The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

) are the series of

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

s that stretch along the West Coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

south to Northern and Central

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Although they are commonly thought to be the westernmost mountain range of the continental United States and Canada, the geologically distinct

Insular Mountains , photo = Ghinde2.jpg , photo_caption = Golden Hinde, south aspect, August 2006. , country = Canada , region_type = Province , region = British Columbia , parent = Pacific Cordillera , range_coordinates = , a ...

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

lie further west. The Pacific Coast Ranges are part of the

North American Cordillera The North American Cordillera, sometimes also called the Western Cordillera of North America, the Western Cordillera or the Pacific Cordillera, is the North American portion of the American Cordillera, the mountain chain system (cordillera) alon ...

(sometimes known as the Western Cordillera, or in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, as the Pacific Cordillera and/or the Canadian Cordillera), which includes the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, the

Columbia Mountains The Columbia Mountains are a group of mountain ranges along the upper Columbia River in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington. The mountain range covers 135,952 km² (52,491 sq mi). The range is bounded by the Rocky Mountain T ...

, the

Interior Mountains The Interior Mountains or Northern Interior Mountains are the semi-official names for an expansive collection of mountain ranges that comprises much of the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia and a large area of southern Yu ...

, the

Interior Plateau The Interior Plateau comprises a large region of the Interior of British Columbia, and lies between the Cariboo and Monashee Mountains on the east, and the Hazelton Mountains, Coast Mountains and Cascade Range on the west.''Landforms of British Co ...

, the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

, the Great Basin mountain ranges, and other ranges and various plateaus and basins. The Pacific Coast Ranges designation, however, only applies to the Western System of the Western Cordillera,S. Holland, ''Landforms of

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, ...

'', BC Govt. 1976. which comprises the

Saint Elias Mountains The Saint Elias Mountains (french: Chaîne Saint-Élie) are a subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in southeastern Alaska in the United States, Southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada. The range ...

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the easter ...

Cascade Range 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, ...

Oregon Coast Range The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. This north-south runni ...

California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...

Transverse Ranges 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 B ...

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

, and the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...

Other uses

The term ''Coast Range'' is used by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

to refer only to the ranges south of the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

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 ...

to the California-Mexico border, and to those west of

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

, the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

, and the

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and San Joaquin valleys (the

California Central Valley The Central Valley is a broad, elongated, flat valley that dominates the interior of California. It is wide and runs approximately from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific coast of the state. It covers ...

). That definition excludes the

and

s, the Mojave ''(High)'', and Sonoran ''(Low)'' Deserts, i.e. the

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 ...

. The same term is used informally in Canada to refer to the

and adjoining inland ranges such as the

Hazelton Mountains The Hazelton Mountains are a grouping of mountain ranges on the inland lee of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, spanning the area of Hazelton south to the Nechako Reservoir. Defined by the Britis ...

, and sometimes also the

Geography

The character of the ranges varies considerably, from the record-setting

tidewater glacier The tidewater glacier cycle is the typically centuries-long behavior of tidewater glaciers that consists of recurring periods of advance alternating with rapid retreat and punctuated by periods of stability. During portions of its cycle, a tidewate ...

s in the ranges of Alaska, to the rugged Central and

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 ...

ranges, the

and

, in the chaparral and woodlands eco-region with

Oak Woodland An oak woodland is a plant community with a tree canopy dominated by oaks (''Quercus spp.''). In terms of canopy closure, oak woodlands are intermediate between oak savanna, which is more open, and oak forest, which is more closed. Although the ...

Chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

shrub forest or

Coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is w ...

-covering them. The coastline is often seen dropping steeply into the sea with photogenic views. Along the

and Alaska coast, the mountains intermix with the sea in a complex maze of

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

s, with thousands of islands. Off the Southern California coast the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

of the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...

extends for . There are

coastal plains A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...

at the mouths of rivers that have punched through the mountains spreading sediments, most notably at the

Copper River Copper River may refer to several places: *Copper River (Alaska), in the United States * Copper River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Skeena River The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (afte ...

in Alaska, the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

in British Columbia, and the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

between Washington and Oregon. In California: the

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and San Joaquin Rivers'

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

, the Santa Clara River's

Oxnard Plain The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpora ...

