Turtle Mountains
Map SatelliteThese mountains, which here include the outlying Mopah Range, are typical of the mountains of the eastern Mojave. Vegetation, except in the washes, is sparse and is primarily creosote bush scrub with some Joshua tree woodland. In the washes there are abundant palo verde, Cercidium floridum, catclaw, Acacia greggii, ironwood, Olneya tesota, mesquite, Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana, and smoke tree, Psorothamnus spinosus.
At Mopah Springs there is a grove, the northernmost, of the California fan palm, Washingtonia filifera.
The springs provide water for a variety of animals including the desert bighorn, Ovis canadensis. Desert tortoises, Gopherus agassizi, are not uncommon.
Much of the region is covered by Tertiary volcanics, though a portion is overlain by Pleistocene basalt. Pre-Cambrian rocks are prominent in the southern portion.
There are extensive archaeological sites and artifacts in the area. Fossil Neotoma middens indicate a pinyon-juniper woodland in the uplands in the early Recent period. The nearest such forests today are found several hundred kilometers to the north.
Integrity: The area is virtually undisturbed.
Use; Research, educational, observational. Some private.
December 1976
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman