• overview of Long House

    Bandelier

    National Monument New Mexico

  • Access to Frijoles Canyon Will Be Limited

    Starting June 1, 2012 all access to the most visited part of the park, Frijoles Canyon, will be via a shuttle bus from the nearby community of White Rock. This is to alleviate a parking shortage created by the Las Conchas Fire. More details to follow.

Bandelier Geology

volcanic map of new mexico

Volcanic map of New Mexico

"Our ancestors knew how to shape these volcanic rocks into arrowheads, axe heads, corn grinding tools, and homes." – Affiliated Pueblo Committee

The geology of the Pajarito Plateau shaped the lives of the people who inhabited this landscape. The dramatic cliffs of Frijoles Canyon were created from the ash of massive volcanic eruptions.

 
valles caldera

photo by sally king

Just a portion of the Valles Caldera can be seen from State Highway 4.

Massive Eruptions
In New Mexico more than one million years ago, huge volcanic explosions rained ash and cinders over a 1500 square mile area. Some ash traveled as far as the Mississippi River. After the volcano emptied its magma chamber, it collapsed into itself, leaving a circular depression called a caldera. Bandelier is located on the outer slope of this caldera, known today as the Valles Caldera.

 
tuff

photo by sally king

Consolidated volcanic ash forms a rock known as tuff.

From Ash to Tuff
During the eruptions that formed the Valles Caldera, ash flows up to 1,000 feet thick covered the landscape from the caldera rim to the Rio Grande. As the hot ash cooled, it welded into a rock called tuff. Bandelier is located on this broad, sloping layer of tuff called the Pajarito Plateau.
 
home made from tuff

photo by sally king

Homes were made from the volcanic tuff.

From Tuff to Homes
Tuff is very light and soft. Over time, wind and water gradually eroded away softer areas of tuff, creating holes in the exposed canyon faces. The Ancestral Pueblo people used these to their advantage. With hand tools, they enlarged and shaped cliff openings into useful shelters called cavates (CAVE-eights). They used tuff blocks to build apartment-like homes along the cliff faces in front of the cavates.

Did You Know?

Pinon cone with nuts

Pinon nuts are rich in vitamins, flavor, and calories (3,000 per pound).  Although produced in abundance only every 7 to 10 years, these nuts were a valuable native food source for the Ancestral Pueblo people. More...