Sierra Madre de Chiapas
Sierra Madre | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Peak | Volcán Tajumulco, Guatemala |
Elevation | 4,220 m (13,850 ft) |
Coordinates | 15°2′37″N 91°54′11″W / 15.04361°N 91.90306°W |
Geography | |
Countries | Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras |
Range coordinates | 15°30′N 92°36′W / 15.5°N 92.6°W |
Geology | |
Orogeny | Central America Volcanic Arc |
The Sierra Madre is a major mountain range in Central America. It is known as the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in Mexico. It crosses El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. The Sierra Madre is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, and South America.
Geography
The range runs northwest–southeast from the state of Chiapas in Mexico, across western Guatemala, into El Salvador and Honduras. Most of the volcanoes of Guatemala, part of the Central America Volcanic Arc, are within the range.
A narrow coastal plain lies south of the range, between the Sierra Madre and the
The range forms the main drainage divide between the Pacific and Atlantic river systems. On the Pacific side the distance to the sea is short, and the streams, while very numerous, are consequently small and rapid. A few of the streams of the Pacific slopes rise in the Guatemalan Highlands, and force a way through the Sierra Madre at the bottom of deep ravines. On the eastern side a number of the rivers of the Atlantic slopes attain a considerable volume and size.
The
Regional names
It is known near Guatemala city as the Sierra de las Nubes, and enters Mexico as the Sierra de Istatan. Its summit is not a well-defined crest, but is often rounded or flattened into a table-land. The direction of the great volcanic cones, which rise in an irregular line above it, is not identical with the main axis of the Sierra itself, except near the Mexican frontier, but has a more southerly trend, especially towards El Salvador.
Volcanoes
The base of many of the volcanic igneous peaks rests among the southern foothills in the southern region of the range. It is, however, impossible to subdivide the Sierra Madre into a northern and a volcanic chain; for the volcanoes are isolated by stretches of comparatively low country; at least thirteen considerable streams flow down through them, from the main watershed to the sea. Viewed from the coast, the volcanic cones seem to rise directly from the central heights of the Sierra Madre, above which they tower; but in reality their bases are, as a rule, farther south.
East of
See also
References
- ^ "Sierra Madre de Chiapas moist forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 117.