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Article: THE GEOLOGY & MINERALS OF Cerro de Mercado, Durango, MEXICO.
- Article from:
- Rocks & Minerals
- Article date:
- January 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cerro de Mercado, also known as Iron Mountain, Cerro Mercado, and Cerro del Mercado (Zubiria y Campo 1922a), lies within the northern outskirts of Durango City, capital of the state of Durango, Mexico (fig. 1). This legendary "mountain of iron" is an east-west-oriented, triangular-shaped ridge approximately 2 kilometers long, tapering eastward from its 1.5-kilometer-wide western base. This rugged mountain ranges from 100 to 150 meters in height above the surrounding alluvium-covered plains (figs. 2 and 3). Cerro de Mercado is composed of a series of massive iron oxide bodies occurring within a sequence of Tertiary rhyolitic volcanic rocks. It is renowned for gemmy ...