SONORAN DESERT

Sonoran Desert, Arizona also called Desierto de Altar arid region covering 120,000 square miles (310,800 square km) in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California, U.S., and including much of the Mexican state of Baja California and the western half of the state of Sonora. Subdivisions of the hot, dry region include the Colorado and Yuma deserts. Irrigation has produced many fertile agricultural areas, notably the Coachella and Imperial valleys; the warm winters attract tourists to resorts, including Palm Springs, California, and Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. Indian reservations (particularly Papago and Pima) are scattered across the desert.