Regional elevations range from sea level to greater than 1,900 m. Most high volcanoes have icecaps or small glaciers. The islands have been intensely glaciated and evidence of glacial erosion is common. Cliff faces surrounding coastal fjords can rise more than 600 m above the ocean. The region is generally free from permafrost, but periglacial erosional processes are active because of the cold, wet climate.
Streams are short and swift.
Many enter the sea as waterfalls. In areas of porous volcanic rock, stream courses are widely spaced and are filled with water only during exceptionally heavy rains. Many small lakes occupy irregular ice-carved basins in rolling topography on the glaciated islands. Lakes fill a few volcanic craters and calderas. Soils Dominant soils are Typic Haplocryands and Typic Vitricryands.