Physical Features & Geography of North America
North America is a vast and diverse continent that stretches from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Caribbean Sea in the south. It is home to a wide variety of physical features that have shaped the land, the climate, the ecosystems, and influenced the people and cultures that call it home.
There are many ways the continent can be divided into major physical regions that feature all of the world's major biomes. The major physical regions of North America include the Canadian Shield, the Western Cordillera, the Eastern Region, the Great Plains, and the Caribbean.
The Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield covers a significant portion of Canada and the northern United States. It is centered on Hudson Bay and extends over eastern, central, and northwestern Canada, the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, the Great Lakes Region, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York.
This area was the center of a glacier system during the Ice Age, which has since carved out numerous lakes and river systems, as well as swamps and wetlands. The area still has some of the glaciers, but most are receding due to climate change.
The area is home to many of Canada’s lakes and rivers. The St. Lawrence River, home to the 1000 Islands, begins in the northern region of Quebec and ends at Lake Superior. High granite walls are found along the banks of this river that serves as a major shipping seaway.
The Great Lakes: Ontario, Erie, Superior, Michigan, and Huron, were all formed by the glaciers that were once atop the Canadian Shield. Other major rivers in the Canadian Shield include the Mackenzie River, Nelson River, Churchill River, and the Rupert River. Other major lakes found in this geological region include Great Bear Lake, Lake Winnipeg, and Lake Athabasca.
The Eastern Region
This region features a variety of geological features such as mountains, river systems, and wetlands. It includes the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coastal plain, which are sometimes separated into distinct physical regions by geographers.
Niagara Falls sits between the Canadian Shield and the Eastern Region on the border of Canada and the United States. The Adirondack Mountains in New York also are situated between the Canadian Shield and the Eastern Region’s Appalachian Mountains.
Appalachia
The Appalachian Mountains run from Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, along the eastern coast of the United States to central Alabama.
The Appalachians have several cave systems like Shenandoah Caverns in Virginia, Appalachian Caverns in Tennessee, and the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky. The Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, and Stone Mountain are all part of the Appalachians.
Atlantic Coastal Plain
The Atlantic Coastal Plain stretches from Massachusetts to the Florida Keys. It features rivers, coastal beaches, and wetlands. Some of the major river systems in this region include the Hudson River, Susquehanna River, Delaware River, Potomac River, and the Suwannee Rivers.
Some of the major wetlands in this area are the Okefenokee Swamp bordering Georgia and Florida, and the Everglades in south Florida.
The Everglades begins with the Kissimmee River system and Lake Okeechobee in central Florida. Water leaving this area during the wet season forms a slow-moving river 60 miles wide and over 100 miles long until it empties into Florida Bay. This creates a sub-tropical sawgrass marsh that covers more than 4,300 square miles and is why the Everglades is also known as “The River of Grass.”
The Great Plains
The Great Plains are sometimes considered part of the larger Interior Plains. They extend from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the interior lowland and Canadian Shield in the east and from northern Canada south to the the Rio Grande River that forms the border of Texas and Mexico.
This area is covered with rich soil that is essential for agriculture and helps give the region its nickname: “the Breadbasket of North America.”
This area contains the Mississippi-Missouri River system, which is the largest river system in North America. The grassland region of the Great Plains makes up the largest biome in North America. The extreme weather here prevents the growth of large plants but is perfect for the native grasses.
The Badlands & Black Hills
The region is home to both the Badlands and the Black Hills. The Badlands are famous for rock formations known as buttes and spires that were created by wind and water erosion over 500,000 years ago. Mount Rushmore can be found about 68 miles from the Badlands area.
The Black Hills are found in western South Dakota and Wyoming. They were given their name due to their dark appearance from a distance as they are covered in evergreen trees. This area is considered sacred by Lakota people who were promised the land forever in a treaty with the United States in 1868. However, after gold was discovered there in 1874, the US took back the land and forcibly relocated the Lakota.
The Western Cordillera
This physical region is sometimes divided into three distinct regions: the Coastal Range, Basin and Range, and Rocky Mountains.
The Coastal Range runs along the Pacific Ocean for over 1,000 miles from Alaska in the north to Central Mexico in the south. The tallest mountain in North America, Denali, is here in Alaska and over 20,000 feet high. The Columbia River Gorge in the Pacific Northwest is formed by the Columbia River and is known for its many waterfalls.
The Great Basin
The Basin and Range area features the Great Basin, a drainage watershed where water flows down from the surrounding mountain ranges. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California.
The Great Salt Lake in Utah is found in this region as well as the Colorado River system which created the Grand Canyon, a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona.
The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and can reach a depth of just over a mile.
The Rocky Mountains
The Rockies is the largest mountain range in the Western Cordillera and can be divided into the Canadian Rockies, Rocky Mountains, and Sierra Madre. The Rockies form a continental divide, which divides the flow of water in opposite directions.
The rivers on the eastern side of the divide flow east towards the Mississippi River. The rivers on the western side of the mountains flow west and empty into the Pacific Ocean.
The Caribbean Region
While we will cover the Caribbean in our unit on Central America, it is technically part of North America. It has more than 700 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. Its topography includes sandy beaches, coral reefs, tropical rainforests, mountains and valleys, waterfalls, and volcanoes. The landmasses in this region can further be divided up into mountainous islands, limestone islands, volcanic islands, coral islands, and low-lying mainland countries.
Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Hispaniola are examples of the mountainous islands in the Caribbean Region. The Cayman Islands and the Bahamas are limestone islands, while. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Martinique, and Dominica are all volcanic islands.
The Florida Keys and Barbados were formed as part of the coral process, while Belize is an example of a low-lying mainland country found in the Caribbean Region. The various physical features of these countries contribute to its natural beauty and diverse ecosystems.