Wyoming Geography

Wyoming Geography

According to ehangzhou, Wyoming is a state in the western United States of America. The name is said to come from the language of the Algokin tribe and mean “Great Plains”. Wyoming is one of the least populous states in the USA with around 530,000 residents and is the state with the lowest population density after Alaska. The capital of Wyoming and the largest city in the state is Cheyenne.

Wyoming covers a width of 450 kilometers and a length of 580 kilometers. With a total area of ​​253,348 square kilometers, Wyoming ranks tenth in size compared to the other US states. The national territory is on average 2,040 meters above sea level. This makes Wyoming the highest state in the USA after Colorado. Wyoming’s lowest point is 945 meters above sea level on the banks of the Belle Fourche River. In the north, the Wyoming area borders on Montana. Neighboring states to the east are South Dakota and Nebraska. Wyoming borders Colorado to the south. To the west are Utah and Idaho. Like Colorado and Utah, the state’s boundaries were aligned according to latitude and longitude.

Wyoming has no major lake landscapes or wetlands. Less than one percent of the national territory is covered by water. The largest lake, with an area of ​​around 350 square kilometers, is Yellowstone Lake in the national park of the same name. It is more than 2,376 meters above sea level, making it one of the largest North American freshwater lakes, which can be found at an altitude of over 2,000 meters. The second largest lake is about 100 square kilometers in Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. There are also a number of reservoirs in Wyoming, including the Bighorn, the Buffalo Bill or the Fontenelle.

The longest river in Wyoming is the 500-kilometer North Platte River. Other important rivers are the 500-kilometer-long Bighorn River, the Green River (400 kilometers long) and, for example, the Snake River, the Belle Fourche, the Powder and the Sweetwater Rivers.

They all have their origins in the Rocky Mountains that dominate Wyoming’s territory. The state also belongs to Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevadaand Montana to the so-called Mountain States, the states through which the mountain ranges of the Rocky Mountains run. The Rocky Mountains extend from Mexico to Canada and Alaska over a length of about 5,000 kilometers and largely determine the landscape of Wyoming. Divided into different rocky mountains, such as the Absaroka, Wind River and the Wyoming Ranges or the Bighorn Mountains, they traverse Wyoming from north to south. The mountain ranges are heavily forested and annually attract streams of tourists to Wyoming looking for relaxation and adventure while hiking, climbing, rafting or skiing.

Part of Wyoming’s landscape is covered by the Great Plains, the Great Plains, shaped. This vast prairie, with its flat stretches of land and gently rolling hills, stretches across most of the east of the state.
The Black Hills rise in the extreme northeast of Wyoming. This mountain range, partly overgrown with pine trees, hides an important natural monument at its edge: the Devils Tower National Monument. The Devils Tower – is a 265 meter high monolith. The mountain is approximately 150 meters in diameter and is a sacred place for some Native American groups. The large basin landscape

in the center and southwest of Wyoming is also geographically significant that is interrupted or enclosed by individual mountain ranges. The high altitude so-called Wyoming Basin includes, for example, the Bighorn, the Green River or the Wind River Basin. Located in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains, the basin landscape is used for agriculture with the help of intensive irrigation measures, for example for growing grain. The Great Divide Basin is an exception. It is home to the Red Desert, an approximately 24,000 square kilometer semi-desert and desert region.

Northwest Wyoming is home to the world’s oldest national park: Yellowstone National Park. Established in 1872, the park got its name from the area’s most important river, the approximately 1,114-kilometer-long Yellowstone River.
The national park is best known for its hot springs – geysers and mud pots – as well as for the bison, grizzly bears and wolves that live there and attracts numerous tourists every year. It is the center of the Yellowstone ecosystem, one of the last large, nearly intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone. The natural area extends over northwest Wyoming as well as parts of Montana and Idaho.

Wyoming Geography