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The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography , characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating between narrow faulted mountain chains and flat arid valleys or basins.
The physiographic regions of the contiguous United States comprise 8 divisions, 25 provinces, and 85 sections. [1] The system dates to Nevin Fenneman's report Physiographic Divisions of the United States, published in 1916. [2] [3] The map was updated and republished by the Association of American Geographers in 1928. [4]
Shaded relief map of the United States, showing 10 geological provinces. The richly textured landscape of the United States is a product of the dueling forces of plate tectonics, weathering and erosion. Over the 4.5 billion-year history of the Earth, tectonic upheavals and colliding plates have raised great mountain ranges while the forces of ...
The term "United States," when used in the geographic sense, refers to the contiguous United States (sometimes referred to as the Lower 48, including the District of Columbia not as a state), Alaska, Hawaii, the five insular territories of Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and minor outlying possessions. [1]
A physiographic province is a geographic region with a characteristic geomorphology, and often specific subsurface rock type or structural elements.The continents are subdivided into various physiographic provinces, each having a specific character, relief, and environment which contributes to its distinctiveness.
The large Basin and Range Province is a basin and range topography resulting from crustal extension (extensional tectonics). It is located in all or parts of Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona in the Western United States; and Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and other states southwards to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in ...
The Intermountain West has a basin and range and plateau topography. Some of the region's rivers reach the Pacific Ocean, such as the Columbia River and Colorado River.Other regional rivers and streams are in endorheic basins and cannot reach the sea, such as the Walker River and Owens River.
The Great Basin physiographic section is a geographic division of the Basin and Range Province defined by Nevin Fenneman in 1931. [6] The United States Geological Survey adapted Fenneman's scheme in their Physiographic division of the United States. [7] The "section" is somewhat larger than the hydrographic definition.