Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca 3.26

The Sierra Juárez is a range of mountains in Oaxaca state, Mexico between latitudes 17°20'-17°50'N and longitudes 96°15'-97°00'W, with an area of about 1,700 km². It is part of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca. The range is separated from the Sierra de Zongólica to the north by the Santo Domingo River, flowing through the Tecomavaca Canyon. It stretches south-eastward to the Cajones River and the Sierra de Villa Alta. The mountains are in the district of Ixtlán de Juárez in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca region. The range is named after Mexico's only indigenous president, Benito Juárez, who was born here in 1806 in the small village of San Pablo Guelatao. The heavily wooded area is about 62 km from the city of Oaxaca on Federal highway 175, heading towards Tuxtepec.Terrain and climateThe mountains climb from 500m to 3,250m, with many large and deep ravines. They are formed of folded sedimentary rocks with series of younger granitic intrusions that date from the Palaeozoic to Cenozoic, with the majority being Mesozoic. The climate is subtropical in the lower regions and temperate and subhumid above 1000m, with average temperature from 16°-20 °C. There is regular frost in the higher mountains. Annual rainfall, fed by the trade winds from the Caribbean sea, ranges from 700mm to 4000mm or more. The Valle Nacional River originates in the Sierra de Juárez, one of the major tributaries of the Papaloapan River.