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Old 06-02-2016, 08:40 PM
 
Location: San Bernardino, CA
242 posts, read 313,190 times
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I always think its at Texas Canyon. I see those mountains as an extension of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

You stop seeing Saguaros around Benson or Wilcox. The desert feels hotter in the Sonoran than on its eastern neighbor.
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Old 06-02-2016, 09:53 PM
 
9,576 posts, read 7,226,498 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jfsoto1988 View Post
I always think its at Texas Canyon. I see those mountains as an extension of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

You stop seeing Saguaros around Benson or Wilcox. The desert feels hotter in the Sonoran than on its eastern neighbor.
I've seen maps with the Chihuahuan Desert only in parts of New Mexico and Texas (and of course Chihuahua, Mexico) and I've also seen maps with the Chihuahuan Desert in the southeastern corner of Arizona. Since the Tucson metroplex seems to be on the eastern edge of the Sonoran Desert, I think Texas Canyon is a good dividing line. There's a good reason the Sonoran feels hotter than the Chihuahuan, it's the hottest desert in North America.
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Old 06-02-2016, 11:55 PM
 
2,338 posts, read 4,684,184 times
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Good question. I would draw a line from Vail down to Rio Rico. You see grassland and yucca south and east of this line.The San Pedro Valley most definitely is Chihuahuan from Reddington Pass southward through Benson and points south.
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Old 06-03-2016, 11:14 AM
 
4,235 posts, read 13,993,706 times
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here's one website's definition....since the saguaro is the hallmark of the Sonoran desert, I'd call it quits very close to Tucson's eastern limits....

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Old 06-03-2016, 09:18 PM
 
Location: PHX -> ATL
6,311 posts, read 6,717,630 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by azdr0710 View Post
here's one website's definition....since the saguaro is the hallmark of the Sonoran desert, I'd call it quits very close to Tucson's eastern limits....
If the Saguaro's limits are what defines the Sonoran desert, then the Sonora would end at the Colorado River. I don't recall ever seeing a saguaro in California. Tucson is #14 on your map.

I think Tucson starts reaching the elevation limits for the Saguaro, I noticed that they don't grow much further directly south of Tucson in places like Sahuarita (they are still there don't get me wrong, but a whole lot less) where the elevation continues to rise. The whole SE corner gets pretty high in elevation, especially compared to central Arizona and SW Arizona where Yuma is at 141 feet elevation.
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Old 07-06-2020, 09:09 PM
 
Location: Las Cruces NM
155 posts, read 147,231 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jfsoto1988 View Post
I always think its at Texas Canyon. I see those mountains as an extension of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

You stop seeing Saguaros around Benson or Wilcox. The desert feels hotter in the Sonoran than on its eastern neighbor.
I drive between Las Cruces (Chihuahuan) and Tucson or Phoenix often.

On I-10, the dividing line (more a dashed than sharp line) is Davidson Canyon, east of the Vail exit and west of Cienega and Marsh Station areas. Saguaro cacti go from a few younger ones east to a number of older saguaros with arms there. With an ecotone or transition that goes another 20 miles or so either side, blending Chihuahuan and Sonoran desert plants and a shift in both climate types.

On US-70 in the Gila Valley, the dividing line is west of Safford about 30-40 miles. But the ecotone there is the entire Gila Valley between about Clifton and where the highway drops out of Globe. Oddly there are few Blue Palo Verde trees and I think no Foothill Palo Verde or Jojoba with the occasional stands of Saguaro; it's mostly Crucifixtion Thorn. Would be interesting to explore the areas I can see saguaros on Google satellite view about 10 miles N of Pima, as well as other areas.

On N Cascabel Rd in the San Pedro Valley, I've not driven it to Reddington, but some photos I've seen show saguaros and foothill palo verdes in areas around Cascabel and Reddington. I've only driven it 12 miles north of Pomerene, and at 5 miles there are Chainfruit Cholla, with some areas of Blue Palo Verde at 10 miles, then some young, armless Saguaro on south slopes the next few miles. But plants associated to those few saguaros were of Chihuahuan Desert affinities, not Sonoran Desert, at least what I could see.
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Old 07-06-2020, 09:28 PM
 
Location: Dayton OH
5,643 posts, read 11,198,029 times
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Great description above by nmdesert. A couple of months ago, I drove N. Cascabel Rd to the end of pavement north of Pomerene. A great, desolate area, and much different looking than the desert on the other (west) side of the Rincon Mountains which is Saguaro National Park. The Chihuahua desert region is generally higher elevation than the Sonoran desert region, which might be the reason for the "dividing line" east of Tucson.
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Old 07-07-2020, 02:08 AM
 
Location: Out there somewhere...a traveling man.
44,540 posts, read 61,201,075 times
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The saguaro is found only in the Sonoran Desert, which includes about 120,000 square miles of California and Arizona, most of Baja California and half of the state of Sonora, Mexico.
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Old 07-07-2020, 05:39 AM
 
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,430,196 times
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Honestly, I don't believe that any of the Chihuahuan Desert is in Arizona. My opinion is that the Continental Divide separates the two deserts, and on I-10, the Continental Divide is at mile marker 53 in New Mexico (about 30 miles east of Lordsburg)
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Old 07-07-2020, 05:55 AM
 
Location: Boydton, VA
4,522 posts, read 6,211,640 times
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