OUR COUNTRY’S GEOGRAPHY

“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountains majesties -from the poem “America the

Above the fruited plain!” Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates

Landform Regions

Geographers often divide the United States into landform regions to better study our country.

Landforms

Landforms are physical features on the Earth’s surface.

Mountains Plains Valleys Waterways

America’s Largest Mountains The Appalachian Mountains and the

Rocky Mountains are the United States’ two largest mountain ranges.

Appalachian Mountain Range

Rocky Mountain Range

Plains

The Coastal Plains and the Interior Plains are the two largest landform regions in the United States.

Coastal Plains

Interior Plains

Valley

Plateau

A broad area of high, mostly flat land

Basin

A low, bowl-shaped land with higher ground all around it

Volcano

BODIES OF WATER

OceansGulfs Bays Lakes Rivers

Oceans

Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean

Gulf

A large area of water extending into the land from a larger body of water

Bay

An area of water that extends into the land from a larger body of water

Smaller than a gulf

Lakes

North America has more lakes than any other continent.

Rivers

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

“From Sea to Shining Sea”