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Tucson Mountains
The Tucson Mountains (O'odham: Cuk Doʼag) are a minor mountain range west of Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson Mountains, including Wasson Peak, are one of four notable mountain ranges surrounding the Tucson Basin. The Santa Catalina Mountains lie to the northeast, the Rincon Mountains are to the east of Tucson, and the Santa Rita Mountains lie to the south. Additionally the Sierrita Mountains lie due south, the Roskruge Mountains lie to the west across Avra Valley, the Silver Bell Mountains lie to the northwest, and the Tortolita Mountains lie to the north across the Santa Cruz Valley.''Silver Bell Mountains, Arizona,'' 30x60 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1994 Parks and preserves The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is located on the west flank of the Tucson Mountains. Much of the range is protected by Saguaro National Park and Tucson Mountain County Park. Old Tucson Studios are located just west of the Tucson Mountains. Tucson Mountain Park was established April 1929. The P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Arizona and California). It is the hottest desert in both Mexico and the United States. It has an area of . In phytogeography, the Sonoran Desert is within the Sonoran Floristic province of the Madrean Region of southwestern North America, part of the Holarctic realm of the northern Western Hemisphere. The desert contains a variety of unique endemic plants and animals, notably, the saguaro (''Carnegiea gigantea'') and organ pipe cactus (''Stenocereus thurberi''). The Sonoran Desert is clearly distinct from nearby deserts (e.g., the Great Basin, Mojave, and Chihuahuan deserts) because it provides subtropical warmth in winter and two seasons of rainfall (in contrast, for example, to the Mojave's dry summers and cold winters). This creates an ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tortolita Mountains
The Tortolita Mountains are a modest mountain range northwest of Tucson, Arizona, USA, at the northern boundaries of Oro Valley and Marana, two suburbs of Tucson. Peak elevation is 4,696 feet (1,431 m). Much of the mountain range is protected within the Tortolita Mountain Park, established in 1986 by Pima County, which plans to expand its territory. The Tortolita Mountains include extensive cultural resources. The Native American people known as the Hohokam occupied this area for approximately 700 years beginning around AD 500. In the eastern foothills of the Tortolita Mountains are ruins of Honeybee Village, a former Hohokam village preserved and maintained by the Town of Oro Valley. Nearby is Honeybee Canyon, a riparian area with one of Pima County's few perennial streams , Honeybee Creek. Residential and related development near this area has been a source of conflict between environmentalists and real estate developers, beginning in the 1990s. Resorts, golf courses, and ups ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountain Ranges Of Pima County, Arizona
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (1,000 feet) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through Slump (geology), slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers. High elevations on mountains produce Alpine climate, colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the Montane ecosystems, ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geography Of Tucson, Arizona
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. The first recorded use of the word γεωγραφία was as a title of a book by Greek scholar Eratosthenes (276–194 BC). Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but also how they have changed and come to be. While geography is specific to Earth, many concepts can be applied more broadly to other celestial bodies in the field of planetary science. One such concept, the first law of geography, proposed by Waldo Tobler, is "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." Geography has been called "the world discipline" and "the bridge between the human and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madrean Sky Islands
The Madrean Sky Islands are enclaves of Madrean pine–oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern and southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. The sky islands are surrounded at lower elevations by the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. The northern west–east perimeter of the sky island region merges into the higher elevation eastern Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains of eastern Arizona (southern Anasazi region). The sky islands are the northernmost of the Madrean pine–oak woodlands, and are classified as part of the Sierra Madre Occidental pine–oak forests ecoregion, of the tropical and subtropical coniferous forests biome. The sky islands were isolated from one another and from the pine–oak woodlands of the Sierra Madre Occidental to the south by the warming and drying of the climate since the ice ages. There are approximately 27 Madrean sky islands in the United States, and 15 in northern M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sentinel Peak (Arizona)
Sentinel Peak is a peak in the Tucson Mountains southwest of downtown Tucson, Arizona, United States. The valley's first inhabitants grew crops at the mountain's base, along the Santa Cruz River. The name "Tucson" is derived from the O'odham ' (), meaning "t thebase of the black ill. In the 1910s, University of Arizona students used local basalt rock to construct a tall block "A" on the mountain's east face, near its summit, giving the peak its other name, "A" Mountain. The peak is part of a 272-acre (110 hectares) park, the largest natural resource park in the City of Tucson. Early history The fertile land at the base of Sentinel Peak was used for agriculture from until the 1930s. Bedrock mortars found on the sides of the peak are believed to have been used to grind corn and mesquite beans into flour. In the 1690s, the O'odham people living in the area were visited by Eusebio Francisco Kino, who established the nearby Mission San Xavier del Bac. After Presidio San Ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tumamoc Hill
