Geococcyx californianus
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Doņa Ana County seat is Las Cruces, also the largest city in the county and
second-largest in New Mexico. Smaller towns in the county include Mesilla, Doņa
Ana, Hatch, and Organ. The county has a total area of 3,815 square miles. The
county contains a number of prominent geographical features, most notably the
Mesilla Valley (the flood plain of the Rio Grande river) going north to south
through the center and the Organ Mountains along the county's eastern edge.
Other mountain ranges in the county are the Robledo Mountains, Doņa Ana
Mountains, Sierra de las Uvas, the southern end of the San Andres Mountains,
East Potrillo Mountains, and West Potrillo Mountains, as well as two small,
isolated mountains, Tortugas Mountain on the east and Picacho Peak on the west
side of Las Cruces. The county also includes one of New Mexico's four large lava
fields, the Aden Malpais, and one of the world's largest maare volcanoes,
Kilbourne Hole. A huge bubble of steam was produced which blew out a large
crater. It was not necessary for the lava and magma to build up a mountainous
deposit. The crater is thought to be 80,000 years old.
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Yucca Flower
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