The lifeway of the Tucson Basin Hohokam was molded by the local environment as the Indians took advantage of the area's rich natural setting. The Tucson Basin lies near the eastern edge of the Basin and Range Province of the Sonoran Desert. This area is characterized by low, discontinuous mountain ranges jutting up from the flat desert plain. The narrow mountain ranges are widely spaced and generally run north to south. Between the mountains are areas where sediment has collected from eroding mountain slopes to form shallow basins.
Intermittent rivers flow along the basin floors.
The Tucson Basin is enclosed by five mountains ranges. The Tucsons and Sierritas form the western and southern boundaries, and the Santa Catalina, Rincon, and Santa Rita mountains make up the northern, eastern, and southern boundaries. The Tucsons and Sierritas are typical low Basin and Range Province mountains, formed by volcanism and the fracturing of the earth's surface layers. The Catalinas, Rincons, and Santa Ritas, however, are high, massive, eroded remnants of underground intrusions of grantic rock. Rainfall in the Tucson Basin is also high in comparison to the major portion of the desert-eleven inches annually in contrast to seven.