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Sonoran Desert

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Sonoran Desert



 
 
The Sonoran Desert (sometimes called the Gila Desert after the Gila River
Gila River

The Gila River The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County, New Mexico on the western slopes of Continental Divide in the Black Range....
 or the Low Desert in opposition to the higher Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert , , locally referred to as the High Desert, occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, in the United States....
) is a North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n desert
Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
 which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. state
U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
s of Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
 and California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 and the Mexican states of Sonora
Sonora

Sonora is one of the 31 States of Mexico and is located in the northwest of the country....
 and Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
.






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Sonoran Desert Mountains
The Sonoran Desert (sometimes called the Gila Desert after the Gila River
Gila River

The Gila River The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County, New Mexico on the western slopes of Continental Divide in the Black Range....
 or the Low Desert in opposition to the higher Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert , , locally referred to as the High Desert, occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, in the United States....
) is a North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n desert
Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
 which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. state
U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
s of Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
 and California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 and the Mexican states of Sonora
Sonora

Sonora is one of the 31 States of Mexico and is located in the northwest of the country....
 and Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
. It is one of the largest and hottest deserts in North America, with an area of 311,000 km² (120,000 mi²
Square mile

The square mile is an Imperial system and US customary system of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one mile. It should not be confused with miles square, which refers to the number of miles on each side squared....
). The desert contains a variety of unique plants and animals, such as the saguaro
Saguaro

The Saguaro, pronounced "sah-wah-roh", is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexico political divisions of Mexico of Sonora and Baja California, and an extremely small area of California....
 cactus. On January 17, 2001, 2,008 km² (496,337 acre
Acre

The acre is a Units of measurement of area in a number of different systems, including the Imperial unit#Measures of area and United States customary units#Units of area systems....
s) of the Sonoran Desert was set aside as the Sonoran Desert National Monument
Sonoran Desert National Monument

Sonoran Desert National Monument is located south of Goodyear, Arizona and Buckeye, Arizona and east of Gila Bend, Arizona. Created by U.S. President proclamation on January 17, 2001, the 496,337 acre monument is managed by the U.S....
 for the purpose of enhancing resource protection.

Location

The Sonoran Desert wraps around the northern end of the Gulf of California
Gulf of California

The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexico mainland. It is bordered by the States of Mexico of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, and Sinaloa....
, from northeastern Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
 through southeastern California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 and southwestern Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
 to western Sonora
Sonora

Sonora is one of the 31 States of Mexico and is located in the northwest of the country....
. It is bounded on the west by the Peninsular Ranges
Peninsular Ranges

The Peninsular Ranges are a group of mountain ranges which stretch 1500 km from southern California in the United States to the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North America Coast Ranges that run along the Pacific Ocean coast from Alaska to Mexico....
, which separate it from the California chaparral and woodlands
California chaparral and woodlands

The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of central and southern California and northwestern Baja California , located on the west coast of North America....
 and Baja California desert
Baja California Desert

The Baja California desert is a Deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula....
 ecoregions of the Pacific slope. To the north, the Sonoran Desert transitions to the cold-winter Mojave
Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert , , locally referred to as the High Desert, occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, in the United States....
, Great Basin
Great Basin

The Great Basin is a large, arid region of the western United States. Its boundaries depend on how it is defined. Its most common definition is the contiguous drainage basin, roughly between the Wasatch Mountains, in Utah and the Sierra Nevada , that has no natural outlet to the sea....
, and Colorado Plateau
Colorado Plateau

The Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateau Province, is a United States physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States....
 deserts. To the east, the deserts transition to the coniferous
Temperate coniferous forests

Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial ecoregion biome found in temperate regions of the world with warm summers and cool winters and adequate rainfall to sustain a forest....
 Arizona Mountains forests and Sierra Madre
Sierra Madre

Sierra Madre may refer to one of several mountain ranges:*In Mexico:**Sierra Madre Occidental, a mountain range in northwestern Mexico and southern Arizona...
 Occidental forests
Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests

The Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests are a tropical and subtropical coniferous forests terrestrial ecoregion of the Sierra Madre Occidental range of Mexico and the southwestern United States....
 at higher elevations. The Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest marks the transition from the Sonoran Desert to the tropical dry forests of Sinaloa
Sinaloa

Sinaloa is one of the 31 mexican state of Mexico....
.

