Pacific mountain system

Introduction
Physical features
- Geology
- Physiography
- Soils
- Climate
- Plant life
- Animal life
People
Economy
- Resource exploitation
- Agriculture and fishing
- Recreation
- Environmental concerns
Study and exploration

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Liberty Bell Mountain (left) and the Early Winter Spires (right), North Cascade Range, Okanogan National Forest, northwestern Washington, U.S.

View of Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park, with Upper Yosemite Fall cascading down a high cliff and Lower Yosemite Fall visible below, framed by green trees.

Snowy scene at Picture Lake, Mount Baker Wilderness, northwestern Washington, U.S. Mount Shuksan, in North Cascades National Park, is in the centre-right background.

Larches surrounding Blue Lake, North Cascade Range, Okanogan National Forest, northwestern Washington, U.S.

Related Questions

How did American Indian peoples of the Pacific mountain region obtain food and trade goods before European settlement?
How did European diseases affect Indigenous peoples in the Pacific mountain region?
How did Spanish missions change the lives of many California Indians?
How did faulting help form the Basin and Range Province east of the Sierra Nevada?
How did logging and lumber become important to the Pacific mountain region’s economy?
How did the San Andreas Fault contribute to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake?
How did the eruption of Mount Mazama create Crater Lake?
How do the Klamath Mountains connect the coastal and inland mountain ranges?
How do the Middle Cascades differ from the South Cascades?
How does the Pacific mountain system affect rainfall in western North America?
How high are the Olympic Mountains above Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean?
How old are the Klamath Mountains compared with other Pacific coastal mountains?
How was Lake Chelan formed in the North Cascades?
What happened during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens?
Which Cascade volcano erupted in 1914–17?
Which lowland regions lie between the Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range or Sierra Nevada?
Which peak is the highest mountain in the conterminous United States?
Which provincial parks are located in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia?
Which volcanoes rise above the general elevation of the Middle Cascades?
Why are Cascade volcanoes explosive volcanoes?
Why are Mount Rainier and other high Cascade peaks covered by glaciers?
Why are Mount Whitney and Death Valley located so close to each other?
Why are coastal plains narrow or absent along the Pacific mountain system?
Why are landslides and rapid erosion common in parts of the Coast Ranges?
Why do rivers in the California Coast Ranges often follow northwest-southeast fault lines?
Why do the Coast Mountains receive heavy rainfall and snowfall?
Why do the Klamath Mountains have such complex geology?
Why does the Sierra Nevada have a gentle western slope and a steep eastern escarpment?
Why is the Sierra Nevada sometimes included in the Pacific mountain system?
Why is the eastern side of the Cascade Range much drier than its western side?

Geography & Travel Physical Geography of Land Mountains & Volcanoes

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Pacific mountain system

mountains, North America

Written by

James G. Ashbaugh

Emeritus Professor of Geography, Portland State University, Oregon. Author of A Geography of the Columbia River Ports.

James G. Ashbaugh

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

Pacific mountain system, series of mountain ranges that stretches along the Pacific Ocean coast of North America from northern British Columbia (Canada) to northwestern Mexico. They run for some 4,500 miles (7,250 km) in the United States and extend northward into Canada for another 1,000 miles (1,600 km). The ranges may be divided into eight sections. Roughly from north to south they are the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, the mountains of Vancouver Island and...

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