Petroglyph National Monument

Black Volcano is an inactive volcano located near Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is part of the Albuquerque volcanic field. Black Volcano is located directly north of JA volcano. Black Volcano is the second of five volcanoes (traveling south to north) within the western boundary of Petroglyph National Monument. North of Black Volcano are Vulcan, Bond and Butte volcanoes. JA, Black, and Vulcan Volcanoes are located along a single fissure through which the lava erupted. The volcanoes are a rare example of a series of vents associated with a fissure eruption.The volcano is composed of a type of volcanic rock called olivine tholeiitic basalt. Radiometric dating indicates an age for this rock of about 156,000 years. The volcano consists of lava flows radiation from the summit, which has a small pyroclastic cone and a large filled crater. Several smaller craters, formed late in the eruption, are located on the summit and northeast flank of the volcano. Much of the pyroclastic cone was removed by mining of cinder by 1978.The northern part of the cone includes xenoliths, pieces of surrounding rock caught up in the eruption and carried to the surface. These are partially melted sandstone, likely of the Santa Fe Group sediments on which the volcano sits.

Vulcan, named after the Roman god of fire, is an inactive volcano on the West Mesa near Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is the largest of six volcanoes in the Albuquerque volcanic field within Petroglyph National Monument. Vulcan is a spatter cone volcano, formed primarily by lava fountains that were active in the central vent and in smaller vents on flanks of the cone. These flank vents formed the arches and caves seen today. It is believed to have last erupted around 150,000 years ago.

The Albuquerque volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field in the Albuquerque Basin in New Mexico, United States. It is located about 7 miles (11 km) west of the city of Albuquerque, and is contained within the borders of Petroglyph National Monument. The field was active from 190,000 to 155,000 years ago and includes lava flows, cinder cones, and spatter cones. The oldest lava flows cover about 23 square miles (60 km2). The cones are aligned and possibly formed above two roughly north-south trending fissures. Vulcan (also called J Volcano) is the highest feature. Its base is made of cinder, but the crater contains a lava dome that was cut by an explosive eruption.

JA Volcano is an inactive volcano located near Albuquerque, New Mexico. JA Volcano is the southernmost of 5 volcanoes in a 5-mile chain within the western boundary of Petroglyph National Monument.The volcano has been the site of repeated pranks: "Volcano “Erupts” But Fools No One—a 1950 newspaper headline declared. Nobody was fooled, apparently, because the same prank—piling tires on the side of a volcano and setting them on fire to simulate an eruption—had been tried in 1947 with much greater success (even causing a panic in the city). For years students from nearby St Joseph would paint a "J" on Vulcan Volcano, when the light is right it can still be seen." St. Joseph College was later named the University of Albuquerque. In 1950 the College of St. Joseph began its move into a newly built campus on the palisades along the Rio Grande below the volcano. The name was changed to the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande. In 1966, the institution changed its name again to the University of Albuquerque. Twenty years later, it closed its doors and became the campus of Pius X high school. The volcano is composed of a type of volcanic rock called olivine tholeiitic basalt. Radiometric dating indicates an age for this rock of about 156,000 years. The volcano consists of two flows with a spatter cone at the center. Late in the eruption, subterranean pressure bulged the surface beneath the cone, causing radial cracking that resulted in emplacement of dikes around the cone. A final explosion blew out the eastern rim of the cone.

The Volcano Ranch experiment was an array of particle detectors in Volcano Ranch, New Mexico, used to measure ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The array was built by John Linsley and Livio Scarsi in 1959. On February 22, 1962, Linsley observed an air shower at Volcano Ranch created by a primary particle with an energy greater than 1020 eV, the highest energy cosmic ray particle ever detected at the time. Linsley continued to operate Volcano Ranch until 1978, when it was closed due to lack of funding.

Double Eagle II Airport (ICAO: KAEG, FAA LID: AEG) is a public airport located seven miles (11 km) northwest of the central business district of Albuquerque, a city in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States. It is owned by the City of Albuquerque.Located on the far west side of the city, it is Albuquerque's second airport after Albuquerque International Sunport. Construction began in 1982, and the airport was named for the Double Eagle II balloon, the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman. Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Double Eagle II is assigned AEG by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA (which assigned AEG to Aek Godang Airport in Padang Sidempuan, Sumatra, Indonesia).General aviation, air ambulance, corporate flights, military flights, training flights, charter, and private make up approximately 80,000 annual operations. Utilicraft Aerospace Industries announced in 2005 that it had secured a major investment from the Navajo Nation to build Utilicraft FF-1080 cargo aircraft at Double Eagle II. The deal later fell apart and no planes were built, though the company continued to seek other funding.

