The Mountains and Basins of Texas

The Big Picture State’s highest mountains are here low areas of bone dry desert are here 4 mountain ranges the region borders Mexico

The Land Guadalupe Peak in the Guadalupe Mountains has the highest elevation in Texas. El Capitan is another high mountain in this range Chihuahuan Desert in in the basins between the mountains.

The Mountain Ranges of Texas Chisos Mountains Davis Mountains Guadalupe Mountains Part of our mountain in western Texas are part of the Rocky Mountain chain

Climate Driest part of our state Mountains are cooler than the desert areas. Summer temperatures in deserts are hottest in all Texas. At night, temperatures in desert drop because there are few clouds.

Living and Working You can drive for a hundred miles without seeing a town. Because there is so little rain, farming and ranching are difficult. Water is stored in reservoirs. A reservoir is a storage area for water.

El Paso Over half a million people live here One of the largest cities in Texas Located in a different Time Zone Because El Paso is so close to Mexico, there is a strong Hispanic culture here.

More of El Paso There are FACTORIES They make cowboy hats and blue jeans. Ciudad Juarez is a city in Mexico that El Paso works with...

Tourism 2 national parks Big Bend National Park--canyons, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, birds Guadalupe Mountains National Park--fossils of sea creatures in the rock

Why it matters Very dry climate Ranching and farming are difficult Animals and plants have special abilities that allow them to live without much water Most people live in El Paso Has the highest mountains in our state

Sum it up The Mountains and Basins region contains part of the Rocky Mountain chain. The Chihuahuan Desert stretches from Texas south to Mexico. Many factories in El Paso are linked to factories in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez. This is an example of interdependence.