, the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers'

Los Angeles Basin The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountains collectively known as the Tr ...

a coastal sediment-filled plain between the peninsular and transverse ranges with sediment in the basin up to 6 miles (10 km) deep, and the San Diego River's Mission Bay. From the vicinity of San Francisco Bay north, it is common in winter for cool unstable air masses from the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, ...

to make landfall in one of the Coast Ranges, resulting in heavy

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

, both as

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

and

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

, especially on their western slopes. The same Winter weather occurs with less frequency and precipitation in Southern California, with the mountains' western faces and peaks causing an eastward

rainshadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carri ...

that produces the arid desert regions. Omitted from the list below, but often included is the Sierra Nevada, a major mountain range of eastern California that is separated by the Central Valley over much of its length from the California Coast Ranges and the Transverse Ranges.

Geology

On the West coast of North America, the coast ranges and the coastal plain form the margin. Most of the land is made of

terrane In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and accreted or " sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its own ...

s that have been accreted onto the margin. In the north, the insular belt is an accreted terrane, forming the margin. This belt extends from the

Wrangellia Terrane The Wrangellia Terrane (named for the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska) is a crustal fragment (terrane) extending from the south-central part of Alaska and along the Coast of British Columbia in Canada. Some geologists contend that Wrangellia extends ...

in Alaska to the Chilliwack group of Canada. A rupture in

Rodinia Rodinia (from the Russian родина, ''rodina'', meaning "motherland, birthplace") was a Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic supercontinent that assembled 1.26–0.90 billion years ago and broke up 750–633 million years ago. were probably ...

750 million years ago formed a passive margin in the eastern Pacific Northwest. The breakup of

Pangea Pangaea or Pangea () was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous approximately 335 million y ...

200 million years ago began the westward movement of the North American plate, creating an active margin on the western continent. As the continent drifted West, terranes were accreted onto the west coast. The timing of the accretion of the insular belt is uncertain, although the closure did not occur until at least 115 million years ago. Other

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

terranes that accreted onto the continent include the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

, the Sierra Nevada, and the Guerrero super-terrane of western Mexico. 90–80 million years ago the subducting

Farallon plate The Farallon Plate was an ancient oceanic plate. It formed one of the three main plates of Panthalassa, alongside the Phoenix Plate and Izanagi Plate, which were connected by a triple junction. The Farallon Plate began subducting under the west c ...

split and formed the

Kula Plate The Kula Plate was an oceanic tectonic plate under the northern Pacific Ocean south of the Near Islands segment of the Aleutian Islands. It has been subducted under the North American Plate at the Aleutian Trench, being replaced by the Pacific Pla ...

to the North. This formed an area in what is now Northern California, where the plates converged forming a

Mélange In geology, a mélange is a large-scale breccia, a mappable body of rock characterized by a lack of continuous bedding and the inclusion of fragments of rock of all sizes, contained in a fine-grained deformed matrix. The mélange typically cons ...

. North of this was the Columbia Embayment, where the continental margin was east of the surrounding areas. Many of the major

batholith A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock types, such ...

s date from the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

. As the

Laramide Orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the o ...

ended around 48 million years ago, the accretion of the

Siletzia Siletzia is a massive formation of early to middle Eocene epoch marine basalts and interbedded sediments in the forearc of the Cascadia subduction zone, on the west coast of North America. It forms the basement rock under western Oregon and ...

terrane began in the Pacific Northwest. This began the volcanic activity in 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 ...

, forming the modern Cascade Range, and lasted into the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

. Events here may relate to the ignimbrite flare-up of the southern

Basin and Range Basin and range topography is characterized by alternating parallel mountain ranges and valleys. It is a result of crustal extension due to mantle upwelling, gravitational collapse, crustal thickening, or relaxation of confining stresses. The e ...

. As extension in the Basin and Range Province slowed by a change in

North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...

movement circa 7 to 8 Million years ago, rifting began on the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

. Although many of the ranges do share a common geologic history, the Pacific Coast Ranges province is not defined by geology, but rather by geography. Many of the various ranges are composed of distinct forms of rock from many different periods of geological time from the

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

in parts of the

Little San Bernardino Mountains The Little San Bernardino Mountains are a short mountain range of the Transverse Ranges, located in southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains through San Bernardino and ...

to 10,000-year-old rock in the Cascade Range. For one example, the Peninsular Ranges, composed of Mesozoic batholitic rock, are geologically extremely different from the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

, composed of a mix of Precambrian metamorphic rock and Cenozoic sedimentary rock. However, both are considered part of the Pacific Coast Ranges due to their proximity and similar economic and social impact on surrounding communities.

