New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

The Harding pegmatite, located in the western part of the Picuris Range about 30 km southwest of Taos, lies 7 km southeast of the Rio Grande Canyon at an altitude of 2260 m (sec. 29, T. 23 N., R. 11 E.) and is readily accessible from a nearby point on State Highway 75 about 10 km east of Dixon. The locality is unique because it has yielded commercial quantities of beryl, lepidolite, spodumene and microlite over a period of a half a century. It also has become a widely known source of handsome mineral specimens, a provocative locality for scientific studies and a mine noted for its spectacular exposures of pegmatite. In 1974, Dr. Arthur Montgomery approached the University of New Mexico with an offer to donate the property to the University so that it might be preserved as one of the State's unusual natural assets. Since that time, the University has leased the property from Dr. Montgomery until the transfer of title could be completed. During the past five years, the University has done the yearly assessment work, modified the mine to insure the safety of the public, retained a caretaker for the mine property, designed and completed a walking tour of the mine's surface workings, established museum and research collections of pegmatite specimens and supported faculty and students in research programs concerning the pegmatite. The Harding pegmatite is now an integral part of the teaching and research program of the University of New Mexico.

This paper is a brief summary of the work of students and faculty of the Geology Department at the University of New Mexico. A more extended discussion of this work may be found in the theses of Chakoumakos (microlite mineralogy, 1978), Cook (fluid inclusions, 1979) and Register (geochronology, 1979). For a detailed discussion of the geology, mineralogy and mining history of the Harding pegmatite see Jahns and Ewing (1976, 1977) and Brookins and others (1979).

References:

1. Brookins, D.G. and others, 1979, The Harding Pegmatite: Summary of Recent Research: New Mexico Geological Society-Guidebook, 30th Field Conference, Santa Fe Country, 1979, p. 127-133.
2. Jahns, R.H. and Ewing, R.C., 1976, The Harding mine, Taos County, New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, 27th Field Conference, Vermejo Park, 1976, p. 263-276.
3. Jahns, R.H. and Ewing, R.C., 1977, The Harding mine, Taos County, New Mexico: Mineralogical Record, v. 8, p. 115-126.