Hiking Itineraries Landscapes Maps. Site Map Photography Whats New? All New Mexico Locations The largest artificial lake in New Mexico, in arid surroundings along the Rio Grande; a major year-round center for recreation, principally fishing, water skiing, boating, swimming and camping. Truth Or Consequences , 5 miles. New Mexico State Parks. Evidence of the Rex, the largest land-dwelling predator of all time, and other species of dinosaur have been discovered in area rock formations.
Although fossils of the stegomastodon a primitive relative of today's elephant have been discovered just west of the reservoir, the area was not named for its former and formidable inhabitants, the name "Elephant Butte" was derived from the eroded core of an ancient volcano, now an island in the reservoir, in the shape of an elephant. View the guide online, or request to have one sent to you. New Mexico Map. Your Trip 5.
Places To Visit. Top Cities. Santa Fe. Las Cruces. Los Alamos. Las Vegas. Silver City. Truth or Consequences. North Central. Native Culture. Native American Museums. Reopenings Within Native Communities. Ghost Towns. Scenic Byways. Elephant Butte Dam can now store 2,, acre-feet of water An acre foot is equal to , gallons. The dam is considered a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, primarily because the construction of this dam marked the first civil engineering project designed for international distribution of water.
In addition, the dam is set into steeply dipping and highly fractured Cretaceous rocks, which do not serve as an ideal foundation for a dam. Clever engineering and a large amount of grout were need to stabilize the footing for the dam Lozinsky et al. Caballo Dam, located approximately 22 miles downstream of Elephant Butte Dam, was completed in to control water releases from Elephant Butte Reservoir. Both Caballo and Elephant Butte Reservoirs are integral parts of the water storage system along the Rio Grande and its tributaries needed to deliver a relatively predictable water supply to southern New Mexico, West Texas, and Mexico.
Water released during power generation at Elephant Butte Dam is stored downstream in Caballo Reservoir. Elephant Butte Dam now generates electricity primarily during the irrigation season mid-March to mid-October.
Any water released from Elephant Butte Dam in the winter for power generation is stored at Caballo Dam for irrigation use in the summer.
The park is in a portion of New Mexico that has been affected by compression, regional volcanism, and extension during the last 70 million years Lozinsky et al. First, Laramide compression associated with a subduction zone along the west coast of North America formed west-northwest to north-south trending basement uplifts bounded by high-angle reverse faults and low-angle thrust faults Nelson, ; Seager and Mack, , Harrison and Cather, Following Laramide deformation, regional latest Eocene to Oligocene 36 to 27 million years ago volcanism from the Mogollon-Datil volcanic field Figure 5 and other volcanic centers blanketed large portions of southern New Mexico with layers of ash-flow tuff and basalt flows.
The distribution of the tuff indicates that topographic relief during middle Oligocene time was not as large as it is today. Volcanism was followed by, and was in part coeval with, extension starting about 36 million years ago, leading to the development of the Rio Grande rift.
The most prominent features are the Fra Cristobal Mountains to the east of the lake Figure 6 and the northern Caballo Mountains to the south. Four episodes of mountain building, several major cycles of the rise and fall of warm tropical seas, and a remnants of young volcanic eruptions are preserved in the rocks around Elephant Butte Lake. Most of the land outside of the state park around Elephant Butte Lake is private land; please obtain permission before entering private property.
The oldest exposed rocks in the Elephant Butte area are located in scattered outcrops on the west side of the Fra Cristobal Mountains and include chlorite schist, amphibolite, and metamorphosed intermediate composition plutonic rocks that are more than 1.
In Proterozoic time, these rocks were originally shale, basalt, and diorite. The combined effects of high pressures and temperatures eventually changed the shale and basalt into schist and amphibolite, respectively.
Later, while still deeply buried, the metamorphic rocks were intruded by granitic magma about 1. Granitic rocks are the most common Proterozoic rock on the northwest side of the Fra Cristobal range Figure 8. These rocks are gneissic foliated in places, indicating mild deformation at about 1. Subsequent uplift and erosion brought these ancient rocks toward the Earth's surface where they weathered down to form a relatively flat platform by about million years ago, when the Cambrian Bliss Sandstone was deposited on the old rocks.
No record of the geologic events that may have occurred between and a gap of million years! A shallow ocean covered the Elephant Butte region starting about million years ago.
The Bliss Sandstone forms a distinctive dark band that can be seen at low elevation on the west side of the Fra Cristobal Mountains. See also: Day Passes. None Read More Details. Park Contact Information. Status: Open year round. Alerts and Important Information. New Mexico is beginning our Outdoor Recreation Plan and needs your input! The plan will: Address the state and nation's outdoor recreation trends and their economic impacts Inventory the state's resources and address how best to protect them Help determine the state's priorities for awarding federal funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund We need input from every corner of the state to make sure all resources are included and all voices are heard!
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