited to 65 participants)
Meeting Location: In front of La Fonda on San Francisco Street just west of hotel parking garage
Meeting Time: 7:30 AM

This morning field trip will focus on the famous Harding pegmatite mine on the west slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, just south of Taos. At one time this pegmatite was the primary source of beryllium for the United States. The Earth and Planetary Sciences Department of the University of New Mexico, to whom the mine belongs, welcomes you to take a modest amount of sample. The host rock for the pegmatite is a micaceous schist that weathers to a micaceous clay, and is often used by some of the Pueblo potters. Depending on conditions, samples of this clay may be available. We have arranged a demonstration of the production of adobe bricks, a building material introduced to the Spanish by the Moors from northern Africa and then introduced to the Pueblo people by the Spanish. We will travel one way through small northern New Mexican villages settled in the 17th century as part of the Spanish empire: Chimayó, Truchas (where Robert Redford's film, The Milagro Beanfield War, was made), Chamisal, Peñasco, Dixon, Embudo, and return along the Rio Grande. If time allows, we will stop at one of New Mexico's wineries.

Thursday June 7, 2007
Cerrillos Hills and Española Basin
Full-day field trip (lunch and snacks included)
Cost: $65 (Limited to 65 participants)
Meeting Location: In front of La Fonda on San Francisco Street just west of hotel parking garage
Meeting Time: 7:30 AM

Repeat of field trip on Saturday June 2 (see description above).

You will explore Bandelier National Monument with optional hiking along a one-mile trail to see ancient Native American ruins and climb up to cliff dwellings. A picnic lunch at a Los Alamos park is included. You will also visit two museums in Los Alamos: the Los Alamos Historical Museum and the Bradbury Science Museum, focusing on the Manhattan Project and current science initiatives in the Los Alamos National Laboratory. We will leave at 9:00 AM from La Fonda and return to the hotel by 5:00 PM. This trip will be lead by Shelley Roberts, who was born and raised in Los Alamos.

Wednesday June 6, 2007
Taos area
Full-day field trip
Cost: $35 (Limited to 45 participants)
Meeting Location: In front of La Fonda on San Francisco Street just west of hotel parking garage
Meeting Time: 9:00 AM

This trip will take us to Taos by a scenic route and return by another. We will leave from La Fonda at 9:00 AM and return to the hotel by about 5:00 PM. In between, we hope to visit the Taos Pueblo which has no regular schedule, so we will take our chances. There are many art galleries and shops, and the Kit Carson Museum, to be seen in Taos proper. We will visit the Sanctuario de Chimayo, the Ortega Weavers in Chimayo, pass through Truchas (which provided the background for Robert Redford's movie The Milagro Beanfield War), and perhaps visit one of New Mexico's wineries. Individual camera permits for visiting the scenic Taos Pueblo are $5 (not included in trip costs). Lunch in Taos will be on your own.

• Walking tours of Santa Fe [ Tour One and Tour Two ]
• Museum Hill in Santa Fe
• Valles Grande, Jemez Springs, and Jemez Pueblo
• Ojo Caliente Hot Springs
• Ghost Ranch and Georgia OíKeeffe country
• Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
• Cerrillos, Madrid, and the Turquoise Highway
• Albuquerque, Sandia Peak Tram, Old Town, International Balloon Museum
• Acoma Pueblo