Hello ciao-ga:
It was a pleasure to answer your question. Following is the detailed
description of United States physical characteristics and data on its
varied natural resources.
For the purpose of Physical features, I consulted the book < American
Geography – Regional landscapes of the United States > by Stephen
Birdsall and John Florin. You can view the online version of the
book’s outline here at
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/geography/homepage.htm
For the natural resources, I consulted varied sources for which I
provided separate links.
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The dominant topographic features of the United States tend to extend
north-south across the country. The interior of the country is a vast,
sprawling lowland that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Canadian border and then on to Alaska. The varied land features can be
divided into different regions.
(1) The North East Coast – New England Region
The northern most east coast of the United States is dominated by the
Northern end of the Appalachian Mountains which contains some of the
most rugged topography in the eastern United States and sparsely
located lowland meadows.
Mountains
This land is mostly mountainous consisting of low ridges averaging
3000 feet. They include the extensive shoreline thrusts out into the
Atlantic and meet the ocean's waves with a heavily indented coast that
mixes dramatic headlands with many small coves bordered by rocky
beaches. Large empty areas, almost totally lacking in settlement, are
only hours away from some of the largest cities on the continent.
A large upland plateau covers most of New England. This upland is old
geologically and has also been heavily eroded by moving water and ice.
One result is that elevations throughout the region seldom top 1,500
meters. The two major mountain areas of northern New England are the
Green Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Lowlands & Valleys
Although, most of the region is hilly but human activities are
centered on the lowlands and valleys. The largest such areas are the
Connecticut River Valley between New Hampshire and Vermont, the Lake
Champlain Lowland along the northern Vermont-New York border, and the
Aroostook Valley in northern Maine. A number of smaller lowlands
border the seacoast, and innumerable streams have sliced the plateau
throughout the area.
( 2 ) Eastern United States – Large Metropolis
The Eastern Coast
The eastern coast of the United States is dominated with large
populated cities in the low lands and the low Appalachian Mountains.
Lowlands
Traveling inland from the Atlantic Coast, a very flat coastal plain is
succeeded by a rolling, frequently hilly landscape called the Piedmont
that is the physical feature of the East coast. Occupying a coastal
position, the eastern margin of the United States is also a deeply
convoluted Peninsulas jut into the Atlantic Ocean. Islands are
scattered along the coast, some large enough to support communities.
Bays and river estuaries penetrate the landmass in a kind of mirror
image of the land's penetration of the ocean.
The eastern coast is also home to one of the best natural harbors in
the United States. The erosive power of the rivers cut deeply into the
flat coastal plain thus creating natural harbors in the process.
Appalachian Mountains
The Southern end of the Appalachian Mountains stretches from New York
to the Northern Tip of Georgia. They are a rather incongruous
combination of small and steep hills that ranges in height from 500 to
1000 meters and increase in height from South to North. These
sub-areas are arranged in parallel belts lying roughly
northeast-southwest.
The changes in elevation from the Piedmont onto the southern
Appalachian Mountains are usually abrupt.
( 3 ) South Eastern United States – Beaches & Plantations
The South Eastern United States is largely dominated by low lying
shallow coastal areas and large swamp lands. Because of the humid,
subtropical environment provided by the warm waters of Gulf of Mexico,
there are various plantations which are best suited to produce high
quality fruits and vegetables. The long growing season, mild winter
temperatures, and warm, humid summers contribute to the human
development along the white sandy beaches along the coast and inland
farmlands.
( 4 ) Northern United States – Vast plains
The Northern United States is dominated by large farmlands and broad
interior plains comprising Lake Region and land rich in mineral
deposits.
Agricultural Grasslands
Most of Ohio, Indiana, and Lower Michigan are covered by a mixed
hardwood forest. Except along the rivers and in hillier country,
Illinois, Iowa, and parts of southern Minnesota and northern Missouri
appeared to be as much open grassland as forest.
In general, the presence of trees indicates adequate moisture for crop
growth. The landscape that dominates the Agricultural Core is largely
a consequence of the same glaciations that created the harbors of
Eastern Region. The soils of the Agricultural Core are good, often
much better than average, but usually not excellent. On the other hand
Western soils within the region and those throughout much of Illinois
are mollisols, among the most fertile of all soils and naturally
suited to grain production.
Canadian Shield – Mineral Rich
This region is nearly enclosed by zones of metallic mineral
concentrations: the Canadian Shield to the north and two linear areas,
one extending northeast-southwest (the Appalachian Mountains) and one
extend northwest-southeast (the Rocky Mountains). Furthermore, much of
these same interior plains are underlain by large deposits of
high-quality mineral fuel, especially in the eastern section. The low,
rolling relief of this region is primarily a residual karst terrain,
one that has developed over thick limestone bedrock
Lakes & Rivers
Connecting the mineral-rich Canadian Shield and the fuel-rich interior
plains, the five Great Lakes--Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and
Ontario--represent an internal waterway unlike any other in the world.
