16: Intermontane

Physical Geography:

The Intermontane (that region between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada), is challenged climatically. It is Hot and dry. Because life requires water, the harsh, dry desert is more vulnerable than its tough looking exterior might suggest. The human impact over the past century has caused harm that will only be remedied slowly because of the intense climatic variables. 
Different from the Intermontane, Hawaii contains 132 volcanically formed islands, reef, atolls, and shoals. The Hawaiian Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean about twenty- one hundred miles southwest of the U.S mainland and are the most remote islands in the world. The islands ranging in 16 55’N to 23 N, are the only part of the United States south of the Tropic of Cancer.

-The volcanic origins of the Hawaiian Islands are unusual because they are not at the edge of a tectonic plate where most volcanic are found; they lie beneath a stationary hot spot in the mantle below the Pacific Plate.