Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
Overview
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
(near Cochiti
Cochiti, New Mexico
Cochiti is a census-designated place in Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 528 at the 2010 census....
), is a Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
(BLM) managed site that was established as a U.S. National Monument
U.S. National Monument
A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...
by President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in January 2001 shortly before leaving office.
The area owes its remarkable geology to layers of volcanic rock and ash deposited by a volcanic explosion. Over time, weathering
Weathering
Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soils and minerals as well as artificial materials through contact with the Earth's atmosphere, biota and waters...
and erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
of these layers has created canyons and tent rock
Tent Rock
Tent Rock is a small nunatak shaped like a ridge tent, lying 1 nautical mile southwest of Thomas Rock and 7 nautical miles west of Ricker Hills in the Prince Albert Mountains, Oates Land. Mapped and descriptively named by the Southern Party of New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition ,...
s.
