Catherine B. answered • 01/08/25
College English and Social Sciences tutor, AP English Reader
The Western Cordillera is composed of three distinct mountain ranges in present-day north-western North America. It was formed geologically between 170 and 40 million years ago as the Pacific tectonic plate overlapped with and/or was subducted under the North American tectonic plate.
The mountain ranges include the Canadian Rockies, the Coastal mountain range, and the Skagit Range.
The Interior Plains is a vast, flatter plains/plateau region extending from the Arctic down through the Western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. It includes prairies and grasslands that extend all the way down to the Great Plains in the United States.
The Western Cordillera and the Interior Plains share in common climate-wise frequent drought and dry weather conditions, aridity (less water), and increasingly extreme ranges in temperature. Fires are also becoming an increasing problem. Existing lakes (like Lake Winnipeg, as well as the Great Lakes), and rivers like the Saskatchewan and the Mississippi were/are crucial for water, irrigation, transportation, commerce, as well as hydro-electric power. Human settlements in the regions is more concentrated long these rivers and further south, where temperatures are usually warmer.
Hope this answers some of the question!
