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Monterrey, Mexico March 1994.
Monterrey, capital of Nuevo Leon and Mexico's third largest city (with an estimated 1990
population of 2.5 million), has long been the country's leading industrial center and the
principal railroad hub for northeast Mexico. Power line rights-of-way, railroads, and highways
can be seen in this near-vertical photograph. Field patterns are visible in the broad valleys
east of metropolitan Monterrey. The north-south-trending, folded Sierra Madre Oriental Mountain
Range is a series of elongated limestone ranges forming the eastern rim of the elevated Mexican
Plateau. The mountains play a key role in Monterrey's environment; for example, severe air
pollution problems can develop when air stagnation occurs. Ridges in this mountain range vary
from 7000 to 8000 feet (2000 to 2400 meters) in elevation, with some peaks reaching 13 000 feet
(4000 meters). The ridges and valleys are the result of geologic folding of bedrock and are
similar to the folded Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. The Sierra Madre
Oriental Range veers westward west of Monterrey, forming an anticlinorium, a spectacular series
of folded ridges and valleys. The mountains become more fragmented and eroded north and east of
the city.
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