Little Dragoon Mountains - Geology
Cochise College                                                                  
Geology of Southeastern Arizona
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Roger Weller, geology instructor

wellerr@cochise.edu    last edited:  10/10/07

Little Dragoon Mountains
Cochise County, Arizona

general geology

About 6000 feet of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks overlay the Precambrian rocks, forming the core of the Little Dragoon Mountains.  Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks are also represented in the area.  The granitic rock that forms much of the southeastern half of the Little Dragoons is named the Texas Canyon Quartz Monzonite.  The granitic rock weathers fairly rapidly to clay-sand.  Weathering takes place both at exposed surface and along joints and results in the smooth, rounded forms.  The Texas Canyon granite is believed to have invaded the Precambrian, Paleozoic, and Cenozoic rocks around 50 million years ago.  The forceful intrusion is thought to have caused folding and faulting in the region. 

The Dragoon area has yielded fairly large amounts of copper and zinc, moderate amounts of tungsten, and a little lead, silver, gold, and marble.  The principal ore deposits are in and near the Texas Canyon Granite. 

views

views of the Little Dragoons Mountains
 

references
published references on the geology of the Little Dragoon Mountains