The Arizona transition zone, or Transition zone is a diagonal northwest-by-southeast region across central Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. The region is a transition from the higher elevation Colorado Plateau

Colorado Plateau

The Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. The province covers an area of 337,000 km2 within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico,...

 to the northeast in Northeast Arizona

Northeast Arizona

Northeast Arizona is a region of the U.S. state of Arizona commonly including Apache County and Navajo County. Some notable towns there are St. Johns, Eagar, Holbrook, Show Low, Winslow, Window Rock, Fort Defiance, Ganado, Chinle, and Kayenta....

 and the Basin and Range

Basin and Range

The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region defined by a unique topographic expression. Basin and Range topography is characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating between narrow faulted mountain chains and flat arid valleys or basins...

 region of southwest and south regions of lower elevation deserts.

Northwest Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 transitions to the higher elevation Mojave Desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

 of southern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 and Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, with an indicator species of Joshua tree

Joshua tree

Yucca brevifolia is a plant species belonging to the genus Yucca. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, Yucca palm, Tree yucca, and Palm tree yucca....

s and other species, and southwestwards regions of the Sonoran Desert

Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...

, along the Lower Colorado River Valley

Lower Colorado River Valley

The Lower Colorado River Valley is the river region of the lower Colorado River of the southwestern United States in North America that rises in the Rocky Mountains and has its outlet at the Colorado River Delta in the northern Sea of Cortez in northwestern Mexico, between the states of Baja...

; in Arizona's south, all of central and eastern desert Sonoran Desert regions merge southwards into Sonora

Sonora

Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....

 Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. The transition zone includes the Mogollon Rim

Mogollon Rim

The Mogollon Rim is a topographical and geological feature running across the U.S. state of Arizona. It extends approximately from northern Yavapai County eastward to near the border with New Mexico.-Description:...

 and the White Mountains

White Mountains (Arizona)

The White Mountains of Arizona are a mountain range and mountainous region in the eastern part of the state, near the border with New Mexico; it is a continuation from the west of the Arizona transition zone–Mogollon Rim, with the Rim ending in western New Mexico...

 and extends into western New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

.

In the Arizona ecoregion section, the Arizona transition zone is the major section ot the EPA designated, Level III ecoregion, Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion

Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion

The Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S...

. The other two outlier subregions to the transition zone in Arizona, are the Kaibab Plateau

Kaibab Plateau

The Kaibab Plateau is located in northern Arizona in the United States. The plateau, part of the larger Colorado Plateau, is bordered on the south by the Grand Canyon and reaches an elevation of 9241 feet above sea level. The plateau is divided between Kaibab National Forest and the "North Rim"...

 of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

, and associated ranges of the Chuska Mountains

Chuska mountains

The Chuska Mountains are an elongate range on the Colorado Plateau and within the Navajo Nation. The range is about 80 by 15 km , and it trends north-northwest and is crossed by the state line between Arizona and New Mexico. The highlands are a dissected plateau, with an average elevation of...

 region of the northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

.

Geography

The transition zone is dominated by the Mogollon Plateau

Mogollon Plateau

The Mogollon Plateau or Mogollon Mesa is a pine-covered southern plateau section of the larger Colorado Plateau in east-central Arizona. The southern boundary of the plateau is the Mogollon Rim. The Mogollon Plateau is 2,135-2,440 meters high...

 at the southern edge of the Coconino Plateau

Coconino Plateau

The Coconino Plateau is found south of the Grand Canyon and north—northwest of Flagstaff, in northern Arizona of the Southwestern United States.-Geography:...

 of the Flagstaff

Flagstaff, Arizona

Flagstaff is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2010, the city's population was 65,870. The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area was at 134,421 in 2010. It is the county seat of Coconino County...

 region and the San Francisco volcanic field

San Francisco volcanic field

The San Francisco volcanic field is an area of volcanoes in northern Arizona, north of Flagstaff, USA. The field covers 1,800 square miles of the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau. The field contains 600 volcanoes ranging in age from less than 6 million years old to less than 1,000 years ,...

; the Mogollon Rim

Mogollon Rim

The Mogollon Rim is a topographical and geological feature running across the U.S. state of Arizona. It extends approximately from northern Yavapai County eastward to near the border with New Mexico.-Description:...

 borders the plateau which extends from Oak Creek Canyon

Oak Creek Canyon

Oak Creek Canyon is a river gorge located along the Mogollon Rim in northern Arizona located between the cities of Flagstaff and Sedona. The canyon is often described as a smaller cousin of the Grand Canyon because of its scenic beauty...

 on the west, to the east at the highest elevations of Arizona in the central and western White Mountains

White Mountains (Arizona)

The White Mountains of Arizona are a mountain range and mountainous region in the eastern part of the state, near the border with New Mexico; it is a continuation from the west of the Arizona transition zone–Mogollon Rim, with the Rim ending in western New Mexico...

.

List of mountain ranges of the Arizona transition zone

The Arizona transition zone map is similar to the yellow transition region shown above.

Central mountain ranges

• Black Hills (Yavapai County)
  Black Hills (Yavapai County)
  The Black Hills of Yavapai County are a large mountain range of north-central Arizona in southeast Yavapai County. It is bordered on the northeast, and in the south on the east by the southeast-flowing Verde River in the Verde Valley...
  
