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Article: The Chihuahuan Desert Ecosystem.
- Article from:
- Corrections Today
- Article date:
- November 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 New Mexico Academy of Science. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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R.P. Gibbens [3]
Abstract
The Chihuahuan Desert is the least known of all the deserts in North America. It is the largest of the deserts and lies east of the Continental Divide between two mountain ranges in Mexico: the Sierra Madre Occidental in the west and the Sierra Madre Oriental in the east. On the south it borders mountains in Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi, and to the north it opens onto broad valleys, basins, and high plains in New Mexico and west Texas. Because of its high elevation, averaging 1400 m above sea level (4,593 feet above sea level), it is cooler than the other hot deserts in North America. Average precipitation is 235 mm/year (9.3 ...