Great Plains

The Great Plains (pronunciation: /ɡreɪt pleɪnz/) is a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland, located in North America. It lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains.

Etymology

The term "Great Plains" is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the even more vast Interior Plains province, which covers much of the interior of North America. It is also, at times, used to denote the semi-arid prairie of the southern tier of the Western United States, as delineated by the 100th meridian west.

Related Terms

Prairie: A type of biome characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe: A large area of flat unforested grassland in southeastern Europe or Siberia.
Grassland: An area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses.
Mississippi River: The second-longest river of North America, flowing from northwestern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.
Rocky Mountains: A major mountain range in western North America.
Interior Plains: A vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America.
100th meridian west: A line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.