Geography of Georgia (U.S. state)

+Geography of Georgia (U.S. state)AreaTotalLandWaterwetstates.html , Accessed October 4, 2007Latitude30° 35′ N to 35° NLongitude80° 50′ W to 85° 36′ WBordersFloridastate South CarolinastateAlabamastateTennesseestateNorth CarolinastateCoastlines100 milesGeorgia.org , Accessed October 7, 2007

Georgia is a state in the Southeastern United States in North America. The Golden Isles of Georgia lie off the coast of the state. The main geographical features include mountains such as the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians in the northwest, the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northeast, the Piedmont plateau in the central portion of the state and Coastal Plain in the south. The highest area in Georgia is Brasstown Bald which is above sea level, while the lowest is at sea level, at the Atlantic Ocean. Georgia is located at approximately 33° N 83.5° W. The state has a total area of and the geographic center is located in Twiggs County.USGS.gov , Accessed May 25, 2007

Georgia has primarily a humid subtropical climate with hot and humid summers, except at the highest elevations. Georgia's subtropical climate depends on latitude and how close an area is to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. The state's weather is mostly moderate, but Georgia has occasional extreme weather. The highest temperature ever recorded is and the lowest is .Each state's low temperature record USA Today, last updated August 2006 Georgia is vulnerable to hurricanes, though the coast rarely experiences a direct hurricane strike.

Georgia has 536 cities in 159 counties and 14 congressional districts. 152 of the 159 counties in the state are governed by a commission of between three and eleven commissioners while the other seven are overseen by a single commissioner.The Government of Georgia , Accessed June 24, 2008 Most of the 536 cities are governed by a mayor-council system. Georgia has almost eight million acres (32,000 km2) of prime farmland while over 60% of the land is made up of pine forests. Georgia has of streams and rivers, of lakes, and approximately of freshwater wetlands. Manganese, iron, copper, and other minerals make up the natural resources of the state.

Regions of Georgia Source: Georgia Department of Economic Development

Northwest (Rome / Dalton) – Paulding, Bartow, Whitfield, Floyd, Catoosa, Walker, Gordon, Polk, Murray, Pickens, Gilmer, Haralson, Fannin, Chattooga, Dade Northeast (Gainesville) – Forsyth, Hall, Habersham, Lumpkin, White, Dawson, Stephens, Hart, Union, Franklin, Banks, Rabun, Towns Metro (Atlanta) – Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, Clayton, Cherokee, Henry, Douglas, Fayette, Rockdale West Central (Newnan) – Coweta, Carroll, Troup, Spalding, Upson, Butts, Meriwether, Pike, Lamar, Heard East Central (Athens) – Clarke, Newton, Walton, Barrow, Jackson, Oconee, Madison, Morgan, Elbert, Greene, Oglethorpe, Jasper Middle (Macon / Warner Robins) – Houston, Bibb, Baldwin, Jones, Peach, Monroe, Putnam, Crawford, Pulaski, Wilkinson, Twiggs East (Augusta) – Richmond, Columbia, Burke, McDuffie, Washington, Jefferson, Wilkes, Hancock, Jenkins, Lincoln, Warren, Glascock, Taliaferro West (Columbus) – Muscogee, Harris, Sumter, Crisp, Macon, Dooly, Chattahoochee, Taylor, Marion, Randolph, Talbot, Stewart, Schley, Clay, Webster, Quitman South (Dublin) – Laurens, Wayne, Toombs, Tattnall, Emanuel, Dodge, Appling, Jeff Davis, Bleckley, Telfair, Candler, Evans, Johnson, Wilcox, Montgomery, Wheeler, Treutlen Southwest (Albany) – Dougherty, Colquitt, Thomas, Lee, Decatur, Grady, Mitchell, Worth, Early, Terrell, Seminole, Miller, Calhoun, Baker Southeast (Valdosta) – Lowndes, Coffee, Tift, Ware, Pierce, Berrien, Brantley, Cook, Ben Hill, Brooks, Charlton, Bacon, Lanier, Irwin, Turner, Atkinson, Clinch, Echols Coastal (Savannah) – Chatham, Glynn, Bulloch, Liberty, Effingham, Camden, Bryan, Long, Screven, McIntosh

Physical geography

There are five major geographical regions of Georgia. They are the Appalachian Plateau region, the Ridge and Valley region, the Blue Ridge region, the Piedmont region, and the Atlantic Plain region.

The Appalachian Plateau region is the southern portion of the Appalachian Plateau that stretches from New York through Georgia and west into Alabama.

The Ridge and Valley region lies in the northwestern portion of the state.State Flags Flowers Birds Symbols and Emblems State Quarters Geography and Maps Newspapers History and Economy for the 50 States , Accessed June 20, 2008 The area was formed due to extreme folding and faulting events. This folding and faulting created a series of ridges and valleys that vary in "height, width and geological materials".The University of Georgia (UGA) Georgia Overview , Accessed June 20, 2008 It consists of limestone, sandstone, chert, mudstone and shale as well as many other types of rocks. Much of the land in the area is heavily forested as forests cover almost half of the region.Georgia Ecoregion Descriptions , Accessed November 23, 2007

The Blue Ridge region of Georgia is situated in the northeast of the state just north of the Piedmont. The mountain peaks in the Blue Ridge, which are among the highest in the state, average between two thousand and five thousand feet. It includes igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary geology; the main types of rocks in the area are gneiss, slate and saprolite. The soils of the Broad Basin are mostly loamy or clayey Ultiso. The Blue Ridge consists primarily of Precambrian metamorphic rocks, and the landscape has relatively high relief.