The desert's sub-regions include the Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert

The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of California and the northeastern portion of the Mexican state of Baja California....
 and Yuma Desert
Yuma Desert

The Yuma Desert is a lower-elevation section of the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States United States and the northwest of Mexico. It is in the Salton basin....
. In the 1957 publication, Vegetation of the Sonoran Desert, Forrest Shreve divided the Sonoran Desert into seven regions according to characteristic vegetation: Lower Colorado Valley, Arizona Upland, Plains of Sonora, Foothills of Sonora, Central Gulf Coast, Vizcaino Region, and Magdalena Region. (see An Overview of the Sonoran Desert, external link below). Many ecologists now consider Shreve's Vizcaino and Magdalena regions, which lie on the western side of the Baja California Peninsula, to be a separate ecoregion
Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecology and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or "ecozone". Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural community and species....
, the Baja California desert
Baja California Desert

The Baja California desert is a Deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula....
.

Ecology

The Sonoran Desert includes 60 mammal species, 350 bird species, 20 amphibian species, 100+ reptile species, 30 native fish species, and more than 2000 native plant species. The Sonoran Desert is considered the wettest desert in the world, receiving up to per year in some locations. The Sonoran Desert area southwest of Tucson and near the Mexican border is vital habitat for the only population of Jaguar
Jaguar

The jaguar, Panthera onca, is a New World Felidae and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the tiger, lion, and leopard of the Old World....
s living within the United States.

Flora

Many plants not only survive the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert, but they actually thrive. Many have evolved to have specialized adaptations to the desert climate. The Sonoran Desert's biseasonal rainfall pattern results in more plant species than in the other North America deserts. The Sonoran Desert includes such plants from the agave family, palm family, cactus family, legume family, and many others.

The Sonoran is the only place in the world where the famous saguaro cactus grows in the wild. Cholla
Cylindropuntia

Cylindropuntia is a genus of cacti , containing the chollas. They are also treated as a subgenus of Opuntia but are actually well distinct....
, beavertail
Opuntia basilaris

The Beavertail Cactus is found in Southwestern United States USA, mostly in the Mojave desert and Colorado Deserts, and also in northwest Mexico....
, hedgehog
Echinocereus

Echinocereus is a genus of ribbed, usually small to medium-sized cylindrical cactus, comprising about 70 species from the southern United States and Mexico in very sunny rocky places....
, fishhook
Ferocactus wislizeni

Ferocactus wislizeni, the Fishhook Barrel Cactus, also called Arizona Barrel Cactus, Candy Barrel Cactus, and Southwestern Barrel Cactus, is a cylinder barrel-shaped cactus....
, prickly pear
Opuntia

Opuntia, also known as nopales , or Paddle Cactus from the resemblance to the ball-and-paddle toy, is a genus in the cactus family , Cactaceae....
, night blooming cereus
Peniocereus

Peniocereus is a genus of vining cactus, comprising about 18 species, found from the southwestern United States and Mexico. They have a large underground tuber, thin and inconspicuous stems....
, and organ pipe are other species of cactus found here. Cactus provide food and homes to many desert mammals and birds, with showy flowers in reds, pinks, yellows, and whites blooming most commonly from late March through June, depending on the species and seasonal temperatures.

Creosote bush and bur sage
Ambrosia dumosa

Ambrosia dumosa, the burro-weed or white bursage, is a common constituent of the creosote-bush scrub community throughout the Mojave desert of California, Nevada, and Utah and the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northwestern Mexico....
 dominate valley floors. Indigo bush, Mormon tea, and mesquite
Mesquite

Mesquite is a legume plant of the Prosopis genus found in Northern Mexico and the United States from the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas up to southwestern Kansas and from southeastern California and southwestern Utah to the southern limits of the Sonoran desert....
 are other shrubs that may be found. Wildflowers include desert sand verbena
Abronia villosa

Abronia villosa is a species of Abronia known by the common name desert sand-verbena. It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico and the southern California and Baja coast....
, desert sunflower, and evening primroses. Ascending from the valley up bajadas, various subtrees such as palo verde, ironwood
Ironwood

Ironwood may refer to...
, desert willow
Chilopsis

Chilopsis is a genus of flowering plant, containing a single species, Chilopsis linearis. It is a small tree native to the Southwestern United States United States and Mexico....
, and crucifixion thorn are common, as well as multi-stemmed ocotillo
Ocotillo

