Atlantic coastal plain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bardobro (talk | contribs) at 19:24, 6 December 2012 (unlithified sediments are at least as common as sedimentary rock). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Atlantic coastal plain covers parts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida (Alabama is part of the Gulf Coastal Plain).

Although not included in this depiction, the Outer Lands (Long Island, Block Island, and Cape Cod and the Islands) are geologically part of the Atlantic coastal plain.[1]

The Atlantic coastal plain is a United States physiographic province of low relief along the East coast of the United States that extends 2,200 miles (3,500 km) from the New York Bight[2][3] southward to a Georgia/Florida section of the Eastern Continental Divide, which demarcates the plain from the ACF River Basin in the Gulf Coastal Plain to the west. The province is bordered on the west by the Atlantic Seaboard fall line and the Piedmont plateau, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Floridian province. The Outer Lands archipelagic region forms the insular northeasternmost extension of the Atlantic coastal plain.

The province's average elevation is less than 900 meters above sea level and extends some 50 to 100 kilometers inland from the ocean.[citation needed] The coastal plain is generally wet, including many rivers, marsh, and swampland.[citation needed] It is composed primarily of sedimentary rock and unlithified sediments and is primarily used for agriculture.[4] The area is subdivided into the Embayed and Sea Island physiographic provinces, as well as the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic coastal plains.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Generalized Landscape Regions of New York State" (PDF). Earth Science Reference Tables. NYSED. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  2. ^ Stoffer, Phil. "The Atlantic Coastal Plain". Geology and Geography of New York Bight Beaches. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "South Atlantic Coastal Plain".
  4. ^ Water table management in the eastern coastal plain
  5. ^ "Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain". Retrieved 2010-08-11. The Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain extends from the Atlantic Ocean, south of Long Island, to the Fall Line, where the hilly Piedmont begins. It is arbitrarily [sic] separated from the South Atlantic Coastal Plain at the Virginia-North Carolina border (with the exception of the Great Dismal Swamp in the southeast corner of Virginia, which is grouped in the southern area).