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Great Basin
Sign in to savelarge depression in western United States
Key facts
- Location
- United States, Mexico
- Total
- 209,162 mi (541,730 km )
- Highest elevation
- 14,505 ft (4,421 m) ( Mount Whitney summit)
via Wikipedia infobox
~19 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Great Basin (Spanish: Gran Cuenca) is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted for both its arid climate and the basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin in Death Valley to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney. The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes, ecoregions, and deserts.
Definition
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Great Basin” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.