Nature
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Mitten Rock is a 6,557-foot volcanic summit on Navajo Nation land in northwestern New Mexico’s Four Corners region, rising about 900 feet above the surrounding high-desert plain southwest of Shiprock. Part of the northeastern Navajo Volcanic Field, it formed around 30 million years ago during the Oligocene and is one of the region’s major diatremes, created by explosive eruptions from deep underground. Its rock is felsic minette, an uncommon, higher-silica variety within this field. Known in Navajo as Tséłkǫ, meaning “Rock Is Fire,” it reflects the formation’s volcanic nature. Its runoff drains into Little Shiprock Wash in the San Juan River basin.
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New Mexico · United States