Jemez Lineament


The Jemez Lineament is a chain of late Cenozoic volcanic fields, 600 km long, reaching from the Springerville and White Mountains volcanic fields in East-Central Arizona to the Raton-Clayton volcanic field in Northeastern New Mexico. It was long interpreted as a hot spot trace due to its resemblance in length and azimuth to the Yellowstone hot spot trace, but there is no systematic progression in age along the trace and it is now interpreted as a hydrous subduction zone scar, separating basement rock of the Yavapai-Mazatzal transition zone from the Mazaztl Province proper.

Volcano fields

The Jemez Lineament consists of the San Carlos volcanic field, Springerville volcanic field, Red Hill volcanic field, Zuni-Bandera volcanic field, Mount Taylor volcanic field, Jemez volcanic field and possibly the Ocate volcanic field, Raton-Clayton volcanic field, and Mesa de Maya. These are all young volcanic fields, showing some progression in age from southeast to northwest but no systematic progression in age along the Lineament.
The Lineament is interpreted as a hydrous subduction zone scar marking the southern boundary of the pre-1.70 GYa Yavapai basement. Seismic imaging shows both north- and south-dipping reflections that converge at the core-mantle boundary. There is also a Pb-isotopic boundary coincident with the Lineament. It is a zone of persistent crustal weakness.