The Basin and Range Region region that extends down into Mexico is called the Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano. This area is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. The plateau averages 5,988 feet above sea level and it extends from the United States border in the north to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in the south, and is bounded on the west by the Sierra Madre Occidental and on the east by the Sierra Madre Oriental.
Where the Mexican Basin and Range Region region narrows in the state of Zacatecas, there is a low east-west mountain range which divides the plateau into northern and southern parts. Although once considered as two plateaus, now, geographers consider these to be two sections of one plateau.
These two sections are called the Northern Plateau (Mesa del Norte) and Central Plateau (Mesa Central).
The northern plateau ecoregion with lower elevations than that of the southern eocregion, averages 3,600 feet above sea level. Nearly the entire north section is drained by the
Rio Grande river and it′s Mexican tributaries including the Rio Conchos, which rivers all drain to the Gulf of Mexico.
Much of the northern plateau comprises internal drainage basins that do not drain to any sea, one of which is the Bosón de Mapimi. Rivers that drain to these basins include the Tamesi in the north and both the Nazas and Aquanavai rivers further south.
Further, the
Chihuahuan Desert extend across most of the northern portion of the Mesa del Norte. However, in the northwest, east of and adjacent to the
Sonoran Deserts, the
Madrean Archipelago connects to Mexican Plateau from the north end of the
Sierra Madre Occidental.
