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Social Studies _ North American Geographic Regions – Reading Directions: Read the descriptions below of physical regions in the continent of North America. Use this information for class assignments on the regions. Regions are large areas which contain geographical features, human cultures, politics, or other traits that are the same inside the region but are different from other regions. Geographers often divide the continent of North American into large regions to help us remember what is inside of these large areas. Coastal Plains – The land which touches the Atlantic Ocean from about present-day Massachusetts south to Florida and around the Gulf of Mexico through present-day Texas is generally flat and low. This lowland actually begins as a very narrow band in the north and becomes the very broad lowlands of the southeast. Rivers are wide and move slowly. Soil is rich and fertile. Here you find many swamps and ocean beaches. The waterfront and port areas here are much flatter than along the mountainous Pacific coast. The Atlantic coastal area is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by the Appalachian Mountains. The Gulf coastal area spreads south like a fan around the lower Mississippi. Appalachian Mountains/Highlands – West and north of the coastal plains is the Appalachian region. This mountain range stretches from the northeast in Maine to the southeast. Some also consider the Ozarks, split off by the Mississippi River, to be a part of the Appalachians. These mountains are old enough to be the Rocky Mountains’ grandfather! Over time the Appalachians have been eroded by water and wind to be much lower and more rounded than the Rockies. Their tallest peak is Mount Mitchell (NC-6684 ft. tall). However, these mountains still looked huge to the early colonists who crossed them as pioneers to make a new life in the west. After all, there were no roads and you had to pull your own belongings up and down the hills. Interior Lowlands – West of the Appalachians, south of the Canadian Shield, and east of the Great Plains, the Interior Lowlands(Central Lowlands) are a rich land that is lower than the Appalachians but a bit higher and more rolling than the coastal plains. Many broad rivers and valleys, including the mouths of the Ohio and Missouri, and the upper Mississippi, provide excellent support for farming. This area looked very rich to farmers during the 1800s and remains our nation’s ‘breadbasket,’ a place where many grain products such as corn and wheat are grown. All of the Great Lakes except Superior also fall within this area. Canadian Shield/Laurentian Plateau Located west of the Appalachians, east of the Great Plains, and north of the Interior Lowlands, the Canadian Shield is shaped like a horseshoe or a shield surrounding the Hudson Bay. The land is composed mainly of thin soil and contains many lakes formed by glacier activity. Thousands of years ago, glaciers moved slowly south and gouged (scraped) the best soil off this area, pushing it south. However, it exposed many mineral resources such as nickel, gold, silver and copper that can be dug (Over, please) up from the ground, processed, and turned into useful products. and east of the Rockies, the Great Plains opens up after you pass the Mississippi River. Unlike eastern North America, whose Interior Lowlands, Appalachians and Coastal Plains were covered in forests, the Great Plains are a ‘sea of grass.’ Conestoga wagons favored by the early settlers were often called ‘prairie schooners’ because the grass was so tall that from a distance the wagons’ tops looked like the sails of boats in the ocean. Few trees grow here because there is less precipitation than east of the Mississippi. Beginning around 100 degrees west longitude, the flat to rolling Plains rise gradually toward the Rockies. Range is an area of extreme climate (very hot or very cold; often quite dry) and changing elevations. There are places where the land goes down into a large bowl shape (basin), others where it makes a high flat top (plateau), and many different mountain ranges scattered around. These ranges aren’t quite as tall as the Rockies, but they are still quite rough! To the north is the Great Basin which contains Utah’s Great Salt Lake; traveling south you will find many canyons carved by ancient rivers and blowing sand, such as the Grand Canyon, and the lowest and hottest place in the United States, Death Valley. At the northwest side of the Basin and Range rise the Cascade Mountains in present-day Washington and Oregon. Forming a wall to the southwest are the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Rocky Mountains – West of the Great Coastal Ranges – West of the Basin and Plains and east of the Basin and Range, the Rocky Mountains are the highest region in North America. Some think of them as our continent’s spine. These mountains soar to heights of 15,000 feet and more in a thick line from Alaska down to Mexico, where they are called the Sierra Madre, or ‘mother range.’ Compared to the Appalachians, the Rockies posed an even more challenging obstacle to westward migration. This great wall of mountains contains a feature we call the Continental Divide-the highest line of mountains in North American which make some rivers flow east toward the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, and forces other rivers to flow west toward the Pacific Ocean. Range and east of the Pacific Ocean, the Coastal Range area offers spectacular scenery. On the western edge, rugged mountains seem to dip their toes in the Pacific from Alaska south to Mexico. Some geographers also include the Cascades and the Sierra Nevadas as part of this region on the eastern side. Among the more spectacular peaks in this region are Alaska’s Mount McKinley – also named Denali – at 20,320 feet, Washington’s Mount Rainier (14,410-the baby of the bunch) and California’s Mount Whitney )14,494 feet. Don’t take our word for it; climb on! However, watch out for the volcanoes and earthquakes which dot this area that is part of the Pacific’s ‘Ring of Fire.’ However, there are more than mountains here; beautiful beaches, lush river valleys and regal sequoias also take an honored place in this region. Great Plains – West of the Interior Lowlands Basin and Range – West of the Rockies and east of the Coastal Ranges, the Basin and