The Silver Bell Mountains are a northwest–southeast trending mountain range in north–central

Pima County, Arizona 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 population ...

. The range lies west of

Marana, Arizona Marana is a town in Pima County, Arizona, United States, located northwest of Tucson, with a small portion in Pinal County. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 34,961. From 1990 to 2000, Marana was the fourth fastest-gr ...

, located on Interstate-10, northwest of

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. The range is located to the east of the

Ironwood Forest National Monument Ironwood Forest National Monument is located in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Created by Bill Clinton by Presidential Proclamation 7320 on June 9, 2000, the monument is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the United State ...

Ragged Top Ragged Top is a mountain summit located within Ironwood Forest National Monument, in Pima County of southern Arizona. It is situated 35 miles northwest of Tucson, in the Silver Bell Mountains, where it rises over above the surrounding terrain a ...

, 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 Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical co ...

located at the southern end of the mountains. The range abuts the

Waterman Mountains The Waterman Mountains are a low mountainous landform in Pima County, United States. Notable among the tree species is the elephant tree (''Bursera microphylla'') which species exhibits a contorted multi-furcate architecture; most of these froze i ...

to the southeast, where

palynology Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and '' -logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposit ...

-(pollen) studies have shown some of the recent floristic history of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Sonoran 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 ...

; the Madrean Sky Island ranges begin just southeast of here, with the large, and most western

sky island Sky islands are topographic isolation, isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. The term originally referred to those found on the Mexican Plateau, and has extended to similarly isolated montane ecosystems, hi ...

range, the

Baboquivari Mountains Baboquivari may refer to: * 2059 Baboquivari, a near-Earth asteroid * Baboquivari Peak Wilderness, a protected area in the U.S. state of Arizona * Baboquivari National Forest Baboquivari National Forest was established as the Baboquivari Forest R ...

-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.

Climate

Climate is characterized by extremely variable temperature conditions. The

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

sub-type for this climate is "

Bsh A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a des ...

" (Mid-Latitude Steppe and Desert Climate).Climate Summary for Silver Bell
/ref>

References

External links

Silver Bell Peak
Silver Bell Peak, trails.com coord
---- Ragged Top Peak

{{Mountains of Arizona Mountain ranges of the Sonoran Desert Mountain ranges of Pima County, Arizona Mountain ranges of Arizona

Description

Climate

See also

References

External links