Aden Crater is a small shield volcano located in Doña Ana County, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

[4][5] A fossilized ground sloth,[6] now at the Peabody Museum, was found in a fumarole roughly 100' deep located on the SE portion of the crater rim.

[9] Aden Crater is an Icelandic-type shield volcano,[10] formed by repeated eruptions of very fluid olivine basalt.

[3] The Potrillo volcanic field is located within the Rio Grande rift, where the Earth's crust is being stretched and thinned.

The rift is characterized by deep sedimentary basins, recent faulting and volcanic activity, and unusually high heat flow upwards from the Earth's mantle.