The San Cristobal Valley is a valley in the lower regions of the western
Gila River Valley
The Gila River Valley is a multi-sectioned valley of the Gila River, located primarily in Arizona. The Gila River forms in western New Mexico and flows west across southeastern, south-central, and southwestern Arizona; it changes directions as i ...
in southwestern
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...
in the western
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 Arizon ...
. The
San Cristobal Wash drains northwest, but exists only in the southern half of the valley.
The San Cristobal Valley drains north and northwesterly and parallels the
Mohawk Valley
The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Censu ...
and
Mohawk Mountains
The Mohawk Mountains ( mrc, Vii Kachkwiny, ood, Kusvo To:b) is a mountain range in the northwest Sonoran Desert of southwest Arizona. It abuts the western Gila River valley to the north (the Lower Gila River Valley), and is located in southern ...
to the west; the valley is less desert-like than the Mohawk Valley, and ends in an extensive southwest–northeast
bajada-plains region, conducive to agriculture. The Gila River valley and
Interstate 8 in Arizona
Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, jus ...
are at the north end of the valley between the communities of
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
*Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
*Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...
and
Dateland. The valley is bordered by two mountain ranges to the east: the
Aguila Mountains in
Yuma County, with an eastern end crossing into southwestern
Maricopa County
Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about ...
, and the
Granite Mountains of extreme western
Pima County
Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the populatio ...
.
Southern regions of the valley are in the
Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range
The Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range or Barry M. Goldwater Range (BMGR), formerly known as Luke Air Force Range, is a bombing range in the U.S. state of Arizona, between the Mexico–United States border and Interstate 8 straddling the Cabeza ...
-
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (CPNWR) is located in southwestern Arizona in the United States, along of the Mexico–United States border. It is bordered to the north and to the west by the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, to the s ...
.
See also
*
Valley and range sequence-Southern Yuma County
Valleys of Arizona
Landforms of Yuma County, Arizona
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