The Rio Grande Rift is a north-trending continental rift zone. It separates the Colorado Plateau in the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. The rift extends from central Colorado in the north to the state of Chihuahua, Mexico in the south. The rift zone consists of four basins that have an average width of 50 kilometers. The rift can be observed on location at Rio Grande National Forest, White Sands National Monument, Santa Fe National Forest, and Cibola National Forest, among other locations.
The Rio Grande Rift has been an important site for humans for a long time, because it provides a N-S route that follows a major river, the Rio Grande river. The Rio Grande follows the course of the rift from southern Colorado to El Paso, where it turns southeast and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Important cities, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Española, El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez lie within the rift.
Read more about Rio Grande Rift: Geology, Geologic History
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