The Sierra de Juárez, also known as the Sierra Juarez, is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

located in

Tecate Municipality Tecate is a municipality in the Mexican state of Baja California. Its municipal seat is located in the city of Tecate. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 108,440 inhabitants. The municipality has an area of 3,079.0 km² (1, ...

and northern

Ensenada Municipality The municipality ( es, link=no, municipio) of Ensenada is the fourth-largest municipality in Mexico with a land area of in 2020, about the same size as Hidalgo state and larger than five Mexican states. Located offshore, Cedros Island and G ...

, within the northern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

state of northwestern Mexico. It is a major mountain range in the long

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

System, that extends from

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

down the Baja California Peninsula into

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...

state.

Geography

The Sierra de Juárez begins just south of the international frontier with

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and extends about southwards. The highest peak in the range rises to about elevation at 31° 30′ 34″ North Latitude and 115° 32′ 5″ West Longitude. The

Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the i ...

(U.S.) are on the north, and the

Sierra de San Pedro Mártir Sierra de San Pedro Mártir ( Kiliwa: ʔxaal haq, en, mountains of Saint Peter the Martyr) is a mountain range located within southern Ensenada Municipality and southern Baja California state, of northwestern Mexico. It is a major mountain ran ...

(México) are on the south. The Sierra forms part of the Baja California

. According to the Mexican government agency, CONABIO, the Sierra de Juárez occupies a total area of approximately long and averaging about wide. On the east the Sierra de Juárez rises sharply from the desert valley containing the

Laguna Salada Fault The Laguna Salada Fault is a geological fault between the United States and Mexico. About long, it straddles the Imperial County-California–Baja California border. Earthquakes 1892 According to some seismologists the 1892 Laguna Salada ...

, a southern extension of the San Andres Fault. The western slope of the Sierra is more gentle."Sierra de Juárez", http://www.conabio.gob.mx/conocimiento/regionalizacion/doctos/rtp_012.pdf, accessed 4 Mar 2016 The range is the location of the southern tip of the

Great Basin Divide The Great Basin Divide in the western United States is the ridgeline that separates the Great Basin from the Pacific Ocean watershed, which completely surrounds it. The Great Basin is the largest set of contiguous endorheic watersheds of No ...

at a

triple watershed A triple divide or triple watershed is a point on the Earth's surface where three drainage basins meet. A triple divide results from the intersection of two drainage divides. Triple divides range from topographic prominence, prominent mountain ...

point of the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted fo ...

(northern), the Pacific Ocean (western), and

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...

(eastern) watersheds. A portion of the Sierra de Juárez is protected within

Constitution 1857 National Park Constitution 1857 National Park is located in the pine forests of the Sierra de Juárez mountain range in the northern part of Baja California, Mexico. The park is an important preserve for many native wild animals like bighorn sheep and mule d ...

, approximately east of Ensenada.Bajaquest.com: Constitution 1857 National Park
/ref> The scenic Laguna Hanson, an important stopover for

migratory bird Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting b ...

s, and the endemic pine-oak forests

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

are within the park.

Ecology

The lower elevations of the western slopes of the Sierra de Juárez are in the California coastal sage and chaparral sub−ecoregion of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. The lower elevations of the eastern slopes are in the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Ariz ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

, with its unique desert flora. The California Fan Palm (''Washingtonia filifera'') is near the southern natural limit of its range in the Sierra de Juárez. The higher elevations of the Sierra de Juárez, with those of the

Sierra San Pedro Mártir Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and " saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain rang ...

, are in the

Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir pine-oak forests Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range ...

. Pine species include

Jeffrey pine ''Pinus jeffreyi'', also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja Califo ...

(''Pinus jeffreyi''), Parry Piñon pine (''Pinus monophylla''),

lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...

(''Pinus contorta''),

sugar pine ''Pinus lambertiana'' (commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine) is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name ''lambertiana'' was given by the Scottish botanist David Douglas, ...

(''Pinus lambertini''). Other evergreen species include

white fir ''Abies concolor'', the white fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Cascade Range and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges ...

(''Abies concolor'') and incense cedar (''Calocedrus decurrens'').

Sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an al ...

(''Artemisia tridentata'') is a common shrub of the understory. The coniferous forests of the two mountain ranges comprise a

Sky island Sky islands are isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. The term originally referred to those found on the Mexican Plateau, and has extended to similarly isolated high-elevation forests. The isolation has s ...

--an elevated temperate forest surrounded by lower, more arid lands."Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir pine-oak forests", World Wildlife Fund, https://web.archive.org/web/20100308052316/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0526.html, accessed 5 Mar 2016

Climate

The western flank of the range lies at the southeastern extremity of the

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

region, that extends across much of

and into northwestern Baja California. CONABIO lists the climates (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

) of the Sierra de Juarez as consisting of 30 percent desert (BW), 7 percent

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...

(BS), 27 percent mesothermal with precipitation evenly distributed (Cfa, Cfb) throughout the year, and 36 percent Mediterranean (Csa, Csb) with precipitation concentrated in the winter months. The Laguna Hanson weather station has a Csb climate (warm summers, cool winters, precipitation distributed throughout the year), although the climate at this location verges on being Mediterranean with mostly dry summers. In general, as in most mountain ranges, the lower elevations receive less precipitation and the higher elevations receive more precipitation.

References

* C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''California Fan Palm: Washingtonia filifera.''
GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sierra de Juarez Juarez Peninsular Ranges Geography of Ensenada Municipality Tecate Municipality Important Bird Areas of Mexico

Geography

Ecology

Climate

See also

References