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Exploring North American Landscapes

Begin your exploration of the diverse North American landscape by taking a look at the many unique ecoregions which make up this amazing continent. Each unique landscape exhibits an equally unique climate, geology and ecology .

The landscape is not limited to rocks and landforms. It is a combination of the climate, ecology and the geology. To truly understand the landscape, we begin with the climate. The climate impacts the ecology and finally, the geology reflects the landscape today (along with landforms that may reveal past climates).

Climate of the Rocky Mountains

In the high county, rugged landscapes and high winds interact to make weather unpredictable. A sunny July day can suddenly deteriorate into a violent thunderstorm leaving a dusting of fresh snow to outline the summits. Just as quickly, the storm may clear and the day return to its previous peacefulness.

Along with freak weather systems and rapid change, the mountains are influenced by both regional and local conditions. While the prevailing winds may blow from the west, mountain valleys act as a wind funnel, providing locally divergent wind patterns.

Ecology of the Rocky Mountains

In the Rockies, like everywhere else, everything is connected. The rocks form the foundation upon which plant communities spring. Wildlife populations are, in turn, governed by the mixture of landscape and available food sources.

This collection of landscape, plants and animals forms a habitat, and for those species adapted to the habitat, it’s home.

Mountain Geology

Discussions of Rocky Mountain Geology are often broken into the following three major stages.

Sedimentation / Deposition. Learning to understand the mountains begins with understanding the rocks that make up the Rocky Mountains.

Uplift / Mountain Building. Shifting continental plates have created periods of mountain building, changing a level plain into a spectacular mountain landscape.

The sculpting of the mountains. From the moment the Rockies emerged from the ancient oceans, the agents of water and ice have been wearing them down and sculpting their rugged face.