The Piedmont region consists of Paleozoic metamorphic and igneous rocks, and the landscape has relatively low relief. The Piedmont is the second largest region of Georgia, and it has 3 water systems: the Chattahoochee River, West Point Lake, and Lake Sidney Lanier. The rocks of the Piedmont are made up of Precambrian and Paleozoic metamorphic and igneous rocks and the soils are of a finer texture than those found on the coastal plain. Some specific types of rock in the Piedmont are schist, gneiss, and phyllite among others. Georgia's coastal plain is made up of sedimentary rock dating from the Late Cretaceous to Holocene periods.A Tapestry of Time and Terrain: The Coastal Plain , Accessed November 25, 2007 The primary natural mineral resource in the area is kaolin.Kaolin , Accessed November 25, 2007

The Coastal Plain region is the largest and includes portions of the Atlantic coastal plain and the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain. The Atlantic Coastal Plain and Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain consist of sediments and sedimentary rocks that range in age from Cretaceous to Present. The boundary between the Piedmont Region and the Coastal Plain Region is the Fall Line. The Sandhills or Carolina Sandhills is a wide region within the Atlantic Coastal Plain province, along the inland margin of this province.Swezey, C.S., Fitzwater, B.A., Whittecar, G.R., Mahan, S.A., Garrity, C.P., Aleman Gonzalez, W.B., and Dobbs, K.M., 2016, "The Carolina Sandhills: Quaternary eolian sand sheets and dunes along the updip margin of the Atlantic Coastal Plain province, southeastern United States": Quaternary Research, v. 86, p. 271-286; www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research The Satilla River is in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Alapaha River, Suwanee River, and the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers flow through the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Florida Panhandle into the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Seminole is a reservoir at the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers on the Georgia–Florida border.

Geologic history The oldest known rocks found in Georgia are from the Precambrian Proterozoic Era and are about 1 to 1.34 billion years old. They are found in the Piedmont Plateau and Blue Ridge mountain regions. Approximately 1 billion years ago a metamorphic change occurred during an event called the Grenville Orogeny and caused the rocks, which were originally sediment, to compress into a form of rock called gneiss due to heat and pressure. Around 630 million years ago the Grenville mountains began to erode carrying sediments from streams to the sea. The gneiss formed from these sediments created the marble, metaconglomerate, phyllite, quartzite, schist, and slate found in the Blue Ridge and Piedmont areas.

Three separate orogeny events impacted the eastern portion of North America during the Paleozoic. From these orogeny came folding, faulting, and igneous intrusions in the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Valley and Ridge and the Appalachian Plateau.New Georgia Encyclopedia: Geologic History of Georgia: Overview Accessed, May 22, 2007

Georgia mountains

The Georgia mountains region are part of the Blue Ridge Mountains and begin in the northeast corner of Georgia. Brasstown Bald, the highest mountain in Georgia at above mean sea level,Georgia's Named Summits Accessed October 3, 2007 is part of the chain and sits in an area known as Wolfpen Ridge.Georgia Summits Above 4,000 Feet Accessed October 3, 2007 Other mountains in Georgia include Rabun Bald, Arabia Mountain, Big Bald Mountain, Black Mountain, and Blood Mountain.

Stone Mountain, located in Stone Mountain, Georgia is a well-known mountain that has an elevation of amsl from its summit and above the surrounding plateau. The mountain is known for its geology and also for its enormous bas-relief depicting three Confederate leaders: Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The bas-relief is the largest in the world.Stone Mountain georgia.gov , Accessed June 23, 2008

Rivers and lakes

Several major rivers run through the state of Georgia. Some of them are the Flint River, Towaliga River, Ocmulgee River, Etowah River, Altamaha River, Savannah River, and the Suwannee River. The Chattahoochee River is Georgia's longest, at .Carl Vinson Institute of Government Chattahoochee River , Accessed September 27, 2007 The river begins in the Blue Ridge Mountains just below Brasstown Bald and ends at Lake Seminole in the southwesternmost corner of Georgia where it creates a boundary between Alabama and Florida.The Natural History of the Chattahoochee River , Accessed June 24, 2008

Lake Lanier is the largest lake in GeorgiaDawson County Outdoor Recreation , Accessed June 23, 2008 followed by Lake Oconee as the second largest.Lake Oconee Georgia "Great Waters" , Accessed June 23, 2008 Lake Lanier is long and covers approximately of riverbedLake Lanier , Accessed June 24, 2008 Lake Oconee is long and about a mile wide. Other lakes in the state include Lake Acworth, Lake Allatoona, Lake Blackshear, Jackson Lake (Georgia), West Point Lake, High Falls, Lake Seminole, Lake Chatuge and Walter F. George Lake.

Islands

Georgia has fourteen barrier islands off of its coast. Four of these islands are known as the Golden Isles. The largest of these islands is Cumberland Island in Camden County.Cumberland Island , Accessed November 25, 2007 The island is uninhabited and is only accessible by boat. Some of the next largest islands are St. Simon's Island in Glynn County as the second largest;St. Simon's Island , Accessed November 25, 2007 Ossabaw Island, south of Savannah, is the third largest of the islands and Sapelo Island, sixty miles south of Savannah, is the fourth.Ossabaw Island Accessed, November 25, 2007Sapelo Island , Accessed November 25, 2007 The smallest of the islands is Jekyll Island in Glynn County.Jekyll Island , Accessed November 25, 2007

Climate