Download The Geography of North Carolina

The Geography of
North Carolina
NC SCOS Goal 1.01
North Carolina in the United
States
Tennessee
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Geographic Region
A large area of land with a common set of features
Regions of North Carolina
Mountain Region
Coastal Plains
Piedmont Region
Inner Coastal
Plains
Tidewater
Tidewater Sub-Region
The low-lying eastern part of North
Carolina’s Coastal Plain that extends 20 to
30 miles inland from the Atlantic ocean.
The sounds and
rivers in the
Tidewater Sub-region
are affected by the
ocean tides. How?
Intracoastal Waterway
a 3,000-mile inland waterway that runs
along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the
United States from Maine to Texas.
Built in 1919, most of the ICW has a required depth
of 12 feet.
Piedmont
The hilly, region between the Coastal Plain
and the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountain Chain
A chain of mountains that run from
Georgia to Quebec along the east coast of
North America.
The Blue Ridge Mountains
A mountain range that runs on the Eastern
edge of the Appalachian mountain chain
from Georgia to Pennsylvania.
The Great Smoky Mountains are a small range within
the larger Blue Ridge Mountain Range.
The Continental Divide
An imaginary
line in a
continent’s
mountain
chain that
determines
which
direction
rivers will
flow.
The Continental Divide
Tennessee
North Carolina
Fall line
An imaginary line that separates the piedmont
and the coastal plains regions of North
Carolina, it’s the place on rivers where falls
are first found.
The Fall Line
What region does this represent?
Ocean
What region does this represent?
How did the Fall Line influence
early North Carolina colonial travel?
Fall Line
Fall Line
Where do you think the first
settlers that came to North
Carolina made their homes?
Answer #17 on your review sheet
about the fall line. Use the
word “prevented” in your
answer.
Outer Banks
A long chain of
sandbars and barrier
islands on the coast
of North Carolina
Cape
parts of the coastline that jut out into the
ocean
Cape Hatteras
Cape Lookout
Cape Fear
Inlet
places where the ocean flows through the
outer banks to the sounds
Oregon Inlet
Hatteras Inlet
Ocracoke Inlet
Beaufort Inlet
Sound
shallow bodies of water between the outer
banks and the mainland
Currituck
Sound
Albemarle
Sound
Pamlico
Sound
Core Sound
Donovan Goal
Bogue Sound
Continental Shelf
an underwater plain extending out from a
continent
Shoal
shallow water along the continental shelf
The Diamond Shoals at Cape Hatteras
and the Frying Pan Shoals at Cape Fear
What would be dangerous about
shoals in the ocean?
What is the
nickname of
North
Carolina’s
coast?
The Graveyard
of the Atlantic
Sand Dunes (Sandbanks)
A large deposit of sand forming a mound,
ridge or hillside.
The largest sand dune on
The Atlantic Coast is
Jockey’s Ridge at Nags
Head and is approximately
100 ft. high.
Picture of Jockey’s
Ridge
current
a flow of water within a larger body of
water.
The warm Gulf Stream
current flows north and the
cold Labrador current flows
south, they meet off the
coast of North Carolina at
Cape Hatteras.
Elevation
height above sea level
At 6,684 feet in elevation,
Mt. Mitchell is the highest
point in the United States,
east of the Mississippi
River.
Urban = city
Rural = Countryside, outside of
the city
Hiwassee
River
North
Carolina
Rivers
New
River
Chowan
Tar/Pamlico River
River
Yadkin River
Roanoke River
French Broad
River
Catawba
River
Little
Tennessee
River
Pee Dee
River
Cape Fear
River
Neuse
River
North Carolina Lakes
Lake Mattamuskeet
Lake Gaston
Lake Norman
Phelps Lake
High Rock Lake
Lake Waccamaw
Continental Divide
Continental
Shelf
Fall line
Shoal
Mountains
Ocean
North Carolina Cities
Asheville
Winston-Salem Raleigh
Kannapolis
Charlotte
Fayetteville
Wilmington
Morehead
City
North Carolina Cities (continued)
Hickory
Boone
Greensboro
Durham
Gastonia
Edenton
Bath
New Bern
Other important Geographic
features of North Carolina
Great Dismal Swamp
Mt. Mitchell
Roanoke
Island