"Gulf of California xeric scrub The Gulf of California xeric scrub is a xeric shrubland ecoregion of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. The Gulf of California xeric scrub covers an area of , lying on the eastern side of the peninsula along the Gulf of California, and extending to several of the islands in the gulf. The Peninsular Ranges, which run the length of the peninsula, separate the Gulf of California xeric scrub from the Baja California Desert which lies along Baja California's Pacific slope. To the north, the Gulf of California xeric scrub transitions to the Sonoran Desert. At the"
"Western Gulf coastal grasslands The Western Gulf coastal grasslands are a subtropical grassland ecoregion of the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It is known in Louisiana as the ""Cajun Prairie"", Texas as ""Coastal Prairie,"" and as the Tamaulipan pastizal in Mexico. The ecoregion covers an area of , extending along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico from southeastern Louisiana (west of the Mississippi Delta) through Texas and into the Mexican state of Tamaulipas as far as the Laguna Madre. Specific areas include a number of barrier islands, and the ""resacas"" or natural levees of the Laguna Madre. The"
"southern California, broke ground in the Central Valley in 2015. Central Valley (California) The Central Valley is a flat valley that dominates the geographical center of the U.S. state of California. It is wide and stretches approximately from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast. It covers approximately , about 11% of California's total land area (or about the size of the Dominican Republic). The valley is bounded by the Sierra Nevada to the east and the Coast Ranges to the west. It is California's single most productive agricultural region and one of the most"
"converted to farmland, including rice paddies, grazing land, or urban areas including Houston, Texas. Estuaries and other coastal wetlands are better preserved than the prairie and indeed the protected areas of the coast are mainly sanctuaries for waterbirds. Western Gulf coastal grasslands The Western Gulf coastal grasslands are a subtropical grassland ecoregion of the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It is known in Louisiana as the ""Cajun Prairie"", Texas as ""Coastal Prairie,"" and as the Tamaulipan pastizal in Mexico. The ecoregion covers an area of , extending along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico from southeastern Louisiana (west"
"the San Felipe Desert, the Central Coast Desert, the Vizcaíno Desert and the Magdalena Plain Desert. The land of California existed as a myth among European explorers before it was discovered. The earliest known mention of the ""idea"" of California was in the 1510 romance novel ""Las Sergas de Esplandián"" by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The book described the Island of California as being west of the Indies, ""very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons"". Following"
"Island of California The Island of California refers to a long-held Spanish misconception, dating from the 16th century, that the Baja California Peninsula was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island (spelled on early maps as Cali Fornia) separated from the continent by a strait now known as the Gulf of California. One of the most famous cartographic errors in history, it was propagated on many maps during the 17th and 18th centuries, despite contradictory evidence from various explorers. The legend was initially infused with the idea that California was a terrestrial paradise, like the Garden"
"Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. The U.S. states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida border the Gulf on the north, which are often referred to as the ""Third Coast"", in comparison with the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The Gulf of Mexico formed approximately 300 million years"
"Central Valley (California) The Central Valley is a flat valley that dominates the geographical center of the U.S. state of California. It is wide and stretches approximately from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast. It covers approximately , about 11% of California's total land area (or about the size of the Dominican Republic). The valley is bounded by the Sierra Nevada to the east and the Coast Ranges to the west. It is California's single most productive agricultural region and one of the most productive in the world, providing more than half of the"
"Geography of California California is a U.S. state on the western coast of North America. Covering an area of , California is geographically diverse. The Sierra Nevada, the fertile farmlands of the Central Valley, and the arid Mojave Desert of the south are some of the major geographic features of this U.S. state. It is home to some of the world's most exceptional trees: the tallest (coast redwood), most massive (Giant Sequoia), and oldest (bristlecone pine). It is also home to both the highest (Mount Whitney) and lowest (Death Valley) points in the 48 contiguous states. The state is generally"
"Ocean and Gulf of California, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, the latter two forming part of the Atlantic Ocean. Within these seas are about of islands (including the remote Pacific Guadalupe Island and the Revillagigedo Islands). From its farthest land points, Mexico is a little over in length. On its north, Mexico shares a border with the United States. The meandering Río Bravo del Norte (known as the Rio Grande in the United States) defines the border from Ciudad Juárez east to the Gulf of Mexico. A series of natural and artificial markers delineate the"
"Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As European settlement in the U.S. expanded westward through the centuries, the meaning of the term ""the West"" changed. Before about 1800, the crest of the Appalachian Mountains was seen as the western frontier. The frontier moved westward and eventually the lands west of the Mississippi River were considered the West. Though no consensus exists, even among experts, for the definition of the West as a region, the U.S. Census Bureau's"
