The name Sierra Madre, is translated to English as mother mountain range. Occidental means western where Oriental means eastern.

The Northern Sierra Madre is divided into two major mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Occidental (western) which is along the Pacific coast side of Mexico and the Sierra Madre Oriental (eastern) which is along the Gulf of Mexico side of Mexico.

The eastern part of the Northern Sierra Madre extends from the eastern area of the Transcontinental Volcanic Mountains in the south of Mexico not far north of Mexico City, northwestward to the US-Mexico border and across this border through extreme western Texas to near to where the southeast New Mexico Mountains rise. The northern area of this ecoregion is bordered by the Chihuahuan desert. Within Mexico, from near Del Rio, Texas southward, the eastern edge of the Sierra Madre Oriental transitions first to Sierra Madre Oriental Piedmont and then to the Coastal Plains along the Gulf of Mexico.

The western part of the Northern Sierra Madre extends from the western area of the Transcontinental Volcanic Mountains, northwestward along the Pacific coast to northern Sonora, a state near the Mexico-U.S. border at Arizona. The northern area is bordered on the west by the Sonoran desert, the north my the Madrean Archipelago, and on the east by the Chihuahuan desert'

These ranges, together with the mountains in the south enclose the great central Mexican plateau, which is a part of the North American Basin and Range region.

The Mexican plateau is composed largely of uplifted and folded strata of the Mesozoic Era, from about 250 to 65 million years ago. Formations from the second half of the Mesozoic predominate in exposed rocks, with older sediments being widespread. During the Cenozoic Era, from about 65 million years forward, great flows of lava terminated a long period of erosion and weathering. Then, later, large portions of the plateau was again uplifted, the result being greater in the south than in the north.

The Mexican Plateau, which averages 3,600 feet in elevation lies between the oriental and occidental ranges.