US Map / Physical Geography

Physical Geography of the United States

The landforms that shape the country: its rivers, mountain ranges, lakes and coasts, each with a map of the states it touches and the figures that go with it.

Major rivers

The Mississippi–Missouri system drains 31 states — nearly half the country funnels into the Gulf of Mexico through New Orleans. West of the Rockies, the Colorado carves the Grand Canyon on its way to the Gulf of California, and the Columbia carries more water to the Pacific than any other North American river.

• Mississippi River map — the central artery, Minnesota to Louisiana.
• Missouri River map — the longest US river, joining the Mississippi at St. Louis.
• Colorado River map — the Southwest's water supply.
• Rio Grande map — the Texas–Mexico border river.
• Columbia River map — the Pacific Northwest's great river.
• Ohio River map — Pittsburgh to Cairo, the boundary line for five states.
• Snake River map — through Hells Canyon to the Columbia.
• Tennessee River map — the loop through four states, and the TVA.
• Arkansas River map — from the Colorado Rockies to the Mississippi.

Mountain ranges

Two great systems frame the country. The Appalachians run 1,500 miles from Alabama to Maine — old, rounded mountains that shaped early settlement. The Rockies rise far higher along the western interior, with the Sierra Nevada and Cascades forming a second wall near the Pacific coast.

• Rocky Mountains map — including the Continental Divide.
• Appalachian Mountains map — from the Smokies to the Whites.
• Sierra Nevada map — home of Mount Whitney and Lake Tahoe.
• Cascade Range map — the volcanic arc from Rainier to Shasta.
• Great Smoky Mountains map — the highest Appalachians.
• Ozarks map — the uplands of Missouri and Arkansas.
• Continental Divide map — which ocean the rain reaches.

Lakes and coasts

The five Great Lakes hold about a fifth of the world's fresh surface water and give eight states an inland coastline. The Great Salt Lake, the largest lake west of them, has no outlet at all.

• Great Lakes map — Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario.
• Great Salt Lake map
• Gulf Coast map — Texas to Florida.
• Lake Superior map and Lake Michigan map
• Atlantic Coast map and Pacific Coast map

Landform regions

Between the two mountain systems lies the flattest large expanse in North America, and beyond the Sierra a desert that gets less rain than anywhere else in the country.

• Great Plains map — the 100th meridian and the dry line.
• Mojave Desert map — Death Valley and the Colorado's last miles.

How geography shaped the states

Many state borders follow the land: the Mississippi separates ten states, the Ohio traces the old line between free and slave states, and the crest of the Rockies fixes part of the Idaho–Montana border. Where borders run dead straight — as across the West — they follow survey lines drawn where there were no rivers to follow. Comparing this page with the state map makes those choices visible.