Солтүстік Каролина штатының географиясы

Geography of the US state of North Carolina

The geography of North Carolina falls naturally into three divisions — the Appalachian Mountains in the west (including the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains), the central Piedmont Plateau, and the eastern Atlantic Coastal Plain. North Carolina covers 53819 square miles (139,391 km2) and is 503 mile (809 km) wide by 150 mile (241 km) long. The physical characteristics of the state vary from the summits of the Smoky Mountains, an altitude of near seven thousand feet in the west, sloping eastward to sea level along the coast and beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Piedmont plateau forms the central third of the state. The Piedmont is a hilly region and is the most urbanized and densely populated section, containing the state's largest cities. Due to rapid urbanization over the last 30 years, a significant part of the rural area in this region has been transformed into suburbs. In particular, the cities of Charlotte and Raleigh have become major urban centers, with large, diverse, and rapidly growing populations. Elevations in the Piedmont vary from above sea level. Isolated mountain ranges are scattered here, mostly on the Western side, but few of them reach over 1,200 feet. The Piedmont lies within the Southeastern mixed forests ecoregion and has many forests. The northern extent of the Carolina Sandhills is located near Fayetteville in North Carolina, and the Carolina Sandhills extend south and southwestward into South Carolina and Georgia.

Seventeen major river basins have covered at least part of the state of North Carolina. These rivers can be broadly divided into three groups. In the extreme western part of the state, there are rivers that flow in a northwesterly direction, draining into the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi River. In the central part of the state, rivers flow generally southward into South Carolina before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. In the eastern part of the state, most of the rivers flow generally in an eastward or southeastward direction, before emptying into one of the sounds that separate the mainland of North Carolina from the Outer Banks. The divide between the Atlantic and Gulf watersheds, part of a larger divide known as the Eastern Continental Divide, lies not along the Smoky Mountains, the tallest in the state, but rather along the lower Blue Ridge Mountains to the east. The western slopes of the Blue Ridge form the headwaters of the French Broad and the Kanawha Rivers. Through the taller Smoky Mountains, these rivers pass through deep canyons known as water gaps. For example the Hiawassee River and its tributaries follow a series of canyons between Cleveland, Tennessee and Murphy, North Carolina, part of which can be followed driving along the Ocoee Scenic Byway. The rivers of central North Carolina rise on the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge. The two largest of these are the Catawba River and the Yadkin River, and they drain much of the Piedmont region of the state. The major rivers of Eastern North Carolina, from north to south, are: the Chowan, the Roanoke, the Tar, the Neuse and the Cape Fear. Many of those rivers are navigable far inland, owing to their breadth as they traverse the low, flat Atlantic Coastal Plain in the eastern part of the state.

Among North Carolina's lakes are hundreds of elliptically shaped lakes or ponds that are referred to as Carolina bays. These interesting and often ecologically rich lakes occur in many other states but for some reason are highly concentrated in eastern North Carolina. Lake Waccamaw is the largest of the Carolina bays. While large, natural lakes are rare in North Carolina, excepting the Carolina bays in the eastern part of the state, there are many large reservoirs along the major river systems of the state. Among these are Lake James and Lake Norman on the Catawba River, Falls Lake on the Neuse River, Jordan Lake on the Haw River, as well as Gaston and Kerr Lakes along the Roanoke Rivers. Many of these reservoirs serve as water supplies for North Carolina's urban areas, but also feature recreational facilities including boat ramps, fishing areas, and beaches.

The climate of North Carolina is mild and equable. This is due in part to its geographical position: midway in the Northern Hemisphere. Also, the high Appalachian chain offers, to some extent, a shield from cold winter winds of the northwest. On the ocean side, in winter, is the moderating influence of the warm Gulf Stream, the current of which sweeps along near its shores. The result of these combined causes is shown in the character of the seasons. Fogs are frequent, especially during the summer; frosts do not occur until the middle of October; ice forms on raised surfaces at least once a winter; snows are frequently light, seldom remaining on the ground more than two or three days, except in the higher elevations. The average rainfall is about , which is pretty uniformly distributed throughout the year.