The Tonopah Desert is a small
desert
A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...
plain
In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...
s region 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 ...
, located west of
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
. It is adjacent north of Interstate 10 and lies at the southwest intersection of the
Hassayampa River with the
Gila River
The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...
. The Tonopah Desert is also just north of the
Gila Bend Mountains massif
A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...
which create the
Gila Bend of the river.
The Tonopah Desert is adjacent northwest of the small Palo Verde Hills on Centennial Wash.
Description
The Tonopah Desert is mostly east-west trending, small, approximately 30 mi long, and lies at the plains of low elevation mountains north; the
Belmont Mountains are northeast with the
Hummingbird Springs Wilderness in its north-northwest. It borders the 'low elevation mountain valley' with the
Big Horn Mountains to the west. The
Big Horn Mountains Wilderness comprise most of the Big Horns. The desert is bordered east by other mountain foothills on the west border of the Hassayampa River.
The Tonopah Desert also lies between two plains: the narrow southeast ridgeline of the Belmont Mountains and the
Hassayampa Plain are northeast. The west and southwest of the Tonopah Desert is connected to the southeast section of the large
Harquahala Plain, northwest-southeast trending, the same lineage as the
Centennial
A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century.
Notable events
Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include:
* Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...
and
Bouse Washes which drain the named plains, mountains, and the desert, (about twenty landforms in the region).
The closest city to the Tonopah Desert is
Tonopah, Arizona
Tonopah is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in western Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, west of downtown Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix off Intersta ...
, located in the center-southwest of the region, elevation .
Access routes and the region
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
passes east-southeasterly through the south border of the Tonopah Desert; Tonopah, AZ is at the west on I-10. South of the Interstate, and only 5 mi due-southwest of Tonopah is
Wintersburg, Arizona, the site of the
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station
The Palo Verde Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located near Tonopah, Arizona about west of downtown Phoenix. Palo Verde generates the most electricity of any power plant in the United States per year, and is the largest power pl ...
.
From Interstate 10, unimproved roads go north into the desert, namely 355th Ave (west); the
Sun Valley Parkway is just east going to areas of northwest Phoenix–Glendale.
Environment
The area include
Hummingbird Springs Wilderness and due to overdrawing of the water table, environmental recharge projects are being made to protect the Tonopah
Aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...
, and to reverse the effects of water overuse. The project now in place is a
Central Arizona Project
The Central Arizona Project (CAP) is a 336 mi (541 km) diversion canal in Arizona in the southern United States.
The aqueduct diverts water from the Colorado River at the Bill Williams Wildlife Refuge south portion of Lake Havasu n ...
, the Tonopah Desert Recharge Project in the Lower Hassayampa Basin.
TDRP, recharge project, M&A write-up
The project started construction of 19 basins in 2004; it became operational in 2006.
See also
* Groundwater recharge
Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in ...
References
External links
TDRP, recharge project, M&A write-up
Tonopah, Arizona Community Profile / Maricopa County
{{Authority control
Sonoran Desert
Deserts of Arizona
Plains of Arizona
Landforms of Maricopa County, Arizona