3. TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, AND ADAPTATION 



Topographical Features of California 



The area of California is about 160,000 square miles (ca. 

 414,400 sq. km), most of which land supports plant life. The 

 state is approximately 800 miles (ca. 1,287 km) long and about 

 200 miles (ca.322 km) wide. Elevations range from about 280 

 feet (85 m) below sea level in Death Valley to approximately 

 14,500 feet (4,420 m) on the top of Mount Whitney, not far 

 from Death Valley. The area is topographically diverse, but has 

 as its major feature two mountain systems extending in a north- 

 south direction, the Coast Ranges on the west side of the state 

 and the Sierra Nevada-Cascade ranges on the east (Map 1). The 

 two systems join in the north in the vicinity of Mount Shasta 

 and also in the south at the southern end of the San Joaquin 

 Valley. The relatively flat valley delimited by this ring of moun- 

 tains, the Central Valley, is made up of the Sacramento Valley 

 in the north and the San Joaquin Valley in the south. The two 

 great rivers of these valleys, the Sacramento and San Joaquin 

 rivers, join east of San Francisco Bay and flow westward through 

 the Bay into the Pacific Ocean. 



The Coast Ranges consist of the North Coast Ranges north of 

 San Francisco Bay and the South Coast Ranges south of the bay. 

 At the northern end of the state, the Coast Ranges merge into 

 the Klamath mountain massif which in turn merges with the 

 southern end of the Cascades. This complex of mountains forms 

 an important climatic and phytogeographical barrier at the 

 northern end of the Sacramento Valley. In the southern portion 

 of the state, the South Coast Ranges are joined with the southern 

 Sierra Nevada via the Transverse Ranges, which include the 

 Tehachapi Mountains. In extreme southern California there are 

 the Peninsular Ranges, which extend across the Mexican bound- 

 ary well into Baja CaHfornia. 



The important aspects of the chief topographic features of 

 the state are: 



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