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STS060-101-053 La Mochis Area, Mexico February 1994
The color infrared image helps to identify the extensive land area that is being used for commercial agriculture along this coastal section of northwest Mexico. Notice the sizeable, angular field patterns (red colors map the extent of healthy green plants) that are widespread across the dry coastal plain of Sinaloa State. La Mochis, visible near the center of the image, has been a boomtown since the 1950's when the rapid growth of irrigated agriculture started to take in this semiarid region of northern Mexico. Wheat, cotton, soybean, oilseeds, and winter vegetables, especially tomatoes are among the main crops grown. Low mountains (darker, more textured-looking landscape) can be discriminated along the coast (bottom center) and north of the Fuerte River (top center). The dark-looking, uniform feature south of La Mochis is Ohvira Bay, one of many bays that indent this section of coastline in northwest Mexico. The lighter colored landscape inland from the coast shows poorly drained topography that contains virtually no permanent vegetative cover.
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