American Cordillera

{{Short description|Series of mountain ranges in the western Americas}}

{{Infobox mountain

| name = American Cordillera

| photo = {{multiple image

| border = infobox

| total_width = 300

| image_style = border:1;

| perrow = 1/2/1/2

| caption_align = center

| image1=Quilted Fields, Andes (8642623276).jpg

| caption1=Andes in Peru

| image2=Along the High note trail atop Whistler Mtn. (7958950226).jpg

| caption2=Coast Mountains in British Columbia, Canada}}

| map_image = {{multiple image

| border = infobox

| total_width = 300

| image_style = border:1;

| perrow = 1/2/1/2

| caption_align = center

| image1=American cordillera map.png

| caption1= Map of the Americas, showcasing the North American Cordillera in maroon, the mountains of Central America in lavender, and the South American Cordillera in pink.

| image2=American Cordillera in Antarctica.png

| caption2=Map of Antarctica, showcasing the extension of the American Cordillera into Graham Land in the northwest.}}

| map_caption =

| country = {{hlist|United States|Canada|Mexico|Guatemala|Honduras|Nicaragua|Costa Rica|Panama|Colombia|Venezuela|Ecuador|Peru|Bolivia|Argentina|Chile}}

| highest = Aconcagua

| highest_location = Las Heras Department, Mendoza, Argentina

| elevation_m = 6961

| elevation_ref={{cite opentopomap|Cerro Aconcagua|-32.65340|-70.01184|2023-06-10}}

| listing =

|fetchwikidata=ALL

}}

The American Cordillera ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɔːr|d|l̩|ˈ|j|ɛ|r|ə|}} {{respell|KOR|dəl|YERR|ə}}) is a chain of mountain ranges (cordilleras), consisting of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of the Americas. Aconcagua is the highest peak of the chain. It is also the backbone of the volcanic arc that forms the eastern half of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Description

=North America=

The overlapping and parallel ranges begin in the north with the Alaska Range and the Brooks Range in Alaska, and run through the Yukon into British Columbia. The main belt of the Rocky Mountains along with the parallel Columbia Mountains and Coast Ranges of mountains and islands continue through British Columbia and Vancouver Island. In the United States, the Cordillera branches include the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and various small Pacific coastal ranges. In Mexico, the Cordillera continues through the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental, as well as the backbone mountains of the Baja California peninsula.

The Cordillera carries on through the mountain ranges of Central America in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and becomes the Andes Mountains of South America.

=South America and Antarctica=

The Cordillera, having extended through Central America, continues through South America and even to the Antarctic. In South America, the Cordillera is known as the Andes Mountains. The Andes, with their parallel chains and the island chains off the coast of Chile, extend through Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile to the southernmost tip of South America at Tierra del Fuego. The Cordillera continues along the Scotia Arc before reaching the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula.{{Cite web|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/of//1998/of98-140/|title=The North American Cordillera: A Color Shaded-Relief Map in Oblique Mercator Projection About the Pacific-North America Pole of Rotation, Scale Circa 1:5,000,000|website=pubs.usgs.gov|access-date=April 26, 2017}}

American Cordillera

Description

=North America=

=South America and Antarctica=

References

Further reading