North America may be divided into at least five major
physiographic regions: ;
Canadian Shield: This is a geologically stable area of rock dating between 2.5 and 4
Gya that occupies most of the northeastern quadrant, including
Greenland. ;
Appalachian Mountains: The Appalachians are an old and eroded system that formed about 1.3
Gya and extends from the
Island of Newfoundland to
Alabama. ;
Atlantic Coastal Plain: The plain is a belt of lowlands widening to the south that extends from south
New England to Mexico. ;: The lowlands extend down the middle of the continent from the
Mackenzie Valley to the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and include the
Great Plains on the west and the agriculturally productive
Interior Plains on the east. ;
North American Cordillera: The cordillera is a complex belt of mountains and associated
plateaus and
basins some of which were formed as recently as 100–65 Ma, during the Cretaceous. The cordillera extend from Alaska into Mexico and includes two
orogenic belts — the Pacific Margin on the west and the Rocky Mountains on the east — separated by a system of intermontane plateaus and basins. The Coastal Plain and the main belts of the North American Cordillera continue in the south in Mexico (where the
Mexican Plateau, bordered by the
Sierra Madre Oriental and the
Sierra Madre Occidental, is considered a continuation of the intermontane system) to connect the
Transverse Volcanic Range, a zone of high and active volcanic peaks south of Mexico City. The vast majority of North America is located on the
North American Plate, centered on the
Laurentia craton. Parts of California and western Mexico form the partial edge of the
Pacific Plate; the two plates meet along the
San Andreas Fault. The southern portion of the Caribbean and parts of Central America compose the much smaller
Caribbean Plate. The western mountains have split in the middle, into the main range of the Rockies and the Coast Ranges in California,
Oregon,
Washington, and
British Columbia with the
Great Basin (a lower area containing smaller ranges and low-lying deserts) in between. The highest peak is
Denali (also called Mount McKinley) in Alaska. Three countries (Canada, the United States, and Mexico) make up most of North America's land mass; they share the continent with 34 other island countries in the Caribbean and
south of Mexico.
Geographic center of North America The geographic center of North America is near
Center, North Dakota, according to Peter Rogerson, geography professor at the
University at Buffalo, who published a new method of calculating geographical centers. Earlier placements in 1931 involved geographers balancing a cardboard cutout of a region on a needlelike point to find its center to establish a spot "6 miles west of
Balta, Pierce County, North Dakota", In 1932, a field stone cairn recognizing this was erected in nearby
Rugby, North Dakota at the intersections of
U.S. Route 2 and
ND State Highway 3. ==Surface and climate==