The West Mesa is an elevated landmass lying west of the Rio Grande in the Albuquerque area, stretching from the Pajarito Mesa in the South Valley northward to Bernalillo in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The eastern edge of the West Mesa is defined by an escarpment that borders the Rio Grande floodplain. The West Mesa also serves as the easternmost extent of the Colorado Plateau in this region. The western edge of the mesa is the Rio Puerco near the Laguna Pueblo about 20 miles (32 km) west of Albuquerque. A large portion of the West Mesa is part of Petroglyph National Monument and is bisected by Interstate 40 and Historic Route 66. Atrisco Vista (previously named Paseo del Volcan) (NM 347) runs north-south on the West Mesa, connecting I-40/US-66 to Double Eagle II Airport. There are numerous subdivisions with new homes being built on the lower portion of the West Mesa as the City of Albuquerque continues to expand further to the west. Further west on the mesa are the mobile home communities of Pajarito, located to the south of I-40, and Lost Horizon, located about 1/2 mile north of I-40 and 3 miles west of the Paseo del Volcan interchange. The Bernalillo County Correctional Facility, Cerro Colorado Landfill, and the Sandia Motor Speedway are located on the West Mesa, several miles south of Interstate 40. The National Weather Service operates a WSR-88D NEXRAD radar site on the West Mesa near Double Eagle II Airport.

Volcano Vista High School (VVHS) is a public senior high school located on the West Mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico within the Albuquerque Public Schools District; 2014 enrollment is 2,300. The school opened in August 2007 to 9th grade students, adding 10th and 11th grades in August 2008, and 12th grade in August 2009. The first students graduated in May 2010. School colors are black, white and platinum and their mascot is the Hawks. The specific breed of hawk is cited to be a Redtail Hawk, as displayed in the school's main corridor.

Ladera Golf Course is a municipal golf facility in owned by the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is located on the West Mesa of Albuquerque and was opened in 1980.Ladera includes an 18-hole golf course, a 9-hole executive course, a driving range, practice putting greens, and four lakes.Measuring 7,107 yards from the longest tees, Ladera has the longest playing yardage of any municipal course in Albuquerque.

West Mesa High School (WMHS) is a public senior high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, located on the city's West Mesa. It is a part of the Albuquerque Public Schools. The school colors are scarlet, royal blue and white, and their mascot is the Mustang.

West Mesa Airport, also known as Western Air Express Airport, TWA Airport, or Cutter-Carr Airport, was an airport on the West Side of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, which was the city's main commercial aviation facility during the 1930s. It was built in 1929 by Western Air Express as a stop on the airline's Los Angeles–Kansas City route, with a hangar and passenger terminal added in 1930. It was the city's second airfield after the original Albuquerque Airport, which was used by a rival airline, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT). The two airlines merged in 1930 to form TWA, moving all of their operations to the West Mesa field. The merger gave TWA control of the nation's first coast-to-coast passenger airline route and allowed it to secure a lucrative federal airmail contract.West Mesa Airport provided commercial passenger service on TWA's Los Angeles–New York route, with direct flights to Los Angeles, Winslow, Arizona, and Amarillo, Texas. The airport was also served by the El Paso–Pueblo, Colorado route operated by Mid Continent Air Express (later Varney Speed Lines and then Continental Airlines). All commercial airline service moved to the new Albuquerque Municipal Airport when it opened in 1939. The unused West Mesa Airport was subsequently used as a nightclub and auto racing venue for a brief period before being leased to Cutter-Carr Flying Service in 1940. The airport remained in use for general aviation until the 1960s, last appearing on aeronautical charts in 1967. It was subsequently abandoned and razed. A section of runway 11 and some foundations were still visible until 2021. The airport was located about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Downtown Albuquerque, on the north side of Central Avenue at what is now Airport Drive. The airport had four unpaved runways arranged in the shape of an eight-pointed star, the longest of which was the 6,300-foot (1,900 m) runway 16/34. The main buildings were the 125-by-150-foot (38 by 46 m) hangar, which was designed to house two Fokker F-32 aircraft, and the Pueblo-style passenger terminal. When built, the location on the West Mesa was surrounded by empty desert, though it has mostly been filled in with new development since the airport closed.