Shiprock

Shiprock rises 483 m above the plain

Shiprock ( Diné Tsé Bit ' a'i, winged rock ) is the name of a rock formation in the northwest of the State of New Mexico. He is part of the Navajo Volcanic Field, a volcanic area, which extends in the Four Corners region of the states of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

The English name " Shiprock " means " ship rock " or " rock in the shape of a ship ." The shape is reminiscent of a 19th century clipper. The U.S. Geological Survey noted the rock in the 1870s under this name. Previously called him Captain J. F. McComb " The Needle " ("The Needle"). The Diné name " Tsé Bit ' a'i " means " rock in the shape of wings."

Location

The Shiprock rises 483 feet above a plain in the north-east the territory of the Navajo Nation, as well as in the northwest of San Juan County. The nearest major town is Farmington, about 60 kilometers to the east. The environment is a desert and steppe. The rock is named after the town of Shiprock.

Geology

Shiprock is composed of volcanic breccia and igneous dykes. He is a remnant of an eroded volcano chimney. From him go from Dykes open-minded in mainly three directions, branching out like walls into the surrounding landscape. The rock may have originated 750-1000 meters below the surface. Radiometric dating showed that the volcanic rocks solidified about 27 million years ago. The Colorado Plateau was raised in the Miocene epoch, about 16 million years relative to its surroundings and has since increasingly exposed to erosion. In this case, the surrounding rock was eroded, the Shiprock stopped as Härtling. Similarly, the belonging to the same volcanic field rocks El Capitan in neighboring Arizona has emerged.

The rocks of the rock are lamprophyres, mainly Minette. Monchiquit, Olivinischer leucite and Vogesit are also present, but much less frequently. The magma of the Navajo volcanic field had a particularly large gas content, which led to a major eruption energy. Therefore, the rocks of the chimney are often broken into breccias, often granite, gneiss and schist are incorporated as xenoliths in the rocks. Kimberlite occurs in other parts of the volcanic field, but not at Shiprock. The Dykes created in a second phase, penetrated as relatively gas- poor magma into columns and aisles. The differences can be clearly seen today. On the northeast side of the summit of the main rock you can see settlements that are well formed by falling back into the crater rocks.

From the height of the rock, one can derive a minimum level of existence at the time of the eruption the earth's surface and thus the erosion have occurred since then. Since a volcanic eruption of local type has formed with high probability a crater, the level must have its time more than 500 m located substantially above the present, due to the stratigraphy in the wider region a maximum of 2500 m were removed, as a plausible estimate are a total of 1000 m or less accepted.

Immediately north-east of the rock is the Rattle Snake -Oil Field, a deposit of petroleum. When it was discovered in 1924, it was the largest oil deposit in the world, it was acquired by a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company, the original discoverers and to a lesser extent the Navajo benefited from the Fund. Today, it is almost dry.

Religious and cultural significance

The distinctive rock formation is for the Navajo people of great religious and cultural significance. In their creation story Diné bahane ' was the Shiprock der Horst of the monster Tsé nináhálééh and his wife. The two winged creatures were among the mythological natural hazards, the only ' neizghání by Naayéé, had the monster slayer be slain before themselves as Diné ( people ) designating Navajo sure could inhabit the earth. The Monster Slayer spare the boy the two monsters out of them were eagle and owl.

According to another story, the Diné lived on the monolith and just left him to go to water and to operate agriculture. One day should be a bolt of lightning struck, which destroyed all access and only rugged, steep cliffs and needles left. The people who were at the time on the summit, were cut off from food supplies and starved. Diné not climb the rock, otherwise they would awaken the spirits of the dead. According to another story provides Shiprock, depending on the version of the medicine bag or sheet of a figure is, the lower extremities through the Carrizo Mountains and their residual body including head through the Chuska Mountains is formed. There are other stories about Shiprock.