page_title: Environment of the United States
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Environment of the United States / Geology
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of U.S. Geological Provinces. Relief map and outline from USGS, labels added by Hike395 at English Wikipedia
context_page_description: The environment of the United States comprises diverse biotas, climates, and geologies. Environmental regulations and the environmental movement have emerged to respond to the various threats to the environment.
context_section_description: The lower 48 states can be divided into roughly five physiographic provinces: the American cordillera, the Canadian Shield, the stable platform, the coastal plain, and the Appalachian orogenic belt.  The richly textured landscape of the United States is a product of the dueling forces of plate tectonics, weathering, and erosion.  Tectonic upheavals and colliding plates have raised great mountain ranges while the forces of erosion and weathering worked to tear them down.  The plate tectonic history of a region strongly influences the rock type and structure exposed at the surface, but differing rates of erosion along with changing climates can also have impacts on the land.
caption: geology map
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