The Mesa de Maya is a prominent volcanic tableland rising 500 feet (150 m) to 1,200 feet (370 m) above the Great Plains in southeastern Colorado. A narrow finger of the mesa extends eastward through the northeastern corner of New Mexico and a few miles into Oklahoma where it is known as the Black Mesa. The elevation of the Mesa de Maya ranges from 4,800 feet (1,500 m) at its easternmost extension to 6,902 feet (2,104 m) in the west.[1]
The high mesas eastward from Raton, New Mexico and Trinidad, Colorado are sometimes collectively called the Mesa de Maya, Raton Mesas, or the Raton mesa region. All the mesas are volcanic in origin caused by lava flows which solidified into basalt. Over time the softer sedimentary rock surrounding the basalt eroded leaving several distinct large elevated tablelands with precipitous sides which include the Mesa de Maya.[2]