Content deleted Content added
m →Geology: Change to {cite book} and add info per source to clear CS1 error. |
No edit summary |
||
Line 32:
The character of the ranges varies considerably, from the record-setting [[tidewater glacier]]s in the ranges of Alaska, to the rugged Central and [[Southern California]] ranges, the [[Transverse Ranges]] and [[Peninsular Ranges]], in the [[California chaparral and woodlands|chaparral and woodlands]] eco-region with [[California oak woodland|Oak Woodland]], [[Chaparral]] shrub forest or [[Coastal sage scrub]]-covering them. The coastline is often seen dropping steeply into the sea with photogenic views. Along the [[British Columbia]] and Alaska coast, the mountains intermix with the sea in a complex maze of [[fjords]], with thousands of islands. Off the Southern California coast the [[Channel Islands of California|Channel Islands]] [[archipelago]] of the [[Santa Monica Mountains]] extends for {{convert|160|mi|km}}.
There are [[coastal plains]] at the mouths of rivers that have punched through the mountains spreading sediments, most notably at the [[Copper River (Alaska)|Copper River]] in Alaska, the [[Fraser River]] in British Columbia, and the [[Columbia River]] between Washington and Oregon. In California: the [[Sacramento River|Sacramento]] and [[San Joaquin River|San Joaquin]] Rivers' [[San Francisco Bay]], the [[Santa Clara River (California)|Santa Clara River's]] [[Oxnard Plain]]
From the vicinity of San Francisco Bay north, it is common in winter for cool unstable air masses from the [[Gulf of Alaska]] to make landfall in one of the Coast Ranges, resulting in heavy [[precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]], both as [[rain]] and [[snow]], 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]] that produces the arid [[Desert Region of California|desert regions]].
|