The ocotillo is a curious and unique desert plant of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. For much of the year, the plant appears to be an arrangement of large spiny dead sticks, although closer examination reveals that the Plant stem are partly green....
. Shrubs found at higher elevations include whitethorn acacia, fairy duster, and jojoba
Jojoba

Jojoba , pronounced "ho-ho-b?", is a shrub native to the Sonoran and Mojave Desert deserts of Arizona, California, and Mexico. It is the sole species of the family Simmondsiaceae, and sometimes placed in the box family, Buxaceae....
. In the desert subdivisions found on Baja California, cardon cactus, elephant tree, and boojum tree occur. the California Fan Palm is also found in parts of the Sonoran Desert including areas of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

Human population

The Sonoran Desert is home to seventeen aboriginal American cultures.

The largest city in the Sonoran Desert is Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital and largest city in the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populous city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,552,259 residents, and is the anchor of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area with 4,179,427 residents....
, Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
, U.S.A.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, with a 2006 population of about four million. This metropolitan area in central Arizona is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States. In the North Phoenix area, desert is losing ground to development at a rate of approximately 4,000 m2 (1 acre
Acre

The acre is a Units of measurement of area in a number of different systems, including the Imperial unit#Measures of area and United States customary units#Units of area systems....
 ) per hour. The next largest cities are Tucson
Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix, Arizona and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border....
, in southern Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
, U.S.A.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, with a metro area population of around 900,000, and Mexicali
Mexicali

Mexicali is the capital of the States of Mexico of Baja California. Mexicali is also the seat of the Mexicali . Founded on March 14, 1903, Mexicali is situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to Calexico, California and is the northernmost city in Latin America, located at ....
, Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
, Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, whose municipality
Municipalities of Mexico

Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico. The internal political organization and their responsibilities are outlined in the 115th article of the Mexican Constitution and further expanded in the constitutions of the states to which they belong....
 also has a population of around 900,000. The municipality of Hermosillo
Hermosillo

Hermosillo, formerly named Sant?sima Trinidad del Pitic is the largest city and capital of the Mexico States of Mexico of Sonora, and is located in the center of the state, 167 miles from the border with the United States....
, Sonora
Sonora

Sonora is one of the 31 States of Mexico and is located in the northwest of the country....
, Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 has a population of around 700,000.

See also

  • List of deserts by area
    List of deserts by area

    This is a list of deserts in the world ordered by area. It includes all deserts with an area greater than 50 000 km? ....
  • List of plants by common name (Sonoran Desert)
    List of plants by common name (Sonoran Desert)

    This is a List of plants by common name , for the Sonoran Desert and local environs; The common names of plants often vary from region to region....
  • Communities in the Sonoran Desert
  • Fauna of the Sonoran Desert
  • Mountain Ranges of the Sonoran Desert
  • Sonoran Desert National Monument
    Sonoran Desert National Monument

    Sonoran Desert National Monument is located south of Goodyear, Arizona and Buckeye, Arizona and east of Gila Bend, Arizona. Created by U.S. President proclamation on January 17, 2001, the 496,337 acre monument is managed by the U.S....
  • Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
    Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert

    The Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert are a series of religious outposts established by Spain Roman Catholic Society of Jesus and other orders to spread the Christian doctrine among the local Native Americans , but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier lands of its colony of New Spain....
  • List of Sonoran Desert birds (Arizona)
    List of Sonoran Desert birds (Arizona)

    The following birdspecies are Endemic to the Sonoran Desert, and related areas. They are retrieved from the List of Arizona-SW birds , though not exclusively....
  • Yuma Desert
    Yuma Desert

    The Yuma Desert is a lower-elevation section of the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States United States and the northwest of Mexico. It is in the Salton basin....
  • Chihuahuan Desert
    Chihuahuan Desert

    The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border. On the United States side it occupies the valleys and basins of central and southern New Mexico, Texas west of the Pecos River and southeastern Arizona; south of the border, it covers the northern half of the Mexico Mexican state of Chihuahua , most of Coahuila, north-e...
  • Mojave Desert
    Mojave Desert

    The Mojave Desert , , locally referred to as the High Desert, occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, in the United States....


External links

  • , with map and photos


  • ()


Links to parks and recreational areas within the Sonoran Desert