The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region defined by a unique topographic expression. Basin and range topography is characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating between narrow faulted mountain chains and flat arid valleys or basins. The region covers most of the western United States, extends into northwestern Mexico and is mostly desert, with numerous ecoregions. The physiography of the province is the result of tectonic extension that began around 17 Ma (million years ago) in Early Miocene time.
Clarence Dutton famously compared the many narrow parallel mountain ranges that distinguish the unique topography of the Basin and Range to an "army of caterpillars marching toward Mexico", which is a helpful way to visualize the overall appearance of the region. The Basin and Range province should not be confused with The Great Basin, which is a sub-section of the greater Basin and Range physiographic region defined by its unique hydrological characteristics (internal drainage).
Read more about Basin And Range Province: Geography, Geology, Volcanism, Mineral Resources
Famous quotes containing the words range and/or province:
“Culture is the suggestion, from certain best thoughts, that a man has a range of affinities through which he can modulate the violence of any master-tones that have a droning preponderance in his scale, and succor him against himself. Culture redresses this imbalance, puts him among equals and superiors, revives the delicious sense of sympathy, and warns him of the dangers of solitude and repulsion.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Female Virtues are of a Domestick turn. The Family is the proper Province for Private Women to Shine in. If they must be showing their Zeal for the Publick, let it not be against those who are perhaps of the same Family, or at least of the same Religion or Nation, but against those who are the open, professed, undoubted Enemies of their Faith, Liberty, and Country.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)