Within the interior core, flowing westward from deep within the
coal-rich Appalachian region, the Ohio River crosses the interior
plains for hundreds of kilometers before joining the Mississippi
River. Dozens of tributaries supply the Ohio with its water and
provide further accessibility, either directly because they are
navigable, too, or less directly because they offer easier routes of
land movement through their valleys. Along the western margin of the
core region, the Mississippi River and its tributaries provide access
from the south and west.
( 5 ) Central United States – Vast Inhabited Plains
Grasslands and Plains
The topography and vegetation of the grasslands is among the least
varied to be found anywhere in the United States. The region lies
entirely within the interior lowlands physiographic province. The
underlying sedimentary beds dip gently. Elevation increases gradually,
almost imperceptibly, from east to west. Along the eastern margin, the
elevation is only 500 meters, whereas in the west, Denver, Colorado,
claims an altitude of more than 1,500 meters. Physiographically, the
largest portion of the Great Plains is the High Plains stretching
along the western margin of the region from south Texas northward to
southern Nebraska. Covered by a thick mantle of sediments that are
often quite sandy and extremely porous, this section is generally
flat.
Plateau
Not all portions of the region are so unvarying topographically. The
most obvious exception is the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming.
A large, dome-shaped area of eroded igneous rock, the Black Hills are
associated both geologically and topographically with the Rocky
Mountains to the west. In southern Texas, the Edwards Plateau is
heavily eroded into a canyon lands landscape along its southeastern
margin where it is adjacent to the coastal plain. In central and
northwestern Nebraska, the Sand Hills offer a dense, intricate pattern
of grass-covered sand dunes, many of which are well over 30 meters
high.
( 6 ) Southern United States – Canyons & Deserts
The area known generally as the Southwest is one of the most widely
recognized yet one of the most transitionary regions of America. It
has an apparent physical uniformity that can be attributed primarily
to its clear, dry climate, but, in fact, the region includes the broad
flatlands of the lower Rio Grande Valley along Texas; the plateaus of
New Mexico; the dramatic mesas, buttes, and deserts of Arizona; and
the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. It also includes the
canyon lands of Utah and Arizona that includes the Grand Canyon.
Mountains & Plateaus
There are dramatic changes of 1,000 meters or more are common in the
interior West directly related to the change in geography from deserts
to Canyons. An element of the region's physical geography is its
ruggedness. Most of the mountains of the eastern United States appear
rounded and molded; the ranges of the West present abrupt, almost
vertical slopes and the peaks frequently appear as jagged edges
pointing skyward.
Probably the most scenically dramatic portion of this section is the
Colorado Plateau along the middle Colorado River in Utah and Arizona.
Although there are some large structural changes in relief, most of
the area is underlain by gently dipping sedimentary rocks.
( 7 ) South Western United States
The striking flatness of the San Joaquin Valley in California is in
sharp contrast to the ruggedness of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
There are broad areas of desert in the southern interior and heavily
forested slopes along the coastal north. The lowest and highest
elevations in the conterminous United States, Death Valley and Mount
Whitney, respectively, are almost within sight of each other.
The coast of California is lined by long mountain ranges that trend in
a generally northwesterly direction. They are collectively called the
Coast Ranges. Most are not particularly high--summits are between
1,000 and 1,600 meters. To the east of the Coast Ranges for much of
their distance lies the Central Valley. This valley is extremely flat,
extends 650 kilometers from north to south, and is nearly 150
kilometers wide in places. The Central Valley was originally a massive
extension of the Pacific Ocean, open to the sea only at San Francisco
Bay.
To the east of the Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada rise gradually
and have been heavily eroded. In contrast, the eastern face of the
mountains offers a dramatic change in elevation. These are fault-block
Mountains, large rock masses that rose as a whole unit, and the
eastern side was lifted far more sharply than the western face.
Because they reach high elevations and contain few passes, the Sierra
Nevada has proven a major barrier to movement between middle and
northern California and areas to the east.
( 8 ) North Western United States – The Pacific Coast
It is mostly a rugged, unused coastline which consists of the
highlands of Cascades. Mount Rainier in this region has an elevation
of 4,390 meters, and many peaks are between 2,750 and 3,650 meters
high. The Klamath Mountains of northern California and southern Oregon
offer a jumbled topography. Little pattern is apparent in the terrain.
This is a wild, rugged, empty area. The lowlands of Oregon are part of
a structural trough that was created when that area sank at the same
time that the Cascades to the east were elevated.
Except for the drier lowlands, where the normal vegetation of the
Willamette Valley is prairie grass and that of the land east of the
Cascades a mix of grass and desert shrub, and except for the tundra
above the tree line, all of the Pacific Northwest is, or was, covered
by forest. This is a land not just of forest, but of beautiful
expanses of tall trees reaching straight for the sky.
