United States Physical Features, United States Physical Features

Cascade Range

A major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades.

Arkansas River

A major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the US states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

Appalachian Mountains

A system of mountains in eastern North America. The mountain chain is a barrier to east-west travel, as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to most roads running east or west.

Red River

Is a major tributary of the Mississippi river in the southern United States of America.

Lake Michigan

Is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. The other four Great Lakes are shared by the U.S. and Canada.

Lake Ontario

Is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is surrounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the American state of New York.

Great Salt Lake

Located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world.

Rocky Mountain Range

Stretches from northern Alberta and British Columbia southward to New Mexico, a distance of some 3,000 miles

Colorado River

The 1,450-mile River drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states.

Mississippi River

The chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for 2,320 miles to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Ranges

Are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico.

Great Plains

Is the broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, that lies west of the Mississippi River tall grass prairie states and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada.

Lake Erie

Is the fourth-largest lake (by surface area) of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth-largest globally if measured in terms of surface area. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time.

Lake Huron

Is the second largest Great Lake by surface area and the fifth largest freshwater lake in the world. It has the longest shoreline of the Great Lakes, counting the shorelines of its 30,000 islands.

Lake Superior

The largest of the Great Lakes of North America. The lake is shared by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north, the US state of Minnesota to the west, and Wisconsin and Michigan to the south.

Missouri River

The longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, it flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri.

Rio Grande

Rises from south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexico-United States border.

Hudson River

is a 315-mile river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York in the United States.

Ohio River

streams westward from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River in the United States.