User talk:Vtrigueros/sandbox

Baja California Climate and Geology

Geological Origin

Baja California is located on the west side of Mexico. It is separated by the mainland of Mexico by the Sea of Cortez, making it a peninsula. How it has been mentioned in our visit of Professor Croxen and in our book, Baja California was not a peninsula until the earth started to change. This change is what is now described as Basin and Range, which simply put are mountains or higher land and valleys or lower land. This process which took thousands of years started when the Pacific Plate and the Farallon Plate started to move east under the North American Plate. When the Pacific and Farallon Plates were under the North American Plate they started to move northwest. This would stretch out the crust of the earth and create these Basins and Ranges which extends throughout the western United States and northwestern Mexico. Baja California was the westernmost part of the North American Plate which was eventually separated. This also brought in the Sea of Cortez where the Colorado River would flow to when it flowed freely.

Climate

Baja California’s climate is dry in the summer and cool and wet during the winters. Being surrounded by the ocean, fog appears in areas closest to water. Change in altitude always comes with a change in temperature. In the Sierra de Baja California, the climate is an alpine climate meaning that it is cooler there in the summers and can get cold during the winter. Forests can be present in the mountains as well as snow during the winter season. However, being home to part of the Sonoran Desert, the summers can be hot and barely mild winters. In conclusion the climate of Baja California is usually hot in lower elevations and cooler in higher elevations.