Chiricahua National Monument

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Chiricahua National Monument
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)

The Balanced Rock formation
Location Cochise County, Arizona, USA
Nearest city Willcox, AZ
Coordinates 32°00′20″N 109°21′24″W / 32.00569°N 109.35672°W / 32.00569; -109.35672Coordinates: 32°00′20″N 109°21′24″W / 32.00569°N 109.35672°W / 32.00569; -109.35672
Area 11,984 acres (4,850 ha)[1]
Created April 18, 1924 (1924-April-18)
Visitors 37,037 (in 2011)[2]
Governing body National Park Service

Chiricahua National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service located in the Chiricahua Mountains in southeast Arizona. It is famous for its extensive vertical rock formations. It was created on April 18, 1924. The national monument also preserves the Faraway Ranch, owned at one time by Swedish immigrants Neil and Emma Erickson.[3]

Geography

Stone columns are the most common formation in the monument

The monument is located approximately 36 miles (58 km) southeast of Willcox, Arizona. Geologists believe that it preserves the remains of an immense volcanic eruption that shook the region some 27 million years ago. The thick white-hot ash spewed forth from the nearby Turkey Creek Caldera, cooled and hardened into rhyolite tuff, laying down almost two thousand feet of dark volcanic ash and pumice, highly siliceous in nature, which eventually eroded into the natural features visible that we see at the monument today.[4]

In 2008, the Chiricahua National Monument Historic Designed Landscape, covering roughly 80% of the national monument, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[5]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chiricahua National Monument.
  1. ↑ "Listing of acreage as of December 31, 2011". Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-12-29. 
  2. ↑ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-12-29. 
  3. ↑ "Chiricahua National Monument: Nature & Science". National Park Service. Retrieved 2011-07-03. 
  4. ↑ "Geology Field Notes: Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona". National Park Service. Retrieved 2011-07-03. 
  5. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. 

External links


180° panoramic view captured in HDR in Chiricahua National Monument in S.E. Arizona
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