PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1.
LIMITS AND BOUNDARIES
North: Canadian
Border, Great Lakes
West: Pacific Oceans
South: Mexico Border, Rio Grande, Gulf of Mexico
East: Atlantic
Ocean
Separated States: Alaska and Hawaii
2.
ELEMENTS OF THE MAINLAND RELIEF
Plains: The Great Plains,
Atlantic Coastal Plains, Gulf Coastal Plains
Valleys: San Joaquin Valley/Central
Valley, Central Lowlands, River Columbia Valley, Death Valley, Grand Canyon
Basins: Harney Basin, Great Basin
Plateaus: Columbia
Plateau Colorado Plateau, Edwards Plateau, Ozark Plateau,
Allegheny Plateau
Western Mountains: Brook
Mountains, Alaska Mountains, Cascade Range, Coast Range, Sierra Nevada, Rocky
Mountains
Eastern Mountains: The
Appalachians, The Adirondack Mountains, Green Mountains, White
Mountains
Peaks: Mount McKinley, Saint Helens, Mount
Withney, Mount
Mitchell
Wetlands: The
Everglades, Mississippi’s
Delta
Deserts: Mohave
Inland Peninsulas: Upper
Peninsula, Lower Peninsula
3.
ELEMENTS OF THE COAST
Oceans: Atlantic
Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean
Seas: Sargasso Sea,
Bering Sea, Sea of Beaufort, Caribbean Sea
Coastal Peninsulas: Alaska Peninsula,
Delmarva Peninsula, Peninsula of Florida
Islands and Archipelagos:
a) Bering Sea: Saint
Lawrence, Saint Mathews, Nunivak
Island
b) Pacific Ocean:
Hawaii, Aleutian Islands, Kodiak Island,
Alexander Archipelago, Channel Islands
c) Gulf of
Mexico: Padre Island, Florida Keys
d) Atlantic
Ocean: Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Long Island
Capes:
a) Alaska: Point
Barrow, Cape Prince of Wales
b) West Coast:
Cape Flattery, Cape Blanco, Cape Mendocino,
Point Arguello
c) Gulf Coast: Mississippi
Delta, Cape San Blas, Cape Sable
d) East Coast:
Cape Cod, Cape Hatteras,
Cape Fear,
Cape Canaveral
Gulfs/bays/sounds:
e) Alaska: Kotzebue
Sound, Norton Sound, Bristol Bay, Gulf of Alaska
f)
West Coast: Puget Sound, San
Francisco Bay, Monterrey Bay
g) Gulf Coast: Gulf of Mexico, Atchafalaya
Bay, Apalachee
Bay, Tampa Bay
h) East Coast: Gulf of Maine, Delaware
Bay, Chesapeake Bay, Pamlico Sound
4.
ELEMENTS OF THE INLAND HYDROGRAPHY
Rivers:
a) Flowing into
the Bering Sea: Yukon
b) Flowing into
the Pacific Ocean: Columbia, Snake, Sacramento, San
Joaquin, Colorado
c) Flowing into
the Caribbean Sea: Rio Grande, Rio Brazos, Mississippi
d) Tributaries to
the Mississippi: Arkansas,
Missouri, Ohio
e) Flowing into
the Atlantic Ocean: Connecticut, Hudson, Potomac, Roanoke
Lakes: Great Salt
Lake, Lake Pontchartrain, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie,
Ontario
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