The Playas Valley is a lengthy and narrow 60-mi (97-km) long,

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

located in

Hidalgo County, New Mexico Hidalgo County ( es, Condado de Hidalgo) is the southernmost county of the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,894. The county seat and largest city is Lordsburg. A bill creating Hidalgo from the southern part ...

in the Bootheel Region; the extreme south of the valley lies in Chihuahua. Playas, NM is located in the northeast. The valley is noteworthy for the Playas Lake, (

dry lake A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...

) in the north. The

Continental Divide of the Americas The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; ) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from t ...

forms its western border in a series of three linear

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

s, and the divide forms the

water divide A drainage divide, water divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins. On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a singl ...

as the northern border of the Playas Valley. The valley disappears southward into regions of the northwest

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lower P ...

of Chihuahua,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Regions of the desert extend northward to foothills of various mountain ranges, canyons,

wash WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achievin ...

es, or other landforms.

Description

The Playas Valley is linear, and north–south trending and surrounded by mountain ranges, except on the south, where the flatlands merge into the Chihuahuan Desert. ''West'' *

Pyramid Mountains The Pyramid Mountains are a 30 mi (48 km) long, mountain range in central-east Hidalgo County, New Mexico. The city of Lordsburg and Interstate 10 lie at its northern border. The range lies between the northeast corner of the north-sou ...

Animas Mountains The Animas Mountains are a small mountain range in Hidalgo County, within the " Boot-Heel" region of far southwestern New Mexico, in the United States. They extend north–south for about 30 miles (50 km) along the Continental Divide,Since ...

San Luis Mountains The San Luis Mountains are a small, lower elevation mountain range of central-southern Pima County Arizona adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border, northeast of Sasabe, Arizona–Sasabe, Sonora. The range is northwest-southeast trending, about in len ...

''East'' *

Little Hatchet Mountains Little Hatchet Mountains is a mountain range in Hidalgo and Grant Counties, New Mexico. The range trends north and south between Hatchita Valley to the east and Playas Valley The Playas Valley is a lengthy and narrow 60-mi (97-km) long, valley l ...

Big Hatchet Mountains The Big Hatchet Mountains are an 18 mi (29 km) long, mountain range in southeast Hidalgo County, New Mexico, adjacent the northern border of Chihuahua state, Mexico. The range lies just south of a westerly excursion of the Continental ...

Alamo Hueco Mountains The Alamo Hueco Mountains are a long mountain range, located in the southeast of the New Mexico Bootheel region, southeast Hidalgo County, New Mexico, adjacent to the border of Chihuahua state, Mexico. The range lies near the southern end of th ...

Playas Lake and the valley

Much of the drainage into Playas Valley does not end in a playa or dry lake. In the southern half to two thirds of the valley, the valley has mostly dry washes that do not reach the valley flatlands.

Playas Lake Playa (plural playas) may refer to: Landforms * Endorheic basin, also known as a sink, alkali flat or sabkha, a desert basin with no outlet which periodically fills with water to form a temporary lake * Dry lake, often called a ''playa'' in the so ...

is a linear dry lake, about 10 mi long, and only 4 mi west of Playas, NM. An even smaller dry lake, about a tenth the size is just adjacent southwards. Both dry lakes are in the north, with the drainage coming from the continental divide as the perimeter of the valley, going north, then due west, then south as the southern ridgeline of the

. The divide makes up the southern region of the mountains, before it skirts lower peaks before reaching the north of the

. Playas Lake as the lowest elevation of the north valley region is in elevation.

References

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External links

Playas Lake, Playas Lake Fishing in Hidalgo County (coordinates, elevation)
Great Divide of North America New Mexico Bootheel Landforms of Hidalgo County, New Mexico Valleys of New Mexico Valleys of Mexico Landforms of Chihuahua (state)