The relief of San Luis Potosí is characterized by its mountainous areas and flattened territories formed since the Paleozoic era.
To the east, the state of Potosí is made up of an extensive plain of eroded soils with a high concentration of sand and very little organic matter.
In the center, there are a lot of mountain systems that cross it from north to south, and to the west it has a huge plateau.
The state of San Luis de Potosí has a height of 1,860 meters above sea level and a length of approx. of 1,471 km².
The potosino relief has an irregular shape throughout the territory and is made up of the physiographic provinces of Sierra Madre Oriental (which covers 56.92% of the state territory), the Central Plateau (35.27%) and the Northern Gulf Coastal Plain (7.81 %).
The relief is composed of various altitudes and it is conceived that it has the shape of a step, each plain and mountain in the area is seen as steps.
The lower area or first step is La Huasteca; the second is the mountain range formed by the Tapona, El Rosal and Venado mountains; and the third step is a plain between the Sierras de San Miguelito and the El Salado desert.
The limits of the Potosí territory are: to the north, Villa de Arista and Moctezuma; to the south, Villa de Reyes; to the east, Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, Villa Hidalgo, Villa de Zaragoza and Cerro de San Pedro; and to the west, Ahualulco, Mexquitic de Carmona and Villa Arriaga.
As a large part of the state is located in a tropical zone due to the tropic of cancer, there is a great variety of meteorological climates that has affected the different regions and their soils.
Depending on the temperature, rainfall and altitude, the areas are more likely to favor the mountainous relief and its vegetation.
Main elevations
The main elevations found in the Potosí territory that stand out for their mountainous formations and their height.
-Cerro Grande-3180msnm
-Sierra Coronado-2810msnm
-Sierra de Catorce-3110msnm
-Sierra Los Picachos del Tunalillo-2770msnm
-Sierra San Miguelito-2630msnm
In Sierra Catorce, Moctezuma and Charcas, substantial deposits of mercury, silver, lead, zinc and gold have been found.
Other formations of less height are El Cabo and El Coyote, Peñas Blancas, El Picacho del Fraile and La Peña.
There are small rivers that cross the region such as El Río Españita, El Paisano and El Santiago, which are formed by runoff in the rainy season and from which the El Peaje dam is supplied.
References:
- Historical archive of towns in Mexico. (sf). Retrieved on October 4, 2006, from INEGI.
- Map of San Luis Potosí. (sf). Retrieved on December 11, 2015, from INEGI.
- Ricketts, Taylor H., Dinerstein, Eric., And Olson, David M. (1999) Terrestrial ecoregions of North America: a conservation assessment. Washington, DC Island Press.
- San Luis Potosi. (sf). Retrieved on October 2, 2017, from Encyclopedia.
- Siegel, JS and Swanson, DA (2004). The methods and material of demography. Elsevier Academic Press. USES.