TheArizona transition zone is a diagonal northwest-by-southeast region across centralArizona. The region is a transition from the higher-elevationColorado Plateau inNortheast Arizona and theBasin and Range region of lower-elevation deserts in the southwest and south.
NorthwestArizona transitions to the lower elevationMojave Desert of southernCalifornia,Nevada andUtah, with an indicator species ofJoshua trees and other species, and southwestwards regions of theSonoran Desert, along theLower Colorado River Valley; in Arizona's south, all of central and eastern desert Sonoran Desert regions merge southwards intoSonoraMexico. The transition zone includes theMogollon Rim and theWhite Mountains and extends into westernNew Mexico.
In the Arizona ecoregion section, the Arizona transition zone is the major section of the EPA designated, Level III ecoregion,Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion. The other two outlier subregions to the transition zone in Arizona, are theKaibab Plateau of the North Rim of theGrand Canyon, and associated ranges of theChuska Mountains region of the northeast Arizona and northwestNew Mexico.
Thetransition zone is dominated by theMogollon Plateau at the southern edge of theCoconino Plateau of theFlagstaff region and theSan Francisco volcanic field; theMogollon Rim borders the plateau which extends fromOak Creek Canyon on the west, to the east at the highest elevations of Arizona in the central and westernWhite Mountains.[1]
The Arizona transition zone map is similar to the yellow transition region shown above.[2]
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