Viewing America with Geology

America has changed through the years in many ways. Medicine has improved, average standard of living has risen, and the overall quality of life has changed drastically over the course of time. Yet, these are all short-term ideals when taken into the whole picture. Although all of this is important, to truly understand the actual face of America, we have to think farther back than a few hundred years. The face of America can best be portrayed in thinking about how America looks the way it does. Questions like “How did the Rocky mountains form?” or “Why are the Great Plains located where they are?” These types of questions are important because once you figure out why certain areas have the qualities that they do, it becomes simpler to pinpoint why Americans live and react the way they do. For example, not just Americans but humans in general desire a marine climate area, typically close to a water source, and moderate temperatures that do not vastly fluctuate. This is why so many people are located on the coast near California or Florida. What becomes interesting is that if the tectonic plates hadn’t shifted the way it did, and perhaps broken apart differently from Pangaea, then America wouldn’t look the same as it does now. America would have more or less land for people to cultivate and live on possibly changing the areas of higher population or common wealth depending on if the new land was useful in anyway. All this ties into why America looks the way it does or the “face” of America.

Since California had previously been mentioned, it is a great place to begin explaining the complex geological impacts starting with the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas is what geologists know as a strike-slip fault, meaning that when two pl...

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...oncerning the way people live and interact in America today. From why California has so many earthquakes with the San Andreas Fault, to the formation of America’s national treasure Yellowstone Park, and even why certain crops are located where they are, it is important to know just how geology affects the United States. There are many different ways how America has changed throughout time, but the evolution in geology is the changing face of America.

Work Cited

Hussey, Russell C. Historical Geology: The Geologic History of North America. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1947. 379. Print

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"The San Andreas Fault." The San Andreas Fault. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

"USGS: Geological Survey Bulletin 1347 (Earthquakes)." USGS: Geological Survey Bulletin 1347 (Earthquakes). Web. 20 Feb. 2014.