Pinacate Peaks
Encyclopedia
Volcanic group
A volcanic group is a collection of related volcanoes or volcanic landforms. Note that the term is also used in a different sense when it denotes a suite of associated rock strata largely of volcanic origin; see group for details.-Notable volcanic groups:-See also:*Complex...
of volcanic peaks and cinder cone
Cinder cone
According to the , Cinder Cone is the proper name of 1 cinder cone in Canada and 7 cinder cones in the United States:In Canada: Cinder Cone In the United States:...
s located mostly in the Mexican state of Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
along the international border adjacent to the U.S. state of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, surrounded by the vast sand dune field of the Gran Desierto de Altar
Gran Desierto de Altar
The Gran Desierto de Altar is one of the major portions of the Sonoran Desert of Mexico, including the only active erg dune region in North America. It extends across much of the northern border of the Gulf of California, reaching more than 100 kilometers east to west, and over 50 km north to...
, at the desert's southeast.
The Spanish name for the Pinacate Peaks geographic feature is the Sierra Pinacate, which is used in their homeland of Mexico.
Location
The Pinacate Peaks lie just north of the fishing resort of Puerto PeñascoPuerto Peñasco
Puerto Peñasco is a city and municipality located in the northwest of the state of Sonora about 100 km from the Arizona border. It is located on the small strip of land that joins the peninsula of Baja California with the rest of Mexico. The area is part of the Altar Desert, one of the driest...
. The tallest of the peaks is Cerro del Pinacate (also called Volcan Santa Clara), elevation 3,904 feet (1,190 m). The Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish is a version of the Spanish language, as spoken in Mexico and in various places of Canada and the United States of America, where there are communities of Mexican origin....
word pinacate is derived from the Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
word for the endemic desert stink beetle
Pinacate beetle
The pinacate beetle, also known as the stink beetle, is a species of darkling beetle in the genus Eleodes endemic to the Sonoran Desert and adjacent regions of the U.S. Southwest and Mexico, usually the species Eleodes obscurus...
, pinacatl.
Geology
The volcanoes here have erupted here sporadically since about 4 million years ago, probably in association with the opening of the Gulf of CaliforniaGulf of California
The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
. The most recent volcanic activity was about 11,000 years ago. The Pinacate Desert is home to the largest sand dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s of the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
.
Flora and fauna
A variety of flora and fauna occur in the Pinacate Mountains, including the sculptural Elephant TreeBursera microphylla
Bursera microphylla, known by the common name Elephant Tree, is a tree in genus Bursera. It grows into a distinctive sculptural form, with a trunk resembling that of an elephant. The Elephant Tree is quite rare...
, Bursera microphylla
Bursera microphylla
Bursera microphylla, known by the common name Elephant Tree, is a tree in genus Bursera. It grows into a distinctive sculptural form, with a trunk resembling that of an elephant. The Elephant Tree is quite rare...
.
Human history
Padre Eusebio KinoEusebio Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who became famous in what is now northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the region then known as the Pimaria Alta...
, founder of many Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
The Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert are a series of Jesuit Catholic religious outposts established by the Spanish Catholic Jesuits and other orders for religious conversions of the Pima and Tohono O'odham indigenous peoples residing in the Sonoran Desert...
, explored here in 1698 and several times later. NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
sent its astronauts here, from 1965 to 1970, to train for lunar excursions given the similarity of the terrain to the lunar surface.
El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve
The El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserveBiosphere reserve
The Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO was established in 1971 to promote interdisciplinary approaches to management, research and education in ecosystem conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.-Development:...
, in the spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Reserva de la Biosfera el Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar, managed by the Mexican Federal Government's SEMARNAT - the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, in collaboration with the government of the State of Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
's IMADES agency.
The reserve
Facts about the reserve:- Over 600 square miles (1,554 km²)
- Over 400 cinder coneCinder coneAccording to the , Cinder Cone is the proper name of 1 cinder cone in Canada and 7 cinder cones in the United States:In Canada: Cinder Cone In the United States:...
s (caused by volcanic activity) - 9 massive volcanic craterVolcanic craterA volcanic crater is a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a basin, circular in form within which occurs a vent from which magma erupts as gases, lava, and ejecta. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth...
s - Remains of volcanic activity (ashVolcanic ashVolcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
, basaltBasaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
rock, lava fields) - Over 560 plant species
- 56 mammalMammalMammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
species - 43 reptileReptileReptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
species - 222 birdBirdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
species - 4 fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
species.