Highest Elevation: 5676 feet (1730 m)

Summits: Little Black Peak

Summit Type: Cinder Cone

Summit Coordinates: 33.7845163 -105.9366579

Last Eruption: 5,000 years ago

Time Period: Holocene Epoch

Volcano Type: Rift

Volcanic Content: Basalt

Lava Flow Type: Pahoehoe

Nearest City: Carrizozo, NM

Range: 75 kilometers (47 miles) in south central NM

Access to Summit: Little Black Peak Wilderness Study Area.

Age: 5000 years old

The Malpais is a lava flow, which is four to six miles wide, 160 feet thick and covers 125 square miles. The lava flow is considered to be one of the youngest lava flows in the continental United States.

This large lava flow is just four miles west of Carrizozo, New Mexico, on the northern part of the Tularosa Basin between Sierra Blanca Peak to the southeast and the Oscura Mountains to the west. The lava making up the flow came from Little Black Peak, located about ten miles north-northwest of Carrizozo. Little Black Peat erupted and flowed 44 miles into the Tularosa Basin, filling the basin with molten rock.

The lava flow traveled south-southwest along the bottom of Tularosa Basin in two active flows. Initial age estimates ranged from 1,000 to 1,500 years ago, but recent cosmogenic dating techniques revealed the eruption date is 5200 ± 700 years ago. At their southern end, the lava flows are about 12 miles north of the dune fields of White Sands National Monument.

The high point on The Malpais, (also know as the Carrizozo volcanic field) is Little Black Peak. This is a cinder cone, which is a simple type of volcano made from congealed droplets and blobs of lava that erupted from a single vent. The Carrizozo lava flow originated from a shield volcano with a low, broad profile.

Little Black Peak, the primary source of the surrounding lava flow, is the only feature rising significantly above the surrounding flat plain. It stands about 90 feet above the surrounding area and has several lava tubes near by.

Access to Little Black Peak is from US Highway 380, 4.5 miles west of Carrizozo. There are several pullouts on U.S. 380 from which you may hike northeast onto the lava flow.

The Malpais, or Carrizozo volcanic field is a part of the greater Rio Grande Rift, a region of the Earth′s crust that is being slowly pulled apart.

The flora in this ecosystem is typical of the Chihuahuan Desert and characterized with bae grass, banana yucca, cholla, creosote, hedgehog cactus, mesquite, prickly pear cactus, sotol, walking stick cholla and several from the lily family.

The fauna in the Malpais include; cottontail rabbits, dark skinned lizards, road runners, quail, gnatcatchers, towhees, cactus wrens, and sparrows

My visit here on 29 October 2021 inspired me to do a little research about this volcano located within the Tularosa Basin in south central New Mexico. The volcano is known by the Carrizozo Volcanic Field, but is also known as the Carrizozo Malpais, or just The Malpais.

Little Black Peak, at elevaton 5676 feet, stands less than a hundred feet above the surrounding Carrizozo Volcanic Field but exists as the high point of the entire Carrizozo Volcanic Field. However, what amazes me most, is that this small peak is the source of the entire Carrizozo Volcanic Field.

How large is this volcanic field? The Carrizozo volcanic field is 4.3 cubic kilometers of lava, which is more than one cubic mile (1.03162 cubic mile).

Little Black Peak is a cinder cone now, but originated from a shield volcano which even earlier began as a fissure volcano, commonly called a fissure vent which is a linear volcanic crack in the ground through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive activity.

According to topozone.com (https://www.topozone.com/new-mexico/lincoln-nm/summit/little-black-peak/) the location of Little Black Peak is 33.7845163 -105.9366579. That puts this peak almost due north of my location and about seven and one quarter miles away.

All of the photos below were taken within the Valley of Fires Recreational Area campground from atop the campground Hill Top View Point. ¹

Arriving at the Valley of Fires RA, I find that campsite 13 is open so I choose this site, pay the fee and then set up camp.