How old are the Carrizozo Malpais?

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The Carrizozo Malpais have been recently dated, using cosmogenic techniques, at around 5000 yrs old (Dunbar, 1999). This age is quite a bit older than previous estimates of around 1,500 yrs that were based on observations of the appearance of the flow surface (Allen, 1958). For more detailed information on the age of the Carrizozo lava flows, see the Geochronology portion of this webpage.