The Arizona transition zone is a diagonal northwest-by-southeast region across central

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. The region is a transition from the higher-elevation

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within w ...

in Northeast Arizona and the Basin and Range region of lower-elevation deserts in the southwest and south. Northwest

transitions to the lower elevation

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

of southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

and

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, with an indicator species of

Joshua tree ''Yucca brevifolia'' (also known as the Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca) is a plant species belonging to the genus '' Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names. This monocotyledonous tre ...

s and other species, and southwestwards regions of the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

, along the Lower Colorado River Valley; in Arizona's south, all of central and eastern desert Sonoran Desert regions merge southwards into

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The transition zone includes the

Mogollon Rim The Mogollon Rim ( or or ) is a topography, topographical and geological feature cutting across Northern Arizona, the northern half of the U.S. state of Arizona. It extends approximately , starting in northern Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapa ...

and the White Mountains and extends into western

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. In the Arizona ecoregion section, the Arizona transition zone is the major section of the EPA designated, Level III ecoregion, '' Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion''. The other two outlier subregions to the transition zone in Arizona, are the Kaibab Plateau of the North Rim of the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

, and associated ranges of the

Chuska Mountains '' The Chuska Mountains () are an elongate range on the southwest Colorado Plateau and within the Navajo Nation whose highest elevations approach 10,000 feet. The range is about 80 by 15 km (50 by 10 miles). It trends north-northwest and is c ...

region of the northeast Arizona and northwest

Geography

The ''transition zone'' is dominated by the Mogollon Plateau at the southern edge of the

Coconino Plateau The Coconino Plateau is found south of the Grand Canyon and north-northwest of Flagstaff, in northern Arizona of the Southwestern United States. Geography The Coconino Plateau lies south of Grand Canyon Village and the South Rim of the Grand ...

of the Flagstaff region and the

San Francisco volcanic field The San Francisco volcanic field is an area of volcanoes in northern Arizona, north of Flagstaff, US. The field covers 1,800 square miles (4,700 km2) of the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau. The field contains 600 volcanoes rangi ...

; the

borders the plateau which extends from Oak Creek Canyon on the west, to the east at the highest elevations of Arizona in the central and western White Mountains.

List of mountain ranges of the Arizona transition zone

The Arizona transition zone map is similar to the yellow transition region shown above.Luchhitta, 2001. Hiking Arizona's Geology, Part 2, "Map Graphic": ''Arizona Transition Zone'', pp. 143–145. (and Hikes: 18–26, pp. 145–182)

Central mountain ranges

* Black Hills (Yavapai County) * Dripping Spring Mountains (for Dripping Spring Quartzite) * Limestone Hills * Mazatzal Mountains * New River Mountains * Sierra Ancha *

Superstition Mountains The Superstition Mountains () is a range of mountains in Arizona located to the east of the Phoenix metropolitan area. They are anchored by Superstition Mountain, a large mountain that is a popular recreation destination for residents of the ...

* Usery Mountains

Western region ranges

* Aquarius Mountains * Black Hills (Yavapai County) * Black Mountains (Yavapai County) * Bradshaw Mountains * Cottonwood Mountains * Date Creek Mountains * Hieroglyphic Mountains * Juniper Mountains * McCloud Mountains * Mohon Mountains * Music Mountains * Peacock Mountains * Poachie Range ** ( Alamo Lake, Aguila Valley) * Santa Maria Mountains * Sierra Prieta * Sullivan Buttes * Vulture Mountains * Weaver Mountains

Eastern region ranges

* Big Lue Mountains * Black Hills (Greenlee County) * Blackjack Mountains, Arizona *

Gila Mountains (Graham County) The Gila Mountains of Graham County are a mountain range in central-east Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western ...

* Hayes Mountains * Mescal Mountains * Natanes Mountains * Pinal Mountains * Salt River Mountains (Gila County) * Santa Teresa Mountains * Sevenmile Mountains, Arizona * Sierra Aguilada–(New Mexico) * White Mountains–(central-southern regions)

References