  
• Dripping Springs Mountains
• Limestone Hills (Arizona)
• Mazatzal Mountains
  Mazatzal Mountains
  The Mazatzal Mountains are a mountain range in south central Arizona, about 30–45 miles northeast of Phoenix and the Phoenix metropolitan area. The origin of the name remains obscure but one possibility is that it is from the Aztec language meaning "place of the deer"...
  
  

• New River Mountains
  New River Mountains
  The New River Mountains are a small 14-mi long, mountain range in central Arizona, and on the north border of the Phoenix valley; the range is located on the southwest perimeter of the Arizona transition zone. The range is a sub-part of landforms extending south from the Black Hills of Yavapai...
  
  
• Sierra Ancha
  Sierra Ancha
  The Sierra Ancha is a mountain range in Gila County, in central Arizona. It lies between Roosevelt Lake to the south, the Tonto Basin to the west, Cherry Creek to the east, and Pleasant Valley to the north...
  
  
• Superstition Mountains
  Superstition Mountains
  The Superstition Mountains , popularly referred to as "The Superstitions", are a range of mountains in Arizona located to the east of the Phoenix metropolitan area...
  
  
• Usery Mountains

Western region ranges

• Aquarius Mountains
  Aquarius Mountains
  The Aquarius Mountains are a 45-mi long mountain range in southeast Mohave County, Arizona. The range lies in the northwest of the Arizona transition zone, and at the southwest of the Coconino Plateau, a subsection of the Colorado Plateau....
  
  
• Black Hills (Yavapai County)
  Black Hills (Yavapai County)
  The Black Hills of Yavapai County are a large mountain range of north-central Arizona in southeast Yavapai County. It is bordered on the northeast, and in the south on the east by the southeast-flowing Verde River in the Verde Valley...
  
  
• Black Mountains (Yavapai County)
• Bradshaw Mountains
  Bradshaw Mountains
  The Bradshaw Mountains are a mountain range in the Sonoran Desert of central Arizona, USA, named for brothers Isaac and William Bradshaw after their death, having been formerly known in English as the Silver Mountain Range.-History:...
  
  
• Date Creek Mountains
  Date Creek Mountains
  The Date Creek Mountains are a short, arid range in southwest Yavapai County, Arizona. Congress is on its southeast foothills, and Wickenburg lies southeast.-Description and area:...
  
  
• Hieroglyphic Mountains
  Hieroglyphic Mountains
  The Hieroglyphic Mountains are a mountain range located in central Arizona. The Hieroglyphics roughly straddle the border between Maricopa and Yavapai counties and form an effective physical barrier northwest of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area...
  
  
• Juniper Mountains
• McCloud Mountains

• Mohon Mountains
• Poachie Range
  Poachie Range
  The Poachie Range is a moderate length mountain range and massif in southeast Mohave County, Arizona, and the extreme southwest corner of Yavapai County; the range also abuts the northeast corner of La Paz County...
  
  
  • (Alamo Lake, Aguila Valley)
• Santa Maria Mountains
  Santa Maria Mountains
  The Santa Maria Mountains are a 16-mi long mountain range in central-northwest Arizona, and in northwest Yavapai County. The range lies in a region of mesas and mountain ranges in the northwest of Arizona's transition zone...
  
  
• Sierra Prieta
• Sullivan Buttes
• Vulture Mountains
• Weaver Mountains
  Weaver Mountains
  The Weaver Mountains are a smaller mountain range to the southwest of the Bradshaw Mountains in central-west Yavapai County, Arizona. Yarnell at the summit of the Yarnell Hill, Arizona State Route 89, is at the center of the range.-Description:...
  
  

Eastern region ranges

• Big Lue Mountains
• Black Hills (Greenlee County)
  Black Hills (Greenlee County)
  The Black Hills of Greenlee County are a 20 mi long mountain range of the extreme northeast Sonoran Desert bordering the south of the White Mountains of eastern Arizona's transition zone....
  
  
• Blackjack Mountains
• Gila Mountains (Graham County)
  Gila Mountains (Graham County)
  The Gila Mountains is a mountain range in central-east Arizona. It borders the Gila River and Gila Valley on the valley's northeast in north-central Graham County; also the San Carlos Indian Reservation...
  
  
• Hayes Mountains
• Mescal Mountains
• Natanes Mountains

• Pinal Mountains
• Salt River Mountains (Gila County)
• Santa Teresa Mountains
  Santa Teresa Mountains
  The Santa Teresa Mountains are located in western Graham County, Arizona, within the Coronado National Forest and within the Santa Teresa Wilderness.-External links:*...
  
  
• Sevenmile Mountains
• Sierra Aguilada
  Sierra Aguilada
  The Sierra Aguilada is a short, higher altitude mountain range in southwest Catron County, New Mexico on the eastern perimeter of Arizona's White Mountains. The region is at the east perimeter of the Arizona transition zone with its Mogollon Rim. The Mogollon Mountains of New Mexico lie just east,...
  
  -(New Mexico)
• White Mountains (Arizona)
  White Mountains (Arizona)
  The White Mountains of Arizona are a mountain range and mountainous region in the eastern part of the state, near the border with New Mexico; it is a continuation from the west of the Arizona transition zone–Mogollon Rim, with the Rim ending in western New Mexico...
  
  -(central-southern regions)