Major ranges

These are the members of the Pacific Coast Ranges, from north to south: *

Kenai Mountains The Kenai Mountains ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghanen Dghili'') are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Alaska. They extend 192 km (120 mi) northeast from the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula to the Chugach Mountains, and have an average elev ...

, southern

Chugach Mountains The Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about long and wide, and extends from the Knik and Turnagain ...

, southern Alaska *

Talkeetna Mountains The Talkeetna Mountains (''Dghelaay tahwt’aene'' in Ahtna) () are a mountain range in Alaska. The Matanuska and Susitna River valleys, with towns such as Trapper Creek, Talkeetna, Wasilla, Palmer, Sutton, and Chickaloon, roughly bound the Ta ...

, southern Alaska Turnagain Arm and Kenai Mountains

Yukon Ranges The Yukon Ranges are a mountain range comprising the mountains in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alaska and most of the Yukon in Canada. Named after the Yukon, this range has area of .Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

Wrangell Mountains The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska in the United States. Much of the range is included in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve. The Wrangell Mountains are almost entirely volcanic in origin, and they i ...

, southern Alaska *

, southern Alaska, southwestern Yukon, far northwestern British Columbia **

Alsek Ranges The Alsek Ranges are the southeasternmost subdivision of the Saint Elias Mountains of the Pacific Cordillera. They span the region between the Alsek River, Glacier Bay and the Kelsall River (which is the route of the highway from Haines, Alaska ...

***

Fairweather Range The Fairweather Range is the unofficial name for a mountain range located in the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the southernmost range of the Saint Elias Mountains. The northernmost section of the range is ...

***

Takshanuk Mountains TakshanukMountains1

The Takshanuk Mountains are a mountain range in ...

, Haines,

-area. Between Chilkat and Chilkoot watersheds *

Boundary Ranges The Boundary Ranges, also known in the singular and as the Alaska Boundary Range, are the largest and most northerly subrange of the Coast Mountains. They begin at the Nass River, near the southern end of the Alaska Panhandle in the Canadian p ...

, southeastern Alaska, northwestern British Columbia *** Cheja Range (southeast of Taku/Whiting Rivers) *** Chechidla Range ***

Chutine Icefield Chutine, originally Chutine Landing, is an abandoned locality and is a former settlement at the confluence of the Chutine and Stikine Rivers in the Stikine Country of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The name "Chutine" means "half-people ...

***

Adam Mountains The Adam Mountains, sometimes called the Adam Range, are a small mountain range in the southeastern extremity of the Alaska Panhandle, in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough near the Halleck Range. It has an area of 50 km2 and is a subrange of t ...

***

Ashington Range The Ashington Range is a mountain range of the Boundary Ranges in northwestern British Columbia, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean ...

***

Burniston Range The Burniston Range is a mountain range of the Boundary Ranges in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, located on the northeast side of Portland Canal and north of the Ashington Range The Ashington Range is a mountain range of the Boundary R ...

***

Dezadeash Range The Dezadeash Range is a mountain range in southern Yukon, Canada, located east of Haines Junction and south of the Alaska Highway. It has an area of and its appearance has a triangular shape. Although it can be considered to lie within the north ...

*** Florence Range ***

Halleck Range The Halleck Range is a small mountain range in southeastern Alaska, United States, located on the Alaskan side of the Portland Canal. It has an area of 127 km2 and is a subrange of the Boundary Ranges which in turn form part of the Coast Mo ...

***

Juneau Icefield The Juneau Icefield is an ice field located just north of Juneau, Alaska, continuing north through the border with British Columbia, extending through an area of in the Coast Range ranging north to south and east to west. The icefield is the so ...

*** Kakuhan Range ***

Lincoln Mountains The Lincoln Mountains is a mountain range in southeastern Alaska, United States, located on the Alaskan side of the Portland Canal between the Salmon River and the Soule River, near the community of Hyder. It has an area of 235 km2 and is a ...

***

Longview Range The Longview Range is a small mountain range in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, located between Bowser Lake and Surveyors Creek. It has an area of 165 km2 and is a subrange of the Boundary Ranges which in turn form part of the Coa ...

***

Peabody Mountains The Peabody Mountains is a mountain range in southeastern Alaska located between the lower Portland Canal and the Marten River. It has an area of 1387 km2 and is a subrange of the Boundary Ranges which in turn form part of the Coast Mountai ...

***

Rousseau Range The Rousseau Range is a small mountain range in southeastern Alaska, United States, located just north of the Peabody Mountains. It has an area of 264 km2 and is a subrange of the Boundary Ranges which in turn form part of the Coast Mountai ...

