Physiographic Regions of the United States

Physiographic Regions of the lower 48 United States Courtesy of the USGS.

There are eight distinct physiographic divisions within the contential U.S., though each is composed of yet small physiographic subdivisions. These major divisions are the:

• Laurentian Highlands (areas labelled 1)
• Atlantic Plain (labelled 2 and 3)
• Appalachian Highlands (labelled 4-10)
• Interior Plains (labelled 11-13)
• Interior Highlands (labelled 14 and 15)
• Rocky Mountain System (labelled 16-19)
• Intermontane Plateaus (labelled 20-22)
• Pacific Mountain System (labelled 23-25)

The map below shows these divisions together with their subdivisions.

US Physiographic Regions - USGS

Table of contents 1 LAURENTIAN UPLAND 2 ATLANTIC PLAIN 3 APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS 4 INTERIOR PLAINS 5 INTERIOR HIGHLANDS 6 ROCKY MOUNTAIN SYSTEM 7 INTERMONTANE PLATEAUS 8 PACIFIC MOUNTAIN SYSTEM 1 External Links LAURENTIAN UPLAND 1. Superior Upland ATLANTIC PLAIN 2. Continental Shelf (not on map) 3. Coastal Plain 3a. Embayed section 3b. Sea Island section 3c. Floridian section 3d. East Gulf Coastal Plain 3e. Mississippi Alluvial Plain 3f. West Gulf Coastal Plain APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS 4. Piedmont province 4a. Piedmont Upland 4b. Piedmont Lowlands 5. Blue Ridge province 5a. Northern section 5b. Southern section 6. Valley and Ridge province 6a. Tennessee section 6b. Middle section 6c. Hudson Valley 7. St. Lawrence Valley 7a. Champlain section 7b. Northern section (not on map) 8. Appalachian Plateaus province 8a. Mohawk section 8b. Catskill section 8c. Southern New York section 8d. Allegheny Mountain section 8e. Kanawha section 8f. Cumberland Plateau section 8g. Cumberland Mountain section 9. New England Province 9a. Seaboard Lowland section 9b. New England Upland section 9c. White Mountain section 9d. Green Mountain section 9e. Taconic section 10. Adirondack province INTERIOR PLAINS 11. Interior Low Plateaus 11a. Highland Rim section 11b. Lexington Plain 11c. Nashville Basin 12. Central Lowland 12a. Eastern Lake section 12b. Western Lake section 12c. Wisconsin Driftless section 12d. Till Plains 12e. Dissected Till Plains 12f. Osage Plains 13. Great Plains province 13a. Missouri Plateau, glaciated 13b. Missouri Plateau, unglaciated 13c. Black Hills 13d. High Plains 13e. Plains Border 13f. Colorado Piedmont 13g. Raton section 13h. Pecos Valley 13i. Edwards Plateau 13j. Central Texas section

INTERIOR HIGHLANDS 14. Ozark Plateaus 14a. Springfield-Salem plateaus 14b. Boston "Mountains" 15. Ouachita province 15a. Arkansas Valley 15b. Ouachita Mountains ROCKY MOUNTAIN SYSTEM 16. Southern Rocky Mountains 17. Wyoming Basin 18. Middle Rocky Mountains 19. Northern Rocky Mountains INTERMONTANE PLATEAUS 20. Columbia Plateau 20a. Walla Walla Plateau 20b. Blue Mountain section 20c. Payette section 20d. Snake River Plain 20e. Harney section 21. Colorado Plateaus 21a. High Plateaus of Utah 21b. Uinta Basin 21c. Canyon Lands 21d. Navajo section 21e. Grand Canyon section 21f. Datil section 22. Basin and Range province 22a. Great Basin 22b. Sonoran Desert 22c. Salton Trough 22d. Mexican Highland 22e. Sacramento section PACIFIC MOUNTAIN SYSTEM 23. Cascade-Sierra Mountains 23a. Northern Cascade Mountains 23b. Middle Cascade Mountains 23c. Southern Cascade Mountains 23d. Sierra Nevada 24. Pacific Border province 24a. Puget Trough 24b. Olympic Mountains 24c. Oregon Coast Range 24d. Klamath Mountains 24e. California Trough 24f. California Coast Ranges 24g. Los Angeles Ranges 25. Lower California province

Courtesy of USGS

External Links

• http://tapestry.usgs.gov