Deserts of California

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Deserts of California
Region of California
CoachellaValleyPreserve.jpg
Coachella Valley Preserve in the Colorado Desert
California deserts.gif
The deserts of California as defined by the EPA
Subregions
  •    Great Basin Desert
  •    Mojave Desert
  •    Colorado Desert
Core cities Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville, Hesperia, Indio, El Centro and Palm Springs

The deserts of California (also known as the California deserts and the California Desert or Deserts or Desert region) [1] [2] [3] [4] are the distinct deserts that each have unique ecosystems and habitats. The deserts are home to a sociocultural and historical "Old West" collection of legends, districts, and communities, and they also form a popular tourism region of dramatic natural features and recreational development. Part of this region was even proposed to become a new county due to cultural, economic and geographic differences relative to the rest of the more urban region.

Contents

Geography

There are three main deserts in California: the Mojave Desert, the Colorado Desert, and the Great Basin Desert. [5] : 408  The Mojave Desert is bounded by the Tehachapi Mountains on the northwest, the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains on the south, and extends eastward to California's borders with Arizona and Nevada; it also forms portions of northwest Arizona. The Colorado Desert lies in the southeastern corner of the state, between the Colorado River and the Transverse Ranges, and continues into Mexico and Arizona to the south and east, (as the named Sonoran Desert). The Great Basin desert lies immediately to the east of the Sierra Nevada and extends eastward into the state of Nevada.

The deserts encompass parts of Lassen, Plumas, Mono, and Inyo Counties; all of Imperial County; parts of Los Angeles, Kern, San Diego, and Riverside Counties; and most of northern and eastern San Bernardino County. The major urban populations of western San Diego County, Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Greater Los Angeles are over the high mountains toward the Pacific Ocean.

Part of the region was even proposed to become a new county due to cultural, economic and geographic differences relative to the rest of the more urban region. [6] [7] [8]

Mojave Desert

The topographical boundaries include the Tehachapi Mountains to the northwest, together with the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges to the south. The mountain boundaries are quite distinct since they are outlined by the two largest faults in California – the San Andreas Fault and the Garlock Fault. [5] : 411  The Mojave Desert in California includes the colloquially-defined High Desert region. The Great Basin shrub steppe lies to the north of the Mojave Desert; the warmer Sonoran Desert and its subregion the Colorado Desert lie to the south and east.

Desert landscape in the Mojave Desert Desert landscape in California.jpg
Desert landscape in the Mojave Desert

Colorado Desert

The Colorado Desert is a northwesterly part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately 7 million acres (2,800,000 ha), reaching from the Northwest Mexico border region in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in the east to the Laguna Mountains of the Peninsular Ranges in the west. The area includes the heavily irrigated Coachella, Palo Verde, and Imperial Valleys. The Sonoran/Colorado Desert in California includes the colloquially-defined Low Desert region.

Great Basin Desert

The Great Basin Desert is the only "cold" desert in the country, where most precipitation falls in the form of snow. The Great Basin Desert exists because of the "rainshadow effect" created by the Sierra Nevada of eastern California. When prevailing winds from the Pacific Ocean rise to go over the Sierra, the air cools and loses most of its moisture as rain. By the time the winds cross over the mountains and sweep down the far side, they are very dry and absorb moisture from the surrounding area. This drying effect is responsible for creating the Great Basin Desert. [9]

Ecology and climate

The desert region of California is characterized by low rainfall, caused by the rain shadow of mountain ranges to the west of the desert region. The Mojave Desert receives from 3 to 10 inches (76 to 254 mm) of rain per year, while the Colorado Desert receives from 2 to 6 inches (51 to 152 mm). [10] The driest spot in California is Death Valley, which averages 1.5 inches (38 mm) of precipitation per year. [5] : 406  The soils of California deserts also tend to be alkaline, which adds to the stress of drought on plants. [5] : 408 

Joshua trees are characteristic of the Mojave Desert Joshua Tree NP - Joshua Tree 2.jpg
Joshua trees are characteristic of the Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert is considered a high desert, because elevations can range up to 11,000 feet (3,400 m). [10] The Mojave Desert is characterized by the presence of Yucca brevifolia , the Joshua Tree, which as an indicator species of the Mojave Desert, extends southeasterly into Mohave County, Arizona, and even further, all parts of northwest Arizona. Other common plants of the Mojave Desert include creosote bush, blackbrush, greasewood and saltbush. Higher elevations host Western juniper and Pinyon pine. [10]