"West Coast of the United States The West Coast or Pacific Coast is the coastline along which the continental Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. As a region, this term most often refers to the coastal states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. More specifically, it refers to an area defined on the east by the Alaska Range, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Mojave Desert, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The United States Census groups the five states of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii together as the Pacific States division. As of the 2010"
"fisheries of the southern Gulf. Many marine organisms can only survive within a particular salinity range, which makes salinity a notable factor in determining the types of potentially commercial organisms found in the Gulf of California. The mean annual ranges of salinity of the Sea of Cortez are between 3.5 and 3.58% at the surface. Furthermore, the salinity of the water of the Northern Gulf of California is generally higher than the Central and Southern faunal regions due to the increased amount of evaporation that occurs in that region. Gulf of California The Gulf of California (also known as the"
"Florida Panhandle The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide (320 km by 80 to 160 km), lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined. The terms West Florida and Northwest Florida are today generally synonymous with the Panhandle, although historically West Florida was the name of a British colony (1763–1783), later a Spanish colony (1783–1821),"
"California peninsula from the large island of Angel de la Guarda in the Gulf of California. The peninsula is home to several distinct ecoregions. Most of the peninsula is deserts and xeric shrublands, although pine-oak forests are found in the mountains at the northern and southern ends of the peninsula. The southern tip of the peninsula, which was formerly an island, has many species with affinities to tropical Mexico. The peninsula is known colloquially as ""Baja"" by American and Canadian tourists, and is known for its natural environment. It draws ecotourists who go whale watching for migrating California Gray Whales"
"south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. US Gulf of Mexico Protraction areas Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. The U.S. states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida border the Gulf on the north, which are often referred to as"
"drain the majority of the valley. The Central Valley covers an area of approximately , making it slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia and about 13.7% of California's total area. The Central Valley is wide, with the Sierra Nevada to the east and the Coast Ranges to the west. The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Peninsular Ranges from the Sierra Madre Occidental on the Mexican mainland. The Gulf of California is long and wide, with an area of , a mean depth of , and a volume of . The Rocky Mountain"
"and along the Gulf of California the vegetation is scarce and temperatures are very high during the summer months. The islands in the Gulf of California also belong to the desert climate. Some oases can be found in the desert in which few towns are located – for instance, Catavina, San Borja and Santa Gertrudis. Common trees are the Jeffrey Pine, Sugar Pine and Pinon Pine. Understory species include Manzanita. Fauna include a variety of reptiles including the Western fence lizard, which is at the southern extent of its range. The name of the fish genus ""Bajacalifornia"" is derived from"
"The Gulf of California lies within the jurisdictional boundaries of Mexico and its states of Baja California and Sonora. In 1974, the Mexican government designated portions of the upper Gulf and lower Colorado River Delta as a reserve zone. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) designated over 12,000 km² (3 million acres) of Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve as a Biosphere Nature reserve in June 1993. Within this 12,000 km² (3 million acres), over 4,000 km² (1 million acres) nearest the Colorado River Delta are designated as the Reserve ""core area"", with"
"Ranchos of California The Spanish and later Mexican governments encouraged settlement of the coastal region of Alta California (now known as California) by giving prominent men large land grants called ""ranchos"", usually two or more square leagues, or . Land-grant titles (concessions) were government-issued, permanent, unencumbered property-ownership rights to land called ranchos. The ranchos encompassed virtually all of the most valuable land near the coast, around San Francisco Bay, and inland along the Sacramento River and nearby lands in the Central Valley. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves after the landed"
"latitude 50° North to about 40° South. The western coasts of these lands, ""America"" in the south and ""Parias"" in the north, are labelled ""Terra ultra incognita"" (""Land beyond unknown"") and ""Vlterius incognita terra"" (""Land further beyond unknown""), indicating it was unknown how far westward they extended. The sea to the west of these lands is labelled ""Oceanus orientalis indianus"" (Eastern Indian Ocean), in accordance with the conclusion reached by Columbus after his third voyage of 1496-1498, when he encountered the South American mainland, which he called a ""Nuevo Mundo"" and identified with Marco Polo’s “greatest island in the world”,"
"""the lands lying west of the Pecos, north of the [Mexican] Border, south of the Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon, and east of the mountains which wall off Southern California and make it a land in itself."" Texas has long been the focal point of this dichotomy, and is often considered, as such, the ""core area"" of ""the South's Southwest."" While the Trans-Pecos area is generally acknowledged as part of the ""desert Southwest"", most of Texas and large parts of Oklahoma are often placed into a sub-region of the South, which some consider southwestern in the general framework of"
