Latitude: 36°41'18"N
Longitude: 108°50'11"W
Shiprock, located approx. 12 miles southwest of the town of Shiprock, New Mexico, is what is known as a diatreme made up of the rock type minette, which is composed fractured volcanic breccia and mafic dykes. The formation is the erosional remnant of the throat of a volcano. Shiprock rises approx. 1,580 feet above the high desert plains that surround it; however, the exposed rock seen today was originally formed 2,500 to 3,000 feet below the surface and exposed after several million years of erosion. Radiometric dating on Shiprock has provided a solidification age of the rock at approx. 27 million years ago. It is one of the oldest features of the Navajo Volcanic Field where several other prominent diatremes and minette flows dot the area.
It should also be pointed out that Shiprock is located on the Navajo Nation, and access is strictly forbidden as the Navajo People consider Shiprock a religious and sacred monument and therefore, do not like it when non-Navajo Peoples are caught driving around the base or attempting to rockclimb Shiprock.
References
New Mexico GeologicalSociety Guidebook, 54th Field Conference, Geology of the Zuni Plateau, 2003, pp. 133-138.
Delaney, Paul T. 1987. Ship Rock, New Mexico: The vent of a violent volcanic eruption. Geological Society of America Centennial Field Guide -- Rocky Mountain Section. p 411-415.
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