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NATURAL RESOURCES
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United States boasts a variety of natural resources that include coal,
copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron,
mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural
gas, timber resources. It has almost 207,000 square kilometers of
arable land which constitutes 19 percent of the entire land. Twenty
five percent constitutes permanent pasture and thirty percent are
forests. These natural resources can be divided into five categories
of Energy, Mineral, Water, Land and Biota.
Energy
Oil Resources – The United States has 22, 446 million barrels of crude
oil proved reserves as of December 31, 2001. This is 1.8 percent (401
million barrels) more than in 2000, and marks the third year in a row
that proved crude oil reserves have increased. Total discoveries of
crude oil resulted mainly from the exploration in the deep waters of
Gulf of Mexico Federal offshore and the Alaskan North slope. Operators
replaced 121 percent of 2001 oil production with proved reserves
addition. < http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/crude_oil_natural_gas_reserves/current/pdf/arr.pdf
>
Coal - More than half of the electricity in the United States is
generated by coal-fired power plants. U.S. coal producers sell almost
90 percent of their product for electricity generation, and so, the
future of the U.S. coal industry will be determined by the future of
coal-fired electricity-generation plants. As of 1995, it has 496
billion short tons reserves of coal.
Gas - The United States had 183,460 billion cubic feet of dry natural
gas reserves as of December 31, 2001, a 3 percent increase over the
2000 levels. Additions to dry gas reserves in 2001 were 25, 812 cubic
feet, 11 percent less than 2001. Operators replaced 131 percent of dry
gas reserves, an increase of up to 19 percent from 2000. <
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/crude_oil_natural_gas_reserves/current/pdf/arr.pdf
>
Minerals – Total domestic mining of non fuel mineral materials
amounted to 5.5 billion metric tons in 2001. These minerals included 4
GT of crude ore or quarried and 1.5 GT of mine waste and ore from
development. Of the non fuel mineral materials mined, 60 percent was
for the production of industrial mineral and 40 percent was for the
production of metals. Overall, 97 percent of the non fuel mineral was
mined and quarried at surface level and three percent was mined
underground. Total surface mining and quarrying of the industrial
mineral amounted to 3.2 GT while crude ore mined at these surface
operations was 2.9 GT and 331 million metric tons was waste and ore
from development. Total surface mining for the metal ore amounted to
2.2 GT. OF the 2.2 GT, about 1.1 billion tons was crude ore mined and
the other 1.1 billion ton was waste and ore from the development.
Underground mining of the metal ore amounted only to 28 Mt, of which
89 percent was crude ore.
<http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/m&q/quarmyb01.pdf >
Land Use – According to the census carried out by the US Agricultural
department, 46.3 percent of the United States is cropland, 42.5
percent are pastures and rangeland, 7.7 percent is the woodland while
3.5 percent consist of other useable or non useable land.
Of the cropland, 71.8 percent is harvested, 15 percent is pastured
cropland, 8.8 percent failed to yield any income while 4.4 percent is
idle.
< http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census97/highlights/usasum/us_fig4.gif
>
Animal Diversity – A large amount sub species of following species
exist on American mainland and Alaska:
Alligator,Antelope,Bear,Bison,Caribou,Cat's,Deer,Elk,Goat,Javelina,Moose,Muskoxen,Sheep,Turkey
Eastern Osceola (Florida), Rio Grande, Merriam, Gould, Walrus, Wolf,
Wolverine.
< http://www.naoutdoors.com/pages/species.shtml >
Water – Ocean: The Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf Coasts of the United
States form in essence the coastal boundaries of the country.
Thousands of miles of coastline provide recreation, fisheries, and
commerce and transportation corridors. Coastal environments are
strongly influenced by upstream sources of pollution and freshwater
inflow, and are subject to an ever-growing coastal population.
Lakes: Comprising 39.9 million acres, lakes and reservoirs are a major
water resource in this country. Freshwater inland lakes and reservoirs
provide our nation with 70% of its drinking water and supply water for
industry, irrigation, and hydropower. Lake ecosystems support complex
and important food web interactions and provide habitat needed to
support numerous threatened and endangered species. Lakes are also the
cornerstone of our nation's 19 billion dollar freshwater fishing
industry, form the backbone of numerous State tourism industries, and
provide countless recreational opportunities.
Rivers – There are total of 3,662, 255 miles of major Rivers, its
arteries and streams, of which, 23 percent are accessed by 1998.
Wetlands - The lower 48 states contained an estimated 105.5 million
acres of wetlands in 1997. This is an area about the size of
California. In the 1980s, an estimated 170-200 million acres of
wetland existed in Alaska-- covering slightly more than half of the
state-- while Hawaii had 52,000 acres. Next to Alaska, Florida (11
million), Louisiana (8.8 million), Minnesota (8.7 million), and Texas
(7.6 million) have the largest wetland acreage.
< http://www.epa.gov/owow/ >
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I hope this will help. Please clarify if you re not satisfied.
Thank You.
Sincerely,
Leader-ga. |
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