Mexico
Southward from its 1,500 mile long border with the United States lies
the Estados Unidos Mexicanos. A country with slightly more than 750,000 square
miles in area, has a vast array of mineral resources, limited
agricultural land, and a rapidly growing population. These factors are the basis
for many of the country's present problems as well as opportunities for future
development. The nation is struggling to modernize its economy. With more than
80 million people in the mid-1980s, Mexico's overall population density exceeds
110 per square mile. More than half of its inhabitants live in the country's
central core, while the arid north and the tropical south are sparsely settled.
The ...
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low by United States
standards, the nation's gross national product per capita rose significantly
during the 1970s. Despite impressive social and economic gains, since 1981
Mexico has been wracked by severe inflation and an enormous foreign debt brought
on in large part by precipitous declines in the value of petroleum products.
Geologically, Mexico is located in one of the Earth's most dynamic areas.
It is a part of the "Ring of Fire," a region around the Pacific Ocean
highlighted by active volcanism and frequent seismic activity. Within the
context of plate tectonics, a theory developed to explain the creation of major
landform features around the world, Mexico is situated on the western, or
leading, edge of the huge North American Plate. Its interaction with the Pacific,
Cocos, and Caribbean plates has given rise over geologic time to the Earth-
building processes that created most of Mexico. Towering peaks, like
Citlaltepetl at some 18,000 feet, are extremely young in geologic ...
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or canyons. The most spectacular of these is
the Barranca del Cobre, Mexico's equivalent of the Grand Canyon. The Sierra
Madre Oriental, a range of folded mountains formed of shale and limestone, is on
the east side of the mesa. With average elevations similar to those of the
Sierra Madre Occidental, these dissected highlands have peaks that reach 13,000
feet.
The Mesa Central stretches from San Luis Potosi to the volcanic axis
south of Mexico City. Formed largely by volcanic action, the general plateau
surface of this mesa is higher, moister, and generally flatter than the Mesa del
Norte. The Mesa Central is divided into a series of fairly flat intermountain
basins separated by eroded ...
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CITE THIS PAGE:
Mexico. (2004, April 26). Retrieved December 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Mexico/6840
"Mexico." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 26 Apr. 2004. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Mexico/6840>
"Mexico." Essayworld.com. April 26, 2004. Accessed December 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Mexico/6840.
"Mexico." Essayworld.com. April 26, 2004. Accessed December 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Mexico/6840.
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