| Butler Valley | |
|---|---|
  Butler Valley Butler Valley in Arizona | |
| Length | 35 mi (56 km)SW x NE |
| Width | 9 mi (14 km) |
| Geography | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arizona |
| Regions | |
| County | La Paz |
| Borders on | |
| Coordinates | 33°56′02″N113°48′36″W / 33.934°N 113.810°W |
Butler Valley is a valley of the Maria fold and thrust belt in western Arizona, USA. It lies east of the Colorado River, and is south of the west-flowing Bill Williams River.
Butler Valley is one of the two valleys in a (major) three-mountain range, two-valley sequence. Other minor ranges are on the perimeters, but thirty landforms are part of the region. The valley drains southwesterly into the northwest flowing Bouse Wash Drainage. Cunningham Wash drains the valley southwest to meet with the Bouse. The valley also turns somewhat southwest to the north of the Harcuvar Mountains, where Cunningham Pass holds the 30-mile route, unimproved major access road to Alamo Lake State Park; the route traverses the Butler Valley in the northeast, then skirts the northeast of the Buckskins to meet the south side of Alamo Lake.
The northeast third of the valley drains northeast from a water divide, then north to Alamo Lake only 10 mi distant; Cunningham Wash drains to the southwest. At the northeast end of the Buckskin Mountains, a basin forms attached to Butler Valley on the valley's northeast, and with the Black Mountains (Yavapai County) bordered northeast; southeast is another up-drainage basin attached to the northeast of the McMullen Valley, the Aguila Valley to the southeast, and at the southwest of the small range, the Date Creek Mountains.
Butler Valley is sparsely populated, with the road to Alamo Lake being the only paved road. [1] The majority of Butler Valley is owned by the Arizona State Land Department. [2] More than 99% of the valley is owned by the state, held in trust for the support of public schools in the state. The valley is used as a reserve for groundwater, to store water from the Colorado River for Arizona. It holds more than 6 million acre-feet of water, and is strategically located near the Central Arizona Project. [3]
In 2022, The Arizona Republic reported that the state land department had handed over thousands of acres to a Saudi company called Fondamonte, and gave it permission to withdraw unlimited amounts of groundwater to grow alfalfa, which would be exported to Saudi Arabia. [3]
The major mountain ranges that are thrust northwesterly in the Maria fold and thrust belt region are, from north to south:
Some of the thirty landforms in the fold-and-thrust-belt listed in a circular path around these three ranges are:
The Mohave Valley is a valley located mostly on the east shore of the south-flowing Colorado River in northwest Arizona. The valley extends into California's San Bernardino County; the northern side of the valley extends into extreme southeast Clark County, Nevada. The main part of the valley lies in southwest Mohave County, Arizona and is at the intersection of the southeast Mojave and northwest Sonoran deserts.
The La Posa Plain is a wide, generally flat plain in western Arizona near the Colorado River and is on the west and northwest border of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. The plain lies to the east of the Colorado River Indian Reservation and east of the Dome Rock and Trigo Mountains. Quartzsite, Arizona, lies on the western part of the plain, which crosses both Interstate 10 and U.S. Route 95.
The Parker Valley is located along the Lower Colorado River within the Lower Colorado River Valley region, in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California.
The Dome Rock Mountains are a mountain range in southern La Paz County, Arizona. The range borders the Colorado River on the west and the Colorado River Indian Reservation on the northwest located in the Lower Colorado River Valley. Quartzsite, Arizona lies on the eastern foothills of the range.
Tyson Wash is one of the larger eastern-bank dry washes that enter the Colorado River in western Arizona. It drains the La Posa Plain south-to-north and is also coincident with the Plain's southern two thirds.
The Sacramento Wash is a major drainage of northwest Arizona in Mohave County. The wash is east of the Black Canyon of the Colorado and drains into the south-flowing Colorado River 45 mi south of Lake Mohave, and 90 mi south of Hoover Dam at Lake Mead. The wash outfall is in the center-south of the Havasu-Mohave Lakes Watershed. An equivalent wash drains to the west of the Colorado River and the Black Canyon, draining southeast Nevada and a small part of California, the Piute Wash of the Piute Valley. The Piute Wash outfall is upstream of the Sacramento's outfall by about 15 miles.
