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Map of California topography and geomorphic provinces California's major mountain ranges. California is a U.S. state on the western coast of North America. Covering an area of 163,696 sq mi (423,970 km 2), California is among the most geographically diverse states.
The oldest rocks in California date back 1.8 billion years to the Proterozoic and are found in the San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, and Mojave Desert.The rocks of eastern California formed a shallow continental shelf, with massive deposition of limestone during the Paleozoic, and sediments from this time are common in the Sierra Nevada, Klamath Mountains and eastern Transverse ...
The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Kern counties.
Other Mesozoic terranes that accreted onto the continent include the Klamath Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the Guerrero super-terrane of western Mexico. [42] 80 to 90 million years ago the subducting Farallon plate split and formed the Kula Plate to the North. [32] Many of the major batholiths date from the late Cretaceous. [42]
Two of the largest rivers in California, which form the Central Valley and drain into San Francisco Bay, derive most of their flow from the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The northern of the two is the Sacramento River (which also drains the adjacent Cascade Range and Klamath Range ); the southern one is the San Joaquin River .
In the Alaska panhandle, the mainland mountain ranges and offshore islands (the Alexander Archipelago) are extensions of respective ranges further south. [15] In Canada, the North American Cordillera is usually divided into three physiographic regions: the western system, the interior system, and the eastern system. [16]
The Santa Ynez Mountains begin as a series of volcanic hills near Point Arguello, and gradually transitions eastward into a single, well-defined ridge extending from Gaviota Peak to Matilija Creek. The range is approximately contiguous with the Topatopa Mountains beyond to the east, which terminates abruptly at Sespe Creek .
The physical characteristics and relative location of the mountain itself must also be considered in predicting altitudinal zonation patterns. [3] The Massenerhebung effect describes variation in the tree line based on mountain size and location: mountains surrounded by large ranges will tend to have higher tree lines than more isolated ...