Tumamoc Hill ( ood, Cemamagĭ Doʼag) is a butte located immediately west of "A" Mountain and downtown Tucson, Arizona. It is home to many radio, television, and public safety transmitters. The 860-acre ecological reserve and U.S. National Historic Landmark was established by the Carnegie Institution in 1903. The University of Arizona (UA) owns a preserve and leases another as a research and education facility. The Steward Observatory maintains a small astronomical observatory with a telescope on the hill. Besides being a prominent landmark, Tumamoc Hill has a long and varied history, and is currently an important site for ecological and anthropological research as well as a refuge and a recreational option for the people of Tucson. The Desert Laboratory located on Tumamoc welcomed a new director, Ben Wilder, as of 2018. Official Designations and Management * National Environmental Study Site * Arizona State Scientific and Natural Educational Area * National Historic Landmark ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Tucson Studios
Old Tucson (formerly Old Tucson Studios) is an American movie studio and theme park just west of Tucson, Arizona, adjacent to the Tucson Mountains and close to the western portion of Saguaro National Park. Built in 1939 for the movie ''Arizona'' (1940), it has been used for the filming location of many movies and television westerns since then, such as ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'' (1957), '' Rio Bravo ''(1959), ''El Dorado'' (1966), ''Little House on the Prairie'' TV series of the 1970s–1980s, the film ''Three Amigos!'' (1986) and the popular film ''Tombstone'' (1993). It was opened to the public in 1960 as a theme park with historical tours offered about the movies filmed there, along with live cast entertainment featuring stunt shows, shootouts, can-can shows...as well as themed events. It is still a popular filming location used by Hollywood. Early history Old Tucson was originally built in 1939 by Columbia Pictures on a Pima County-owned site as a replica of 1860s’ e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is an American national park in Pima County, southeastern Arizona. The park consists of two separate areas—the Tucson Mountain District (TMD) about west of the city of Tucson and the Rincon Mountain District (RMD) about east of the city—that preserve Sonoran Desert landscapes, fauna, and flora, including the giant saguaro cactus. The volcanic rocks on the surface of the Tucson Mountain District differ greatly from the surface rocks of the Rincon Mountain District; over the past 30 million years, crustal stretching displaced rocks from beneath the Tucson Mountains of the Tucson Mountain District to form the Rincon Mountains of the Rincon Mountain District. Uplifted, domed, and eroded, the Rincon Mountains are significantly higher and wetter than the Tucson Mountains. The Rincons, as one of the Madrean Sky Islands between the southern Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico, support high biodiversity and are home to many plants and anim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a 98-acre (40 ha) zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952. Located just west of Tucson, Arizona, it features two miles (3.2 km) of walking paths traversing 21 acres (8.5 ha) of desert landscape. It is one of the most visited attractions in Southern Arizona. The nonprofit organization focuses on the interpretation of the natural history, plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert. The museum is home to more than 230 animal species and 1,200 varieties of plants. It is open every day through the year, and hosts nearly 400,000 visitors annually, including visitors from abroad. The museum is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a member of the American Alliance of Museums and the American Public Gardens Association. History Founded in 1952, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum interprets the complete natural history of a single region—the Sonoran Desert and adj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Cruz River (Arizona)
The Santa Cruz River ( es, Río Santa Cruz " Holy Cross River") is a tributary river to the Gila River in Southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. It is approximately long. Course The Santa Cruz has its headwaters in the high intermontane grasslands of the San Rafael Valley to the southeast of Patagonia, Arizona, between the Canelo Hills to the east and the Patagonia Mountains to the west, just north of the international border. It flows southward into Mexico past Santa Cruz, Sonora and turns westward around the south end of the Sierra San Antonio near Miguel Hidalgo (San Lázaro), thence north-northwest to reenter the United States just to the east of Nogales and southwest of Kino Springs. It then continues northward from the international border past the Tumacacori National Historical Park, Tubac, Green Valley, Sahuarita, San Xavier del Bac, Tucson, Marana, and Picacho Peak State Park to the Santa Cruz Flats just to the south of Casa Grande and the Gila River. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silver Bell Mountains
The Silver Bell Mountains are a northwest–southeast trending mountain range in north–central Pima County, Arizona. The range lies west of Marana, Arizona, located on Interstate-10, northwest of Tucson. The range is located to the east of the Ironwood Forest National Monument. Ragged Top, located in the north of the range, is a well-known landmark in this former mining region. Description The range is named after the Silver Bell Mine located at the southern end of the mountains. The range abuts the Waterman Mountains to the southeast, where palynology-(pollen) studies have shown some of the recent floristic history of Arizona during the Pliocene. Both ranges lie in the northeast Sonoran Desert; the Madrean Sky Island ranges begin just southeast of here, with the large, and most western sky island range, the Baboquivari Mountains-Quinlans 20–35 mi south. The Silver Bell range can be accessed by Avra Valley Road and Silver Bell Road from the south of Marana. Climat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_at_Saguaro_National_Park.jpg "Click for more on -> Saguaro National Park")
