Cabezon Peak

Cabezon Peak is a large volcanic plug that is a prominent feature in northwestern New Mexico. It rises to 7,785 feet (2,373 meters) in elevation, and nearly 2,000 feet above the floor of the Rio Puerco Valley. Cabezon Peak is two miles south of the old ghost town of Cabezon and the Rio Puerco. This volcanic neck is formed of basalt and is part of the Mount Taylor volcanic field. A volcanic neck or plug is formed when magma from an existing volcano solidifies in the pipe or neck and the surrounding sediment is eroded away. Marine Cretaceous rocks of the Mancos Shale and Point Lookout Sandstone are exposed around the base of Cabezon Peak.

Cabezon means “big head” in Spanish. This stems from a Navajo myth which holds that it is the head of the giant Ye’i-tsoh after being slain by the twins Nayenezgani and To’badzistsini. The first geologist to study Cabezon Peak was likely Clarence E. Dutton, who also photographed the peak in 1884–1885. Further studies were carried out by Douglas Wilson Johnson in 1907 and C.B. Hunt in 1938. All identified the peak as an exhumed volcanic neck.

Mesa Prieta is south of Cabezon Peak.