Deserts of the World - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 23

much older. Paskoff 113 has suggested that the high cliff, which is up to 2600 ft high and is
so characteristic of the Chilean desert coast, probably originated as a Miocene fault scarp,
which has retreated and been embroidered by an oscillating sea level ever since.
1.9 North America
The deserts of North America occupy much of western United States and northern
Mexico between 44°N and 22°N (Figure 1.20). They extend southward from central and
eastern Oregon, embracing nearly all of Nevada and Utah, into southwestern Wyoming
and western Colorado, reaching westward in southern California to the eastern base of
the Sierra Nevada, the San Bernardino Mountains, and the Cuyamaca Mountains. From
southern Utah, the desert extends into Arizona and on into the Chihuahua Desert of
Mexico. The Sonoran Desert of California extends into Baja California and to the eastern
side of the Gulf of California. These deserts owe their aridity to a variety of conditions.
Orographic barriers are especially important in the north and in parts of California,
Great Basin Desert
Colorado Plateau
Mojave Desert
Sonoran Desert
Chihuahuan Desert
FIGURE 1.20
Deserts of North America.