Franklin Mountains (Texas)

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Franklin Mountains
Range
South and North Franklin mountains, shown left to right, El Paso, Texas, as seen from Fort Bliss
Country	United States
States	Texas, New Mexico

Highest point	North Franklin Mountain
- elevation	7,192 ft (2,192 m)
- coordinates	31°54′10″N 106°29′36″W / 31.90278, -106.49333

Geology	Sedimentary, Igneous
Orogeny	Laramide orogeny
Period	Cretaceous

The Franklin Mountains of Texas are a small range (23 miles long, 3 miles wide) that extend from El Paso, Texas north into New Mexico. The Franklins were formed due to crustal extension related to the Cenozoic Rio Grande rift. Although the present topography of the range and adjoining basins is controlled by extension during rifting in the last 10 million years, faults within the range also record deformation during the Laramide orogeny, between 85 and 45 million years ago.

The highest peak is North Franklin Mountain at 7,192 feet (2,192 m). Much of the range is part of the Franklin Mountains State Park. The mountains are composed primarily of sedimentary rock with some igneous intrusions. Geologists refer to them as tilted-block fault mountains and in them can be found billion-year-old Precambrian rocks, the oldest in Texas.