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Note: Alaska and Hawaii are shown out of
position for reference only and are not to scale.
Blank
Georgia State Outline Map
Boundaries
Beginning
from the Atlantic Ocean, the state's eastern border with
South Carolina runs up the
Savannah River, northwest to its origin at the
confluence of the
Tugaloo and
Seneca rivers.
It then continues up the Tugaloo (originally Tugalo) and
into the Chattooga River, its
most significant tributary. These
bounds were decided in the 1787
Treaty of Beaufort, and
tested in the U.S. Supreme
Court in the two Georgia v. South Carolina cases
in 1922 and 1989.
The border
then takes a sharp turn around the tip of
Rabun County, at
latitude 35°N, though from this
point it diverges slightly south (possibly due to later resurveying
with better accuracy). This
originally was the Georgia and
North Carolina border all the way back to the
Mississippi River, until
Tennessee was divided from North Carolina, and
Alabama and
Mississippi (the Yazoo Lands)
were taken from Georgia.
The state's
western border then departs in another straight line
south-southeastward, at a point southwest of
Chattanooga, to meet the
westernmost point of the
Chattahoochee River near
West Point, Georgia. It continues down to the point
where it ends at the Flint
River (the confluence of the two forming Florida's
Apalachicola River), and
goes almost due east and very slightly south, in a straight
line to the origin of the
Saint Mary's
River, which then forms the remainder of the boundary
back to the ocean.
It should
be noted that the water boundaries are still set to be the
original thalweg of the rivers. Since
then, several have been inundated by man made lakes,
including the
Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint point now under
Lake Seminole.
Geology and terrain
Georgia is
divided into five geologic regions. These include the
Ridge and Valley,
the Blue Ridge, the
Piedmont, the
Coastal Plain, and the
Appalachian Plateau. Each
region has its own distinctive characteristics. For instance
the Ridge and Valley, which lies in the northwest corner of
the state, includes limestone, sandstone, shale and other
sedimentary rocks, which have yielded construction-grade
limestone, barite, ochre and small amounts of coal. The Blue
Ridge Mountains of northeast Georgia are made up of
metamorphic rock as well as
granite and
diabase. The geology of the Piedmont includes schist,
amphibolite, gneiss, migmatite, and granite while the
primary resource of the Coastal Plain is
kaolin.
Flora and fauna
Georgia has
a diverse mix of flora and fauna. The State of Georgia has
approximately 250 trees and 58 protected plants. Georgia's
trees include red cedar, scaly-bark and white hickories, as
well as many others. Yellow jasmine, flowering quince, and
mountain laurel make up just a few of the flowering shrubs
in the state.
Regarding
fauna, white-tailed (Virginia) deer can be found in
approximately 50 counties. The mockingbird and brown
thrasher are just two of the 160 bird species that can be
found in the state. The rattlesnake,
copperhead, and
cottonmouth as well as
salamanders,
frogs, and toads are among 79
species of reptile and 63 amphibians that make Georgia their
home. The most popular freshwater game fish are
trout, bream,
bass, and
catfish, all but the last of which are produced in state
hatcheries for restocking. Dolphins, porpoises, shrimp,
oysters, and blue crabs are found off the Georgia coast.
Climate
The
majority of Georgia is primarily a
humid subtropical
climate tempered somewhat by occasional polar air masses
in the winter. Hot and humid summers are typical, except at
the highest elevations. The entire state, including the
north Georgia mountains,
receives moderate to heavy precipitation, which varies from
45 inches (1143 mm) in central Georgia to approximately 75
inches (1905 mm) around the Northeast part of the state..
The degree to which the weather of a certain area of Georgia
is subtropical depends not just on the
latitude, but also on how close it is to the
Atlantic Ocean or
Gulf of Mexico and the
altitude. This is especially true in the mountainous areas
in the northern part of the state, which are further away
from ocean waters and can be up to 4500 feet (1350 m) or
higher above sea level.
The areas
near the Florida/Georgia border, extending from the entire
Georgia coastline west to the Florida panhandle, experiences
the most subtropical weather, similar to that of Florida:
hot, humid summers with frequent afternoon thunderstorms and
mild, somewhat drier winters. These areas experience snow
much less frequently than other parts of Georgia. The
Georgia Piedmont area is somewhat cooler in winter than the
coastal areas. The Southern areas of the Piedmont may
receive snow every other year, while areas close to the
foothills get snow several times a year. This part of
Georgia is especially vulnerable to
ice storms. The mountains of Georgia have the coolest
climate and most frequent snowfall in the state, although
snowfall is less than any other part of the
Appalachian Mountains.
In spite of
having moderate weather compared to many other states,
Georgia has occasional extreme weather. The highest
temperature ever recorded is 112 °F (44.4 °C), while the
lowest ever recorded is -17 °F (-27.2 °C). Georgia is one of
the leading states in incidents of tornadoes. The areas
closest to the Florida border get the same small
F0 and F1 tornadoes associated
with summer afternoon thunderstorms. However, it is very
uncommon for tornadoes to become severe (over F3). As it is
on the Atlantic coast, Georgia is also vulnerable to
hurricanes, although the Georgia
coastline only rarely experiences a direct hurricane strike.
More common are hurricanes which strike the Florida
panhandle, weaken over land, and bring strong
tropical storm winds and heavy
rain to the Georgia interior, as well as hurricanes that
come close to the Georgia coastline, brushing the coast on
their recurvature on
the way up to hit the Carolinas.
Protected lands
Georgia is
home to 63 parks, 48 of which are state parks and 15 that
are historic sites, and numerous state wildlife preserves,
under the supervision of the
Georgia
Department of Natural Resources. Other historic sites
and parks are supervised by the
National Park Service
and include the
Andersonville National Historic Site in
Andersonville;
Appalachian
National Scenic Trail;
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area near
Atlanta;
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park at
Fort Oglethorpe;
Cumberland
Island National Seashore near
Saint Marys;
Fort Frederica
National Monument on
St. Simons Island;
Fort Pulaski
National Monument in
Savannah;
Jimmy Carter National Historic Site near
Plains;
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park near
Kennesaw;
Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site in Atlanta;
Ocmulgee National
Monument at Macon;
Trail of
Tears National Historic Trail.
Interactive Georgia State Map
Explore the state of Georgia with the dynamic map below. You can
zoom, pan and even get a satellite map view.
Move your cursor over the markers on the map to
learn more about Georgia.
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