Central Mexican Ranges

The Central Mexican Ranges are essentially the various Sierra Madre ranges of Mexico, the high central volcanoes, and the high plateaus they surround. Most of the borders of this area are distinct and natural: The Gulf Of Mexico, the low ithmus of Tehuantepec, the Pacific Ocan and the Sea of Cortez, and the Rio Grande. The only unclear border is to the northwest, where the Basin and Range country of the U.S. Southwest meets the Sierra Madre Occidental in the state of Sonora.

The parts of Mexico excluded from this grouping are Baja California, the basin and range country of Sonora, and, in the southeast of Mexico, Chiapas (topographically part of Central America) and the Yucatan.

Within this area are the three Sierra Madres: Occidental, Oriental, and Sur. Running east-west, below the Sierra Madres Occidental and Oriental and north of the Sierra Madre del Sur, is the very loosely bounded Cordillera Neovolcanica, the row of volcanoes running from Colima to Orizaba. In the north, between the Occidental and Oriental Sirra Madres, is a large indistinct meseta or plateau.

These ranges are high, with 3000m/10,000' peaks relatively common in most areas. But due to either low latitude or low rainfall, there is little snow and no glaciation outside of the three highest volcanoes of the Neovolcanica.

Note: Range borders shown on map are an approximation and are not authoritative.
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