To the east of Alamos is a mountainous region known as the Sierra Madre Occidental. Within these mountains lies an extensive system of canyons and river drainages known as the Copper Canyon or Sierra Tarahumara. The Sierra Madre possesses an unusually large number of great canyons in such a small geographical area. Some of these canyons are deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The Sierra Tarahumara is part of a large uplifted volcanic plateau. The upper portion of the Sierra consists of great thickness of extruded volcanic rock.This rugged mountainous area is the result of river erosion over thousands of years.

Because of the high upper elevations and extremely deep canyons a wide range of temperature and plant communities exists. The upper elevations are pine and oak forested and the canyon bottoms are subtropical. The plant diversity is also reflected in the wide variety of animal life in this mountainous region. Storms coming from the tropical eastern pacific ocean drop large amounts of rain during the summer monsoon season. This rain eventually flows from the mountains by way of three principal river systems, the Rio Yaqui, the Rio Mayo, and the Rio Fuerte. These rivers feed large reservoir's providing irrigation to a vast area of costal plain to the west.

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