United States coastline , United States Natural Resources

United States

Location : north america. bordering both the north atlantic ocean and the north pacific ocean. between canada and mexico

Geographic Coordinates : 38 00 n. 97 00 w

Map Reference : north america

Area : total: 9.631.418 sq km land: 9.161.923 sq km water: 469.495 sq km note: includes only the 50 states and district of columbia

Area Comparative: about half the size of russia; about three-tenths the size of africa; about half the size of south america (or slightly larger than brazil); slightly larger than china; almost two and a half times the size of the european union

United States More Facts

Land boundaries : total: 12.034 km border countries: canada 8.893 km (including 2.477 km with alaska). mexico 3.141 km note: us naval base at guantanamo bay. cuba is leased by the us and is part of cuba; the base boundary is 29 km

coastline : 253

Maritime Claims : territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: not specified
Climate: mostly temperate. but tropical in hawaii and florida. arctic in alaska. semiarid in the great plains west of the mississippi river. and arid in the great basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in january and february by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the rocky mountains

Terrain : vast central plain. mountains in west. hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in alaska; rugged. volcanic topography in hawaii

Elevation extremes : lowest point: death valley -86 m highest point: mount mckinley 6.194 m

Natural Resources :coal. copper. lead. molybdenum. phosphates. uranium. bauxite. gold. iron. mercury. nickel. potash. silver. tungsten. zinc. petroleum. natural gas. timber

Land use : arable land: 19.13% permanent crops: 0.22% other: 80.65% (2001)

Irrigated Lands : 214.000 sq km (1998 est.)