The Silver Bell Mountains are a northwest–southeast trending mountain range in north–central Pima County, Arizona.Silver Bell East, AZ and Silver Bell West, AZ, 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangles, USGS, 1989 The range lies west of Marana, Arizona, located on Interstate-10, northwest of Tucson.
The range is located to the east of the Ironwood Forest National Monument. Ragged Top, located in the north of the range, is a well-known landmark in this former mining region.
Description The range is named after the Silver Bell Mine located at the southern end of the mountains. The range abuts the Waterman Mountains to the southeast, where palynology-(pollen) studies have shown some of the recent floristic history of Arizona during the Pliocene. Both ranges lie in the northeast Sonoran Desert; the Madrean Sky Island ranges begin just southeast of here, with the large, and most western sky island range, the Baboquivari Mountains-Quinlans 20–35 mi south.
The Silver Bell range can be accessed by Avra Valley Road and Silver Bell Road from the south of Marana.
Climate Climate is characterized by extremely variable temperature conditions. The Köppen Climate Classification sub-type for this climate is "Bsh" (Mid-Latitude Steppe and Desert Climate).Climate Summary for Silver Bell
See also Ironwood Forest National Monument List of mountain ranges of Pima County, Arizona List of mountain ranges of Arizona
References
External links
Silver Bell Peak Silver Bell Peak, trails.com coord
Ragged Top Peak Ragged Top, summitpost.org Silver Bell area, including Ragged Top