The Harcuvar Mountains are a narrow mountain range in western-central Arizona, United States. The range lies just east of the north–south Colorado River, and south of the east–west, west-flowing Bill Williams River, from Alamo Lake.
The Buckskin Mountains is a mountain range in La Paz County, Arizona, United States. The range lies just east of the north–south Colorado River, and borders south of the east–west, west-flowing Bill Williams River.
The Piute Wash of extreme southeastern Nevada and northeast San Bernardino County California is the south-flowing drainage of the Piute Valley. The wash and valley are located northwest of Needles, California.
The Laguna Mountains are a small, approximately circular mountain range of extreme southwest Arizona northeast of Yuma and east of Winterhaven, California on the Colorado River. The Colorado forms the western perimeter of the mountains; Mittry Lake, on the Colorado is on its northwest.
The Rawhide Mountains are a mountain range of western Arizona, in the southwest of Mohave County. It is part of a block of mountain ranges on the north of an insular region called the Maria fold and thrust belt, containing mountain ranges, valleys, and plains. The Rawhide Mountains border the much smaller Artillery Mountains southeast, bordering on Alamo Lake State Park and the south-flowing Big Sandy River.
The Little Harquahala Mountains are a small, arid, low-elevation mountain range of western-central Arizona, in the southeast of La Paz County.
The Granite Wash Mountains are a short, arid, low elevation mountain range of western-central Arizona, in the southeast of La Paz County. The range borders a slightly larger range southeast, the Little Harquahala Mountains; both ranges form a section on the same water divide between two desert washes. The washes flow in opposite directions, one northwest to the Colorado River, the other southeast to the Gila River.
Vidal Valley is a 20-mile (32 km) long valley in the far eastern Colorado Desert bordering the Colorado River. Most of the valley is in eastern San Bernardino County, California, but the outfall on the Colorado River is in northeast Riverside County. Vidal Valley forms the large border of the south side of the east-west block of the Whipple Mountains massif, the landform that forces the Colorado to flow southeast, then back southwest. The southeast exit of the valley into Parker Valley on the Colorado River skirts the north end of the Riverside Mountains. The Colorado River Aqueduct crosses the midpoint of the valley at Vidal Junction, California. The Vidal Valley also lies due east of the Danby Dry Lake landform.
The Tonopah Desert is a small desert plains region of the Sonoran Desert, located west of Phoenix, Arizona. It is adjacent north of Interstate 10 and lies at the southwest intersection of the Hassayampa River with the Gila River. The Tonopah Desert is also just north of the Gila Bend Mountains massif which create the Gila Bend of the river.
The Poachie Range is a moderate length mountain range and massif in southeast Mohave County, Arizona, and the extreme southwest corner of Yavapai County; the range also abuts the northeast corner of La Paz County. The Poachie Range massif is bordered by the south-flowing Big Sandy River on its west, and the west-flowing Santa Maria River on its south; both rivers converge at the Poachie Range's southwest at Alamo Lake in Alamo Lake State Park.
The Date Creek Mountains are a short, arid range in southwest Yavapai County, Arizona. Congress is on its southeast foothills, and Wickenburg lies 15 mi (24 km) southeast.
The Peacock Mountains are a small, 26 mi (42 km) long mountain range in northwest Arizona, US. The range is a narrow sub-range, and an extension north, at the northeast of the Hualapai Mountains massif, which lies to the southwest. The range is defined by the Hualapai Valley to the northwest, and north and south-flowing washes on its east border, associated with faults and cliffs; the Cottonwood Cliffs are due east, and are connected to the Aquarius Cliffs southward at the west perimeter of the Aquarius Mountains; the cliffs are a result of the Aquarius Fault, which is an extension southward from the Grand Wash Cliffs and Grand Wash Fault which crosses the Colorado River at Lake Mead, and the west perimeter of the Grand Canyon/Colorado Plateau.
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