North America Geography Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

North the States Geography - Research makeup ExampleThe Northern half of North the States remains sparingly populated and covered mostly by Canada, except by North East part occupied by Alaska. The central and grey sections of the North the States continent are represented by Mexico, United States, as well as several states situated in Caribbean and commutation America. Canada, Mexico, and the United States constitute most of North Americas land mass and share the continent with 34 other island countries in the Caribbean south of Mexico. The paper explores the physical, economic, cultural, and historic geography of North America. The physical geography of North America Physical features frequently impact on the manner in which people select to settle areas and utilize the land. Physical geography can be categorized into three core areas of emphasis, namely climatology (weather patterns and climates) geomorphology (physiography and landforms) and, biogeography (fauna and flora). Th e surface physiography of any region draws massive influences by the underlying rock structure. Geologic evidence demonstrates that, from 200 million years, the continent of North America altered its course and started drifting away from Pangaea. The earliest recorded history of any civilization dates buns 5,000 years ago (Meinig, 1989). The physical features of North America entail Northern section of the American Cordillera comprising of the geologically new Rocky Mountains (located in the west) and older Appalachian Mountains to the eastbound. The North features several glacial lakes formed inwardly the last glacial period such as the Great Lakes. North Americas large(p) continental divide (the Great Divide) runs north and south via Rocky Mountains. The prominent watershed largely drains to the east including the Mississippi/Missouri, St. Lawrence that drains into the Atlantic, and Rio Grande, which drain into the Gulf of Mexico (Meinig, 1989). North America can be categoriz ed into five major physiographic regions, namely Canadian Shield Appalachian Mountains Atlantic Coastal Plain North American Cordillera and, indoor Lowlands. The Coastal Plain and the principal North American Cordillera belts largely extend to the south in Mexico to trade union the Transverse Volcanic Range (a region comprising of active volcanic peaks south of Mexico City. The biggest portion of North America rests on the North American Plate anchored on the Laurentia craton. Some sections of California and Western Mexico form the partial(p) edge of the Pacific Plate, which meet along the San Andreas Fault while sections in the southern portion of the Caribbean and sections of the Central America constitute relatively small Caribbean Plate (Brescia & Super, 2009). Mexico equally manifests high-pitchedly varied topography that comprises of rugged mountains with high elevations, high plateaus, low coastal plains, and deserts. Mexicos climate can also be regarded as changeable m ainly dominated by tropical or desert climate (Colby, 2011). North America clime The core factors that impact on climate include continentality, latitude, surface physiography, and air masse possess bulky impacts on the climate of North America, which in turn, possess direct influences the bio-geographic distribution of the natural vegetation across the region. The core factors that influence vegetation patterns entail temperature and humidity (precipitation). The climate that manifest in North America is