California Landscape • California's immense and

diverse landscape is defined by patterns of mountains and valleys creating four major natural ecosystems: the coast, the Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada, and the deserts.

Rocky Coast

• The Rocky Coast consists of hills, ridges, and peaks.

Great Central Valley

• The Great Central Valley is a vast depression, rimmed by mountains. It was at one time an ancient shallow sea and is now very productive farmland.

Sierra Nevada

• The Sierra Nevada is a single mountain range - a vast, tilted granite block with steep slopes and jagged, snowcapped peaks.

Mount Whitney

• Mount Whitney, at 14,494 feet, is the highest peak in the continental United States.

California Deserts

• Desert areas are arid regions of mountain ranges, basins, and flat deserts.

California from Space

• A color-accurate image of California as seen from above the Earth's atmosphere.

The Seasons of California

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Central Valley Sea

• A shallow sea collected sediments and would eventually become the fertile Central Valley.

San Andreas Fault

California Fault Map

Pacific & North American Plates

Earthquake Risk Map

Creep & Lock Zones

Some faults, called Creep Zones, move smoothly and continuously, and do not generally create earthquakes. Others, known as Lock Zones, move erratically, and cause earthquakes by sticking and snapping forward.

Mountains & Volcanoes

• Pressure caused molten rock to rise to the surface, creating volcanoes and much of the Sierra Nevada and Southern California mountains.