Geography of the state of Hidalgo

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The geography of the State of Hidalgo refers to the physical geography and human geography of Hidalgo, a state in central Mexico.

Hidalgo is located in the eastern part of Mexico. To the north, it borders San Luis Potosí and Veracruz; to the east, it borders Puebla; to the south it bordersTlaxcala and the State of Mexico.^[1] It's located between the coordinates: to the north, 21°23′55″; to the south, 19°35′52″ of the latitude north; to the east, 97°59′06″; to the west, ^{[clarification needed]}.^{[. 1]} The state is made up of eighty-four municipalities.^[2]

According to INEGI, Hidalgo has an area of 20 813.57 km²;^[3] this represents 1.06% of the total area of Mexico.^{[note 1][1][5]} It is the 6th least extensive state — ahead of Querétaro, Colima, Aguascalientes, Morelos, and Tlaxcala, which is the least extensive state. The largest municipality within Hidalgo is Zimapán, with an area of 872.24 km² (this represents 4.19% of the state's total area).^{[note 2]} The smallest municipality within the state is Tlahuelilpan, which has an area of 28.18 km², which represents 0.14% of the Hidalgo's total area.^{[note 3][3][10]}

The state of Hidalgo has a great geographical diversity; due to this, an extensive variety of flora and fauna are present in the state, as well as a wide range of climatic and geomorphological conditions.^{[. 2]} From north to south, the state is split into three distinct regions: the Northern Gulf Coastal Plain, which has the lowest altitude, the Eastern Mother Sierra, which has a medium altitude, and the Neovolcanic Axis, which has the highest altitude in the state.^[11]

Ten regions have been identified within the state, which group municipalities that have similar characteristics; this has been possible due to the stark differences that exist between each region, which directly affect the economic situations and the lives of each region's inhabitants.^{[. 2]} The geocultural regions of Hidalgo constitute an exercise in the grouping of geographical spaces based on the cultural characteristics that they share.^[12]

In this way, in the northwestern portion of the state, the Huasteca region has been fully identified.^{[. 2]} In the part corresponding to the Sierra Madre Oriental, located in the center of the territory, with a southeast–northwest direction, municipalities are grouped into four different regions: Sierra de Tenango, Sierra Baja, Sierra Alta, and Sierra Gorda. In the Neovolcanic Axis, in the center is the Mining Valley, in the southeast fraction is the Tulancingo Valley and the Altiplanicie pulquera, to the west and southwest the Mezquital Valley, to the south is the Cuenca de México.<refname />

The Huasteca is a long and narrow strip of abundant vegetation, it has a little rugged surface, except for some peaks and hills it lacks remarkable mountains.^{[. 3]} La Sierra Alta es una región en donde destacan bruscas elevaciones que forman parte de la Sierra Madre Oriental.^{[. 3]} In the Sierra Baja its landscape is not precisely of high hills or sharp mountains, but of a plain that suddenly seems to sink through its barrancas and canñones.^{[. 3]}

The Sierra Gorda was born in Hidalgo as a branch of the Sierra Madre Oriental, in this part there are very rugged surfaces with rough and boluda mountains.^{[. 3]} The Sierra de Tenango also called Sierra Otomí-Tepehua is a region of less abrupt mountains and has small intramontaneous plain.^{[. 3]} The Tulancingo Valley in a large valley that could formerly be a basin Lakester, begins where the mountain ends its conformation, is characterized by the presence of some rock formations of volcanic origin.^{[. 4][13]} The Mining Region has a relief of serranía is an area rich in deposits of metals such as lead, gold and silver.^[11]

The Altiplanicie pulquera also known as the plains of Apan, is an Highland with three lake areas, small the so-called lagoons of Tochac-Atocha, Apan^[14] it has cultivation landscapes, especially the maguey pulque.^[11] The Basin of Mexico also called Pachuca-Tizayuca Valley corresponds to semi-arid plains that are highly usable for agricultural activities,^{[. 4]} it's a corridor protected by a chain of hills on each side.^[11] The Mezquital Valley is made up of various valleys and plains, limited by isolated volcanic mountains and basaltic spills;^[11] it includes a surface of extreme aridity.^{[. 4]}

The number of regions that make up the state of Hidalgo depends on the work and the author consulted. Sometimes the Sierra Alta and the Sierra Baja are placed in a single region called the Sierra Hidalguense.^{[15][. 5][. 6][. 7]} and to the Tulancingo Valley, the Mining Region, the Altiplanicie pulquera, the Basin of Mexico; they are placed in a single region called the Altiplano Hidalguense.^{[. 4][. 8][. 9]} The Sierra de Tenango, is confused with the slopes that go down to the Huasteca;^[11] some geographical letters name it as part of the Sierra Norte de Puebla and others as part of the Sierra de Huayacocotla.^[11] Even the Acaxochitlán is named as part of the Totonacapan region.^[16][17][18]

The Huasteca is a multicultural region that includes the southern part of the state of Tamaulipas, the north of Veracruz, the east of San Luis Potosí, the north of the state of Hidalgo, a northern portion of Querétaro.^[19] The Huasteca Hidalgo, is located to the north of the state territory, but some sources extend it to the south, to the municipalities of Molango de Escamilla, Metztitlán and Zacualtipán de Ángeles.^[20][16] Even annexing parts of the municipality of Huasca de Ocampo,^[21] And the Sierra de Tenango,^[20][16] reaching the northern part of Puebla.^[19]

The Basin of Mexico was an endorheic basin formed by a large system of lakes: Chalco, Xochimilco, Texcoco, San Cristóbal-Xaltocan.^[22] The region is made up of four valleys, the Valley of Mexico, Valley of Cuautitlán, Valley of Apan and the Pachuca-Tizayuca Valley; it's comprised between four federal entities: the state of Mexico, Mexico City, Hidalgo and Tlaxcala. The Sierra Gorda is born in Hidalgo as a branch of the Sierra Madre Oriental and culminates in San Luis Potosí, after crossing Querétaro and Guanajuato.^{[. 3]} The Mezquital Valley can extend to the northern part of the state of Mexico and a limited area of the southeast of the state of Querétaro.^[23][24]

• 
  Municipality of Apan in the Valley of Apan.
• 
  Municipality of Mineral del Chico in the Mining Mine.
• 
  Municipality of Tizayuca in the Basin of Mexico.
• 
  Municipality of San Felipe Orizatlán in the Huasteca.
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  Tlanchinol in the Sierra Alta.
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  Municipality of Juárez, Hidalgo in the Sierra Baja.
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  Municipality of San Bartolo Tutotepec in the Sierra de Tenango.
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  Municipality of Zimapán in the Sierra Gorda.
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  Cuautepec de Hinojosa in the Tulancingo Valley.
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  Tula de Allende in the Mezquital Valley.

Geographically, Hidalgo has three well-defined climatic zones: a warm or semi-warm zone, a temperate zone, and a dry, or semi-dry, zone.^{[. 10][25][26]} Some areas of higher altitude have a semi-cold climate.^{[. 10][26]}

• Geography of Mexico