North American Cordillera

North American Cordillera
The mountainous western part of North America is called a "cordillera".
Highest point
Peak	Denali
Elevation	6,168 m (20,236 ft)
Dimensions
Length	6,400 km (4,000 mi)
Geography
Countries	United States, Canada and Mexico

The North American Cordillera is the North American portion of the American Cordillera which is a mountain chain (cordillera) along the western side of the Americas. The North American Cordillera covers an extensive area of mountain ranges, intermontane basins, and plateaus in western North America, including much of the territory west of the Great Plains. It is also sometimes called the Western Cordillera, the Western Cordillera of North America, or the Pacific Cordillera.

The precise boundaries of this cordillera and its subregions, as well as the names of its various features, may differ depending on the definitions in each country or jurisdiction, and also depending on the scientific field; this cordillera is a particularly prominent subject in the scientific field of physical geography.

This cordillera extends from the U.S. state of Alaska to the southern border of Mexico. The North American Cordillera includes some of the highest peaks on the continent. Its mountain ranges generally run north to south along three main belts: the Pacific Coast Ranges in the west, the Nevadan belt in the middle (including the Sierra Nevada), and the Laramide belt in the east (including the Rocky Mountains).

These three orogenic belts (also called "orogens") arose due to the engagement of tectonic plates which deformed the Earth's lithosphere (crust and uppermost mantle). For example, the Laramide orogeny changed the topography of the central Rocky Mountains and adjoining Laramide regions (from central Montana to central New Mexico) during the Late Cretaceous 80 million years ago. Prior to this time the Rocky Mountain region was occupied by a broad basin. Further topographical evolution occurred during the Eocene (55–50 million years ago) and Oligocene (34–23 million years ago), but since that time the deformation of the region has been relatively stable. Generally speaking, it will be convenient here to consider these three belts going west to east, and north to south.