Basin and Range Province

A vast western North American region of alternating mountain ranges and desert basins, formed largely as the crust stretched, thinned, and broke along faults.

Crustal extension: Tectonic deformation in which Earth’s crust stretches and becomes thinner. The province’s broad pattern of ranges and basins records extension across western North America.
North American Cordillera: The mountain belt extending along western North America from Alaska to Central America. The province occupies an interior part of this larger western mountain system.
Farallon Plate: An ancient oceanic tectonic plate that subducted beneath western North America. Its subduction helped shape the tectonic setting from which later extension developed.
Great Basin Desert: A cold desert covering much of Nevada and parts of surrounding western states. Its closed basins and mountain rain shadows reflect the province’s topography.
Andes: A mountain range along the western edge of South America, formed largely by oceanic-continental plate convergence. The Andes illustrate mountain building by compression rather than the province’s dominant extension.
Normal fault: A fault along which the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall. Normal faults bound many ranges and basins as the crust stretches.
Colorado Plateau: A high, relatively undeformed region of layered rocks in the southwestern United States. Its coherent crust contrasts with the heavily faulted terrain along its western margin.
Laramide orogeny: A period of mountain building in western North America, roughly 80 to 50 million years ago. Its compressional deformation preceded extension across much of the region.
Rain shadow: A dry region on the leeward side of a mountain range, where descending air limits precipitation. Repeated ranges create local rain shadows that intensify desert conditions.
Appalachian Mountains: An ancient mountain system in eastern North America, heavily eroded since its major episodes of mountain building. Their old, subdued relief contrasts with the province’s younger fault-block landscapes.

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