"to split California into two or three states. The coastal area north of the Bay Area is referred to as the North Coast, while the interior region north of Sacramento is referred by locals as the Northstate. Northern California is the name of a proposed new state on the 2018 California ballot created by splitting the existing state into three parts. Since the events of the California Gold Rush, Northern California has been a leader on the world's economic, scientific, and cultural stages. From the development of gold mining techniques and logging practices in the 19th century that were later"
"area. The region once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land subsidence has forced much of the region to turn to ground-level water sources. The land beneath the Bay Area consists of layers of sand and clay to great depths. These layers were created by millennia of river-borne sediments which gradually incorporated plant and animal matter creating the petroleum deposits for which the Gulf Coast is known. The region has numerous faults, many considered active, but none has produced significant earthquakes in recorded history. These faults tend to move at a smooth rate in what is termed ""fault creep"","
"Valley (the river forms the present day border between the states of California and Arizona). The Californias The Californias (Spanish: Las Californias), occasionally known as the Three Californias or Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico and consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. Historically, the term """"The Californias"""" was used to define the vast northwestern region of Spanish America, as the ""Province of the Californias"" (), and later as a collective term for Alta California and the Baja California Peninsula. Originally"
"and British Columbia, Canada to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south, Russia (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug), Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west, and the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Alaska is the largest state in the United States in terms of land area at , over twice (roughly 2.47 times) as large as Texas, the next largest state, and is the seventh largest country subdivision in the world. If the state's westernmost point were superimposed on San Francisco, California, its easternmost point would be in"
"winds from the Nevada and Arizona hot desert climate. Since the West Coast has been populated by immigrants and their descendants more recently than the East Coast, its culture is considerably younger. Additionally, its demographic composition underlies its cultural difference from the rest of the United States. California's history first as a major Spanish colony, and later Mexican territory, has given the lower West Coast a distinctive Hispanic tone, which it also shares with the rest of the Southwest. Similarly, two of the three cities in which Asian Americans have concentrated, San Francisco and Los Angeles, are located on the"
"Gulf of California Rift Zone The Gulf of California Rift Zone (GCRZ) is the northernmost extension of the East Pacific Rise which extends some from the mouth of the Gulf of California to the southern terminus of the San Andreas Fault at the Salton Sink. The GCRZ is an incipient rift zone akin to the Red Sea Rift. In the GCRZ continental crust originally associated with the North American Plate has been pulled apart by tectonic forces and is being replaced by newly formed oceanic crust and seafloor spreading. The rifting has resulted in the transfer of the Baja California"
"western coast of mainland Mexico, the Colorado River mouth, the Baja California Peninsula coasts, and the present day West Coast of the United States in California and Oregon. While stationed at Yerba Buena (present day San Francisco), he traveled inland to see the Rancho New Helvetia agricultural colony of John Sutter. The 1848 discovery of gold on the rancho set off the California Gold Rush. Duflot de Mofras completed his journey in 1842. The report of Duflot de Mofras was significant at the time, and remains a detailed description of aspects of the northern Pacific Coast before American dominance. His"
"along the rift valley's western margin. Paleontological remains are widespread and diverse, and are found scattered over hundreds of square miles of eroded badlands terrain extending south from the Santa Rosa Mountains into northern Baja California in Mexico. Both marine and terrestrial environments are represented by this long and rich fossil record. Six million years ago, the ancestral Gulf of California filled the Salton Trough, extending northward past what would become the city of Palm Springs. These tropical waters supported a profusion of both large and small marine organisms. Through time, the sea gave way as an immense volume of"
"Mexico's independence from Spain, the upper territory became the Alta California province. In even earlier times, the boundaries of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean coastlines were only partially explored and California was shown on early maps as an island. The Sea of Cortez is also known as the Gulf of California. ""California"" was the name given to a mythical island populated only by Black Amazon warriors who used gold tools and weapons in the popular early 16th-century romance novel ""Las Sergas de Esplandián"" (The Adventures of Esplandián) by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. This popular Spanish"
"Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW), sometimes referred to as Cascadia, is a geographic region in western North America bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and (loosely) by the Cascade Mountain Range on the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common conception includes the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Broader conceptions reach north into Southeast Alaska and Yukon, south into northern California, and east of the Continental Divide to include Western Montana and parts of Wyoming. Narrower conceptions may be limited to the northwestern US, or to"
"Baja California Peninsula The Baja California Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in Northwestern Mexico. It separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south. It ranges from at its narrowest to at its widest point and has approximately of coastline and approximately 65 islands. The total area of the Baja California Peninsula is . The peninsula is separated from mainland Mexico by the Gulf of California and the Colorado River. There are four main desert areas on the peninsula:"