***Seward Mountains (Alaska), Seward Mountains ***Snowslide Range ***Spectrum Range ***Stikine Icecap **Kitimat Ranges BC North Coast **Pacific Ranges BC South & Central Coast ***Rainbow Range (Coast Mountains), Rainbow Range northwest Chilcotin, also classifiable as part of the

***Pantheon Range Homathko area ***Niut Range Homathko area ***Waddington Range Homathko area ***Whitemantle Range Homathko area ***Bendor Range ***Garibaldi Ranges ***Clendinning Range ***Tantalus Range ***Chilcotin Ranges ****Dickson Range ****Shulaps Range ****Camelsfoot Range ***Lillooet Ranges, (Fraser Canyon west bank) ****Cantilever Range ****Cayoosh Range ***Douglas Ranges ***Front Ranges (North Shore Mountains) *

, British Columbia **Vancouver Island Ranges, British Columbia **Queen Charlotte Mountains, British Columbia Mt Constance Dosewallips River

, British Columbia (Fraser Canyon east bank),

, Oregon and California *

, Oregon **Northern Oregon Coast Range **Central Oregon Coast Range **Southern Oregon Coast Range *Calapooya Mountains, Oregon *Klamath-Siskiyou, Oregon, Northern California **

, Oregon, Northern California **Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon, Northern California **Trinity Alps and Salmon Mountains, Northern California **Yolla Bolly Mountains, Northern California *California Coast Ranges, Northern Coast Ranges, Northern California **King Range (California), King Range, Northern California **Mendocino Range, Northern California Trinity Alps near Granite Lake

**Mayacamas Mountains, Northern California **Marin Hills, Northern California, (including Mount Tamalpais) *California Coast Ranges, Central California Coast Ranges, Central California **Santa Cruz Mountains, Central California **Diablo Range, Central California **Gabilan Range, Central California **Santa Lucia Range, Central California **Temblor Range, Central California **Caliente Range, Central California *

, Southern California **Sierra Madre Mountains (California), Sierra Madre Mountains, Southern California **Sierra Pelona Mountains, Southern California

**San Emigdio Mountains, Southern California **San Rafael Mountains, Southern California **Santa Ynez Mountains, Southern California **Tehachapi Mountains, Southern California **Topatopa Mountains, Southern California **Santa Susana Mountains, Southern California **Simi Hills, Southern California **

, Southern California **Chalk Hills, Southern California **San Gabriel Mountains, Southern California SanGabrielMountains

**San Rafael Hills, Southern California **Puente Hills, Southern California **

, Southern California **

, Southern California *

, Southern California and Mexico **Santa Ana Mountains, Southern California **Chino Hills, Southern California **San Jacinto Mountains, Southern California **Palomar Mountain Range, Southern California **Laguna Mountains, Southern California **Sierra de Juárez, Sierra Juarez, Northern Baja California, Mexico **Sierra San Pedro Martir, Central Baja California, Mexico **Sierra de San Borja, Central Baja California, Mexico **Sierra de San Francisco, Central Baja California, Mexico **Sierra de Guadalupe cave paintings, Central Baja California, Mexico **Sierra de la Giganta, Southern Baja California, Mexico **Sierra de la Laguna, Southern Baja California, Mexico *

, Northwestern

Major icefields

These are not named as ranges, but amount to the same thing. The Pacific Coast Ranges are home to the largest temperate-latitude icefields in the world. *Harding Icefield *Sargent Icefield Harding Icefield 6-1992

*Bagley Icefield *Kluane Icefields *

*Stikine Icecap *Ha-Iltzuk Icefield (Silverthrone Glacier) *Monarch Icefield *Waddington Range, Waddington Icefield *Homathko Icefield *Lillooet Icecap (Lillooet Crown) *Pemberton Icefield ''Only the largest icefields are listed above; smaller icefields may be listed on the various range pages. Formally unnamed icefields are not listed''

References

{{Authority control Pacific Coast Ranges, Lists of mountain ranges of the United States Mountain ranges of North America North American Cordillera Geology of North America Geography of North America Geography of the West Coast of the United States Mountain ranges of the Western United States, * Mountain ranges of Mexico Mountain ranges of Baja California, . Mountain ranges of Baja California Sur, . Mountain ranges of British Columbia, . Physiographic provinces Physiographic regions of Canada Physiographic regions of Mexico Physiographic regions of the United States

Other uses

Geography

Geology

Major ranges

Major icefields

See also

References