The Colorado Desert is a low desert, with elevations running from −230 to 1,000 feet (−70 to 305 m) above sea level. [10] Unlike the other California deserts, the Colorado Desert gets significant rain from the North American Monsoon in August and September. [5] : 413  The Colorado Desert hosts saguaro cactus, Sonoran creosote bush, and Salton Sea saltbush. [10]

The Great Basin desert in California can also reach up to 11,000 feet (3,400 m) of elevation. [11] Plants in the Great Basin Desert are well adapted to the harsh conditions. These plants include Big sagebrush, Pinyon pine, Utah juniper, Low sagebrush, Shadscale, and Bristlecone pine. [11] Sagebrush, a very common resident of the Great Basin, is well adapted to the area. The Big sagebrush root system can extend as much as 90 feet in circumference. This adaptation allows the plant to catch as much water as possible when the rains do come. Mormon tea possesses modified leaves. The leaves are very small and are not the primary area for photosynthesis. The chlorophyll filled stems carry out the primary photosynthesis. Four-wing saltbush excretes salt through its leaves to prevent build-up of lethal salts in the plant. The plants on the alkaline flats have a high internal concentration of salt and are able to extract water other plants can not. [12]

Common animals of the California deserts include the desert bighorn sheep, desert kit fox, coyote, spotted skunk, spotted bat, black-tailed jackrabbit, ground squirrels, kangaroo rat, white-footed mouse, and desert tortoise. [10]

History

Before the European exploration of North America, tribes of Native Americans, such as the Mohave (in the Mojave desert), the Chemehuevi (in the Great Basin desert), and the Quechan (in the Colorado desert) were hunter-gatherers living in the California deserts. [13]

European explorers started exploring the deserts beginning in the 18th century. Francisco Garcés, a Franciscan friar, was the first explorer of the Colorado and Mojave deserts in 1776. [14] Garcés recorded information about the original inhabitants of the deserts.

Later, as American interests expanded into California, American explorers started probing the California deserts. Jedediah Smith travelled through the Great Basin and Mojave deserts in 1826, finally reaching the San Gabriel Mission. [15] [16] John C. Frémont explored the Great Basin, proving that water did not flow out of it to the ocean, and provided maps that the forty-niners used to get to California. [17]

The California Gold Rush jumpstarted economic activity in the California deserts. Mining for silver, gold, and lead became important in both the Mojave and the Great Basin deserts. [18] Mining stimulated the creation of transportation systems, such as the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. [19]

Tourism

Badwater Basin elevation sign Badwater elevation sign.jpg
Badwater Basin elevation sign

In 1994, the California Desert Protection Act protected millions of acres within the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve. [20] Within these parks and preserves, visitors can view unique landscapes, plants, and animals. Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the United States lies within Death Valley National Park.

List of towns

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of California</span>

California is a U.S. state on the western coast of North America. Covering an area of 163,696 sq mi (423,970 km2), California is among the most geographically diverse states. The Sierra Nevada, the fertile farmlands of the Central Valley, and the arid Mojave Desert of the south are some of the major geographic features of this U.S. state. It is home to some of the world's most exceptional trees: the tallest, most massive, and oldest. It is also home to both the highest and lowest points in the 48 contiguous states. The state is generally divided into Northern and Southern California, although the boundary between the two is not well defined. San Francisco is decidedly a Northern California city and Los Angeles likewise a Southern California one, but areas in between do not often share their confidence in geographic identity. The US Geological Survey defines the geographic center of the state at a point near North Fork, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mojave Desert</span> Desert in the southwestern United States

The Mojave Desert is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada, with small portions extending into Arizona and Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoran Desert</span> Desert in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States

The Sonoran Desert 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. It is the hottest desert in both Mexico and the United States. It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Basin Desert</span> Desert in the western United States

The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin and Range ecoregion defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and United States Geological Survey. It is a temperate desert with hot, dry summers and snowy winters. The desert spans large portions of Nevada and Utah, and extends into eastern California. The desert is one of the four biologically defined deserts in North America, in addition to the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transverse Ranges</span> Group of mountain ranges of southern California

The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Kern counties. The Peninsular Ranges lie to the south. The name Transverse Ranges is due to their east–west orientation, making them transverse to the general northwest–southeast orientation of most of California's coastal mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecology of California</span> Environments and natural history of California

The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions, Mediterranean ecoregions, forested mountains, and coastal forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Desert</span> Subdivision of the larger Sonoran Desert, California

Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately 7 million acres, including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francisco Garcés</span> Explorer, missionary (1738–1781)

