Mesa del Norte

a plateau in Mexico and the USA, in the northern part of the Meseta Central, between the Sierra Madre Oriental and Sierra Madre Occidental. The Mesa del Norte consists of extensive, flat basins (bolsons) and individual mountain ranges. The floors of the basins lie at an elevation of 600 m in the north and 2,000 m in the south. The relative elevation of the ranges is 600–1,000 m. Most of the territory is watered by intermittent streams; only the Rio Grande and its tributary the Conchos River drain into the ocean. Desert vegetation grows in the basins, and there are sparse pine and oak forests on the mountain slopes. Complex ores and gold are mined at San Francisco del Oro.