The San Luis plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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San Luis’s center stands about 7,990 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 7,860 ft to 8,680 ft, a difference of 820 ft: hilly country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Culebra Peak, about 13,980 ft, 14 miles east-southeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Gravels and alluviums (gravel, unconsolidated), from the Pleistocene, less than 0.5 million years old.
The section below crosses 4 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 5×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Gravel, unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene, less than 0.5 million years old. About 9 mi of the line.
Siltstone, sandstone, conglomerate. Age: Miocene to Pliocene, 2.6 to 23 million years old. About 8 mi of the line.
Gneiss. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion years old. About 7 mi of the line.
Basalt. Age: Miocene to Pliocene, 2.6 to 23 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in San Luis reaches the Gulf of America by way of the Rito Seco, Culebra Creek and the Rio Grande: about 1,770 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Paz Ramirez Lake, Amistad Reservoir, Elephant Butte Reservoir and Caballo Reservoir.
760 miles of the trip are on the Rio Grande.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of San Luis; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