Francisco Hermenegildo Tomás GarcésO.F.M. was a Spanish Franciscan friar who served as a missionary and explorer in the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain. He explored much of the southwestern region of North America, including present day Sonora and Baja California in Mexico, and the U.S. states of Arizona and California. He was killed along with his companion friars during an uprising by the Native American population, and they have been declared martyrs for the faith by the Catholic Church. The cause for his canonization was opened by the Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morongo Basin</span> Region of the inland empire in Mojave Desert, San Bernardino

The Morongo Basin is an endorheic basin and valley region located in eastern San Bernardino County, in Southern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Desert (California)</span> Geographic area of southern California

High Desert is a vernacular region with non-discrete boundaries covering areas of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California. The region encompasses various terrain with elevations generally between 2,000 and 4,000 ft above sea level, and is located just north of the San Gabriel, San Bernardino, and Little San Bernardino Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Colorado River Valley</span> Landform in Arizona and California

The Lower Colorado River Valley (LCRV) is the river region of the lower Colorado River of the southwestern United States in North America that rises in the Rocky Mountains and has its outlet at the Colorado River Delta in the northern Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico, between the states of Baja California and Sonora. This north–south stretch of the Colorado River forms the border between the U.S. states of California/Arizona and Nevada/Arizona, and between the Mexican states of Baja California/Sonora.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arizona transition zone</span> Ecoregion section

The Arizona transition zone is a diagonal northwest-by-southeast region across central Arizona. The region is a transition from the higher-elevation Colorado Plateau in Northeast Arizona and the Basin and Range region of lower-elevation deserts in the southwest and south.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain states</span> Region of the United States

The Mountain states form one of the nine geographic divisions of the United States that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. It is a subregion of the Western United States.

Sagebrush scrub is a vegetation type (biome) of mid to high elevation Western United States deserts characterized by low growing, drought resistant shrubs including sagebrush and its associates. It is the dominant vegetation type of the Great Basin Desert, occurs along the margins of the Mojave Desert, including in the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevadas and Transverse Ranges of California, and occurs in the Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region, where it may be referred to as cool desert shrub.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora of the Colorado Desert</span>

Flora of the Colorado Desert, located in Southern California. The Colorado Desert is a sub-region in the Sonoran Desert ecoregion of southwestern North America. It is also known as the Low Desert, in contrast to the higher elevation Mojave Desert or High Desert, to its north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sand to Snow National Monument</span> National monument in California, United States

Sand to Snow National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in San Bernardino County and northern Riverside County, Southern California.

References

  1. ↑ "Regions of California".
  2. ↑ Pavlik, Bruce M (July 2008). The California Deserts. University of California Press. ISBN   9780520251458.
  3. ↑ "The California Deserts". Visit Greater Palm Springs.
  4. ↑ "11 Places You Have To See In The California Desert". KCET. 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Schoenherr, Allan A. (1992). A Natural History of California . Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-06922-0.
  6. ↑ Charles F. Bostwick. "Plan Mapped Out for New County; High Desert Area Would Contain 1 Million People". Daily News.
  7. ↑ "If a new county is feasible, go for it, desert dwellers say". The San Bernardino County Sun. February 20, 1998. p. 4.
  8. ↑ Jeff Wilson (April 26, 2013). "Save us Carl Boyer! SCV getting screwed by LA County again".
  9. ↑ PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from "Deserts". Great Basin National Park. National Park Service.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "American Semi-Desert and Desert". Ecological Subregions of the United States. US Forest Service. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  11. 1 2 "Southeastern Great Basin". Ecological Subregions of California. US Forest Service. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
  12. ↑ PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from "Plants". Great Basin National Park. National Park Service.
  13. ↑ "History & Culture". Mojave National Preserve. National Park Service.
  14. ↑ "Fr. Francisco Garces". Profiles in Mojave Desert History. Digital-Desert.
  15. ↑ Gilbert, Bil (1973). The Trailblazers . Time-Life Books. pp.  96–100, 107.
  16. ↑ Smith, Alson J. (1965). Men Against the Mountains: Jedediah Smith and the South West Expedition of 1826–1829 . New York: John Day Co.
  17. ↑ Weiss, Stephen C. (May 1999). "The John C. Fremont '1842, 1843–'44 Report' and Map". Journal of Government Information. 26 (3): 297–313. doi:10.1016/S1352-0237(99)00031-3.
  18. ↑ Norris, Robert M.; Webb, Robert W. (1990). Geology of California. New York: Wiley. pp. 211–2, 248.
  19. ↑ Hildebrand, GH (1982). Borax Pioneer: Francis Marion Smith . San Diego: Howell-North Books. ISBN   978-0-8310-7148-6.
  20. ↑ "California Desert Conservation". CaliforniaDesert.gov. Archived from the original on 2011-02-13.
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