In the United States and Mexico, intermontane plateaus are called basin and range topography and consist of closely spaced, parallel mountain ranges separated by elongated basins. These landforms are found chiefly between the Sierra Nevada and the Rockies in the United States and alongside the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in Mexico. Ice plateaus cover most of Greenland and Antarctica. The ice is a relic of the Pleistocene ice age when continental glaciers covered much of the Arctic, sub-Arctic, and some temperate regions. Most oceanic plateaus occur along midocean rises, such as the Albatross Plateau of the eastern equatorial Pacific, or along continental slopes, as exemplified by the Blake Plateau off the southeastern coast of the United States.
Continental plateaus are subject to erosion and dissection by wind, streams, and glaciers.
In some cases dissection has been so thorough that little remains of the original plateau surface. In arid and semiarid regions, such as the southwestern United States, plateaus may be eroded into mesas and buttes. Plateaus, being elevated, often create local climates, which range from temperate to desertlike conditions. The Learning Company, Inc.