|
The [[Rocky Mountains]], west of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, peaking at over {{convert|14000|ft}} in [[Colorado]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Harms|first=Nicole|title=Facts About the Rocky Mountain Range|url=https://traveltips.usatoday.com/rocky-mountain-range-11967.html|work=USA Today|access-date=December 24, 2014|archive-date=February 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212094150/https://traveltips.usatoday.com/rocky-mountain-range-11967.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Farther west are the rocky [[Great Basin]] and [[Chihuahuan Desert|Chihuahua]], [[Sonoran Desert|Sonoran]], and [[Mojave Desert|Mojave]] deserts.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tinkham|first=Ernest R.|title=Biological, Taxonomic and Faunistic Studies on the Shield-Back Katydids of the North American Deserts|jstor=2421073|doi=10.2307/2421073|journal=[[The American Midland Naturalist]]|volume=31|number=2|date=March 1944|pages=257–328|publisher=The [[University of Notre Dame]]}}</ref> In the northwest corner of [[Arizona]], carved by the [[Colorado River]] over millions of years, is the [[Grand Canyon]], a steep-sided canyon and popular tourist destination known for its overwhelming visual size and intricate, colorful landscape.
The [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] and [[Cascade Range|Cascade]] mountain ranges run close to the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific coast]]. The [[Extreme points of the United States|lowest and highest points]] in the contiguous United States]] are in the State of California,<ref>{{cite web|title=Mount Whitney, California|url=https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=2829|publisher=Peakbagger|access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref> about {{convert|84|mi|km}} apart.<ref>{{cite web|title=Find Distance and Azimuths Between 2 Sets of Coordinates (Badwater 36-15-01-N, 116-49-33-W and Mount Whitney 36-34-43-N, 118-17-31-W)|url=https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/distance?dlat=36&mlat=15&slat=01&ns=1&dlon=116&mlon=49&slon=33&ew=1&dlat2=36&mlat2=34&slat2=43&sn=1&dlon2=118&mlon2=17&slon2=31&we=1&iselec=1|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|access-date=December 24, 2014}}</ref> At an elevation of {{convert|20310|ft|1}}, Alaska's [[Denali]] is the highest peak in the country and continent.<ref>{{cite web|last=Poppick|first=Laura|title=US Tallest Mountain's Surprising Location Explained|date=August 28, 2013|url=https://www.livescience.com/39245-us-tallest-mountain-location-explained.html|publisher=LiveScience|access-date=May 2, 2015}}</ref> Active [[List of volcanoes in the United States|volcanoes]] are common throughout Alaska's [[Alexander Archipelago|Alexander]] and [[Aleutian Islands]], and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The [[supervolcano]] underlying [[Yellowstone National Park]] in the Rocky Mountains, the [[Yellowstone Caldera]], is the continent's largest volcanic feature.<ref>{{cite web|last=O'Hanlon|first=Larry|title=America's Explosive Park|url=https://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/under/under.html|date=March 14, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050314034001/https://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/supervolcano/under/under.html|archive-date=March 14, 2005|publisher=Discovery Channel|access-date=April 5, 2016}}</ref> In 2021, the United States had 8% of global permanent meadows and pastures and 10% of cropland.<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2023 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |url=https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en?details=cc8166en |access-date=December 13, 2023 | date=2023 |language=en |doi=10.4060/cc8166en| isbn=978-92-5-138262-2 }}</ref>
=== Climate ===
|
