Transcript Land Features Power Point

Physical and Man-made
Features of the U.S.
The Atlantic Coastal Plain
• The Atlantic Coastal Plain is the flat stretch of land that
borders the Atlantic Ocean (including the Gulf of
Mexico).
• It is approximately 2,200 miles long, stretching from
Cape Cod, through the southeast United States and
through Mexico, ending with the Yucatán Peninsula.
• The western border of the coastal plain is defined as the
fall line, to the west of which lies the Piedmont Plateau
and then the Appalachian Mountains.
• The Atlantic Coastal
Plain in the U.S.
• Currently, the coastal
plain is very wet,
including many rivers,
marsh, and
swampland. It is
primarily used for
agriculture.
Great Plains
• The Great Plains is the broad
expanse of prairie and steppe
which lies east of the Rocky
Mountains in the United States
and Canada.
• This area covers parts of the
U.S. states of Colorado,
Kansas, Montana, Nebraska,
New Mexico, North Dakota,
Oklahoma, South Dakota,
Texas and Wyoming, and the
Canadian provinces of Alberta,
Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Continental Divide
• A continental divide is a line of elevated terrain which
forms a border between two watersheds such that water
falling on one side of the line eventually travels to one
ocean or body of water, and water on the other side
travels to another, generally on the opposite side of the
continent. Moreover, some rivers empty into deserts or
inland seas, and thus do not end up in the oceans.
North America has four continental
divides:
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The Great Divide
The Northern Divide
The St. Lawrence Seaway Divide
The Eastern Continental Divide
• The Great Divide, also called
the Continental Divide
separates the watersheds of
the Pacific Ocean from those
of the Atlantic or Arctic
Oceans. It runs from the
Seward Peninsula in Alaska,
through western Canada along
the crest of the Rocky
Mountains to New Mexico.
From there, it follows the crest
of Mexico's Sierra Madre
Oriental and extends to the tip
of South America. It is crossed
by the Panama Canal.
The Great Basin
• The Great Basin is a
large, arid region of the
western United States. Its
boundaries depend on
how it is defined. Its most
common definition is the
contiguous watershed,
roughly between the
Rocky Mountains and the
Sierra Nevada, that has
no natural outlet to the
sea.
• The 200,000 square mile plateau covers
most of Nevada and over half of Utah, as
well as parts of California, Idaho, Oregon
and Wyoming.
• The Great Basin is not a single basin, but
rather a series of contiguous watersheds
Death Valley
• Death Valley is a valley in the
U.S. state of California, and is
the location of the lowest
elevation in North America.
Located southeast of the Sierra
Nevada range in the Great Basin
and the Mojave Desert, it
comprises much of Death Valley
National Park. It has an area of
about 3,000 square miles
• Temperatures in the Valley can
range from up to 130°F (54 °C)
in the day in the summer, to
below freezing at night in the
winter.
• Many of Death Valley's narrow,
serpentine roads were built in the
1930s and cannot be driven at
high speed.
Gulf of Mexico
• The Gulf of Mexico is
the ninth largest body of
water in the world. It is an
ocean basin largely
surrounded by the North
American continent and
the island of Cuba. It
connects with the Atlantic
Ocean through the
Florida Straits between
the U.S. and Cuba, and
with the Caribbean Sea
(with which it forms the
American Mediterranean
Sea) via the Yucatan
Channel between Mexico
and Cuba.
St. Lawrence River
• The Saint Lawrence
River (In French:
fleuve SaintLaurent) is a large
west-to-east flowing
river in the middle
latitudes of North
America, connecting
the Great Lakes with
the Atlantic Ocean.
The Great Lakes
• The Great Lakes are a
group of five large lakes in
North America on or near
the Canada-United States
border. They are the largest
group of fresh water lakes
on Earth. The Great LakesSt. Lawrence system is the
largest fresh-water system
in the world. They are
sometimes referred to as
inland seas.
• The Great Lakes are:
• Lake Superior (the largest by volume and
deepest, larger than Scotland or South Carolina)
• Lake Michigan (the second-largest by volume
and third-largest by area; the only one entirely in
the U.S.)
• Lake Huron (the third-largest by volume; the
second largest in area)
• Lake Erie (the smallest by volume and most
shallow of all the great lakes)
• Lake Ontario (the second-smallest in volume
and smallest in area, much lower elevation than
the rest)
New York City, NY
• New York City (officially the
City of New York) is the most
populous city in the United
States of America. Its
business, financial and trading
organizations are significant
players in the nation's
economy and in the world.[1]
The city is also one of the
world's most important cultural
centers with hundreds of
world-class museums,
galleries, and performance
venues. Home of the United
Nations, the city is also
perhaps the world's largest
diplomatic center.
New York City
• The city is divided up into
five boroughs (The Bronx,
Brooklyn, Manhattan,
Queens, and Staten
Island) and has a
population of 8.2 million
(2005 estimate)[2] within
a land area of 321 square
miles (830 km²).[3] With a
population of 22.4 million,
the New York
metropolitan area is one
of the largest urban areas
in the world.[4]
The Statue of Liberty in New
York Harbor, a World Heritage
Site, has greeted millions of
immigrants.
Empire State Building
• Take a virtual tour of the Empire State
Building
Boston, MA
• Boston is the capital and most
populous city of the
Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. Founded in
1630, it is the largest city in
New England. Boston was the
location of several major
events during the American
Revolution, and was a major
shipping port and
manufacturing center. Today,
the city is a center of higher
education and health care. Its
economy is also based on
research, finance, and
technology—principally
biotechnology.
Philadelphia, PA
• The city of Philadelphia is the
largest city in Pennsylvania,
the fifth most populous city in
the United States[1] It is
colloquially referred to as
Philly, and known as The City
of Brotherly Love.
• Philadelphia is the secondlargest city on the U.S. East
Coast, and a major
commercial, educational, and
cultural center for the nation.
• The Philadelphia metropolitan
area is the fourth largest in the
U.S. by the current official
definition, with some 5.8
million people.
• Philadelphia is one of the oldest and most
historically significant cities in the United
States. During part of the 18th century, the
city was the first capital and most
populous city of the United States. At that
time, it eclipsed Boston and New York City
in political and social importance, with
Benjamin Franklin taking a large role in
Philadelphia's rise. The city was the
geographic center of the 18th century
thinking and activity that gave birth to the
American Revolution and subsequent
American democracy and independence.
• Philadelphia was a major center of the
independence movement during the American
Revolutionary War. The Declaration of
Independence and US Constitution were drafted
here and signed in the city's Independence Hall.
Tun Tavern in the city is traditionally regarded as
the location where, in 1775, the United States
Marine Corps was founded.
• During the American Revolutionary War
Philadelphia's population was split between
Loyalists and Patriots. When the British Army
took the city in 1777 many Loyalists lined the
streets and sang 'God Save the King'.
Erie Canal
• The Erie Canal (currently part of the New York State
Canal System) is a canal in New York State, United
States, that runs from the Hudson River to Lake Erie,
connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.
The Erie Canal was the first transportation route faster
than carts pulled by draft animals between the Eastern
Seaboard of the United States and the western
interior, and cut transport costs into what was then
wilderness by about 95%. The Canal resulted in a
massive population surge in western New York, and
opened regions further west to increased settlement.
1853 Map of the Erie Canal.
• Historical Images of the Erie Canal
• Images of the Erie Canal in Lockport
• Images of the Erie Canal from Buffalo to
Spencerport