North America
The landmass occupied by the present-day countries of Canada, the United States, and the Republic of Mexico make up North America. Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat), an island landmass to the northeast of Canada, is also included in North America, for it has been attached to Canada for almost two billion years.
Plate tectonics is the main force of nature responsible for the geologic history of North America. Over time, the plates have come together to form the continents, including North America. Other processes, such as sedimentation and erosion, modify the shape of the land that has been forged by plate tectonics.
North American geologic history includes several types of mountain ranges as a result of plate tectonics. When the edge of a plate of Earth's crust runs over another plate, forcing the lower plate deep into Earth's elastic interior, a long, curved mountain chain of volcanoes usually forms on the forward-moving edge of the upper plate. When this border between two plates forms in the middle of the ocean, the volcanic mountains form a string of islands, or archipelago, such as the Antilles and the Aleutians. This phenomenon is called an island arc.
When the upper plate is carrying a continent on its forward edge, a mountain chain, like the Cascades, forms right on the forward edge.
