Colorado Desert

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the desert in California. For the deserts upon the Colorado plateau in general, see Colorado Plateau.
Colorado Desert landscape

Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately 7 million acres (2,800,000 ha; 28,000 km2), including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna.

Geography and geology

The Algodones Dunes

The Colorado Desert is a subdivision of the larger Sonoran Desert

municipality of Mexicali, Mexico
.

Most of the Colorado Desert lies at a relatively low elevation, below 1,000 feet (305 m), with the lowest point of the desert floor at 275 feet (84 m) below sea level, at the Salton Sea. Although the highest peaks of the Peninsular Ranges reach elevations of nearly 10,000 feet (3,048 m), most of the region's mountains do not exceed 3,000 feet (914 m).

In this region, the

tectonic plate boundary from rift to fault. The southernmost strands of the San Andreas Fault connect to the northernmost extensions of the East Pacific Rise. Consequently, the region is subject to earthquakes
, and the crust is being stretched, which will result in a sinking of the terrain over time.

Climate

The Colorado Desert's climate distinguishes it from other deserts. The region experiences greater summer daytime temperatures than higher-elevation deserts and almost never experiences frost. In addition, the Colorado Desert experiences two rainy seasons per year (in the winter and late summer), especially toward the southern portion of the region; the more northerly Mojave Desert usually has only winter rains.[4][5]

The west coast Peninsular Ranges, or other west ranges, of Southern California–northern

intertropical convergence zone
.

Flora and fauna

Anza Borrego Desert State Park
Anza-Borrego State Park
.
See also: Flora of the Colorado Desert and List of flora of the Sonoran Desert Region by common name
See also the categories Flora of the California desert regions, Fauna of the Colorado Desert, and Fauna of the Sonoran Desert

The region's terrestrial habitats include

ironwood, and palo verde
trees.

Common desert wildlife include

flat-tailed horned lizard, Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard, desert tortoise, prairie falcon, Andrews' dune scarab beetle, peninsular bighorn sheep, and California leaf-nosed bat.[4] The best place to spot wildlife is at the wetland refuges along the Colorado River, Cibola National Wildlife Refuge and Imperial National Wildlife Refuge.[6]

In the Colorado Desert's arid environment, aquatic and

tamarisk. Two of the region's most significant aquatic systems are the Salton Sea and the Colorado River. While most desert wildlife depend on aquatic habitats as water sources, a number of species, such as the arroyo toad, desert pupfish, Yuma rail, and southwestern willow flycatcher, are restricted to these habitats. In some places, summer rains produce short-lived seasonal pools that host uncommon species like Couch's spadefoot toad
.

Anza Borrego Desert State Park

Desert fan palm oases are rare ecological communities found only in the Colorado Desert. They occur only where permanent water sources are available, such as at springs or along fault lines, where groundwater is forced to the surface by the movement of hard impermeable rock, and can be found in the San Jacinto, Santa Rosa, and Little San Bernardino mountains, in the canyons of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and along the San Andreas Fault in the Coachella Valley.[4] The only palm native to California, Washingtonia filifera (desert fan palm), grows at the oases.[7]

Endemic flora

Some sub-regions of the Colorado Desert contain

Peucephyllum schottii
(desert fir).

National and State Parks

Environmental issues

The Colorado Desert is one of the least-populous regions in California, but human activities have had substantial impacts on the region's habitats and wildlife. Many unique communities, particularly aquatic and dune systems, are limited in distribution and separated by vast expanses of inhospitable, arid desert terrain. Even limited human disturbances can have markedly deleterious effects on the endemic and sensitive species supported by these unique regional systems.[4]

Some of the greatest human-caused effects on the region have resulted from the water diversions and flood control measures along the

San Diego. The once-dynamic Salton Sea and Colorado River ecosystems are now controlled by human water management. Because of the scarcity of water resources in the desert environment, these alterations have had substantial impacts on regional wildlife and habitats. In addition, portions of the region are experiencing substantial growth and development pressures, most notably the Coachella Valley.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "California Colorado Desert - CDFW Wildlife Investigations Lab Blog". calwil.wordpress.com.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2015-07-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Poster- Colorado Desert Ecoregion (ER_322C)". Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Colorado Desert". Retrieved 2009-08-06.
  5. ^ Allen A. Schoenherr, A Natural History of California, 1992
  6. ^ "Tour Cibola Wildlife Refuge". CaliforniaResortLife. Archived from the original on 2015-12-27. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
  7. ^ "A Desert Park". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-06.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Colorado Desert.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colorado_Desert&oldid=1180684110"