Cascade-Sierra Province
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The Cascade-Sierra province is a
physiographic region Physiographic regions of the world are a means of defining Earth's landforms into distinct regions, based upon the classic three-tiered approach by Nevin M. Fenneman in 1916, that separates landforms into physiographic divisions, physiographic pr ...
of
mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...
s in the western United States, east and adjacent to
Pacific Border province The Pacific Border province is a physiographic province of the Physiographic regions of the world physical geography system. Description The Pacific Border province encompasses most of the North American Pacific Coast, with the southern end at ...
and west and adjacent to the
Basin and Range Province The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating ...
(in the south) and Columbia Plateau Province (in the north).


About the region

The Cascade-Sierra province stretches approximately from the high desert region of the
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
to just north of the border between
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
and the state of
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. The region is extremely diverse geologically and ecologically and is commonly divided into two regions: the
Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is 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
Sierra Nevada Mountains The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Cars ...
. This province is part of a larger physiographic region that extends from Alaska in the north to the southern tip of South America. Several tectonic plates meet and form this region and make it one of the most geologically active places in North America. The province is home to several national forests, including the Lassen, Modoc, and Plumas National Forests. The
Modoc Plateau __NOTOC__ The Modoc Plateau lies in the northeast corner of California as well as parts of Oregon and Nevada. Nearly of the Modoc National Forest are on the plateau between the Medicine Lake Highlands in the west and the Warner Mountains in the ...
, an area of high elevation basalt flows between the Medicine Lake Highlands and the Warner Mountains, is also within the region. The ecology of the province is extremely diverse and contains areas of pine, aspen, and cypress forests, mixed conifer and evergreen forests, along with montane meadows, fens, mammoth granite outcroppings, vernal pools, and sagebrush flats.


Cascade Mountain Range

The Cascade Mountains form the northern portion of the Cascade-Sierra province. The Cascades were created from thousands of small, short-lived volcanoes along the
Cascadia subduction zone The Cascadia subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary that stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California in the United States. It is a very long, sloping subduction zone where the Explorer, Juan de Fuca, and ...
that over millions of years built a foundation of lava and volcanic debris on which the mountains rise. This range includes thirteen major volcanic centers and are part of the Pacific Ocean's
Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...
. The two most recent eruptions are the Mount Lassen eruptions from 1914 to 1921, and the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980.


Sierra Nevada Mountain Range

The Sierra Nevada Mountains form the southern portion of the Cascade-Sierra province. Like the Cascade Range, the Sierra Nevada Range formed from a chain of volcanoes along a subduction zone. However unlike the Cascade volcanoes, those that formed the Sierra Nevada Range are long extinct and buried deep within the earth forming a bed of solidified lava that is responsible for the gray granitic rocks of the Sierra. One of the best known areas in the Sierra Nevada range is
Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...
.


Further reading

* Hill, M. (1975). ''Geology of the Sierra Nevada''. Berkeley: University of California Press. * Hill, R. L. (2004). ''Volcanoes of the Cascades: Their rise and their risks''. Guilford, CT: Falcon Press. * Mathews, D. (2017). ''Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains''. Portland, OR: Timber Press. * Mooney, H. A., & Zavaleta, E. (2016). ''Ecosystems of California''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. * Schoenherr, A. A. (2017). ''A Natural History of California''. Berkeley: University of California Press. * Tabor, R., & Haugerud, R. (1999). ''North Cascades National Park Geology: A Mountain Mosiac''. Washington D.C.: National Park Service, Geologic Resources Division.


See also

*
Fault (geology) In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
*
Geography of California California is a U.S. state on the western coast of North America. Covering an area of , California is among the most geographically diverse states. The Sierra Nevada, the fertile farmlands of the Central Valley, and the arid Mojave Desert of t ...
*
Geology of the Yosemite area The exposed geology of the Yosemite area includes primarily granitic rocks with some older metamorphic rock. The first rocks were laid down in Precambrian times, when the area around Yosemite National Park was on the edge of a very young North Ame ...
* List of United States physiographic regions *
Mountain formation Mountain formation refers to the geological processes that underlie the formation of mountains. These processes are associated with large-scale movements of the Earth's crust (List of tectonic plates, tectonic plates). Fold (geology), Folding, ...
*
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
*
Physiographic regions of the world Physiographic regions of the world are a means of defining Earth's landforms into distinct regions, based upon the classic three-tiered approach by Nevin M. Fenneman in 1916, that separates landforms into physiographic divisions, physiographic pro ...
*
Plate tectonic Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...
*
United States physiographic region The physiographic regions of the contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term ...


References


External links


Map of the Cascade-Sierra province
United States National Park Service.

United States National Park Service.
A Tapestry of Time and Terrain: United States physiographic region
United States Geological Survey. {{authority control Physiographic sections Geologic provinces of California Geologic provinces of the United States Mountain ranges of British Columbia Mountain ranges of Northern California Mountain ranges of Oregon Mountain ranges of Nevada Mountain ranges of Washington (state) North American Cordillera Pacific Coast Ranges Regions of Oregon Regions of California Regions of Washington (state) Volcanism of California