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Georgia, GA

Georgia is a state in the southern region of
the United States of America and was one of the original
Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the
American Revolution.
It was the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be
established as a colony, in 1733. It was the fourth state to
ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788.
It seceded from the Union on January 21, 1861
and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was
the last state readmitted to the Union, on July 15, 1870.
Georgia is one of the fastest-growing states in the United
States, with its population increasing from 8,186,453 in 2000
to an estimated 9,072,576 people in 2005.
Georgia is also known as the Peach State and
the Empire State of the South. The largest city, and capital,
is Atlanta. Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on
the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west
by Alabama and by Florida in the extreme southwest; and on the
north by Tennessee and North Carolina.
The northern part of the state is in the Blue
Ridge Mountains, a mountain range in the vast mountain system
of the Appalachians. The central piedmont extends from the
foothills to the fall line, where the rivers cascade down in
elevation to the continental coastal plain of the southern
part of the state.
The highest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald,
4,784 feet (1,458 m); the lowest point is sea level. With an
area of 59,441 square miles (153,951 kmē), Georgia is ranked
24th in size among the 50 U.S. states.
Georgia is the largest state east of the
Mississippi River in terms of land area, although it is the
fourth largest (after Michigan, Florida, and Wisconsin) in
total area, a term which includes expanses of water claimed as
state territory.
Geography
The geography of Georgia describes a state in
the southeastern United States in North America. The Golden
Isles of Georgia lie off the coast of the state.
The main geographical features include
mountains such as the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians in the
northwest, the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northeast, the
Piedmont plateau in the central portion of the state and
Coastal Plain in the south.
The highest area in Georgia is Brasstown Bald
which is 1,458m (4,784 ft) above sea level, while the lowest
is at sea level, at the Atlantic Ocean. Georgia is located at
approximately33° N 83.5° W. The state has a total area of
154,077 kmē (57,906 sq mi) and the geographic center is
located in Twiggs County.
The oldest known rock found in Georgia comes
from the Precambrian Proterozoic era and is about 1 to 1.3
billion years old and is found in the Piedmont Plateau and
Blue Ridge mountain regions.
Approximately 1 billion years ago a metamorphic
change occurred during the an event called the Grenville
Orogeny and caused the rocks, which were originally sediment,
to compress into a form of rock called gneiss due to heat and
pressure. Around 630 million years ago the Grenville mountains
began to erode carrying sediments from streams to the sea.
The gneiss formed from these sediments created
the marble, metaconglomerate, phyllite, quartzite, schist, and
slate found in the Blue Ridge and Piedmont areas. Three
separate orogeny events impacted the eastern portion of North
America during the Paleozoic.
From these orogeny came folding, faulting, and
igneous intrusions in the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Valley
and Ridge and the Appalachian Plateau.
The Georgia Mountains Region are part of the
Blue Ridge Mountains and begin in the northeast corner of
Georgia. Brasstown Bald, the highest mountain in Georgia at
4,784 feet (1,458 m) above mean sea level, is part of the
chain and sits in an area known as Wolfpen Ridge.
Other mountains in Georgia include Arabia
Mountain, Big Bald Mountain, Black Mountain, and Blood
Mountain among many others.
Several major rivers run through the state of
Georgia. Some of them are the Altamaha River, the Savannah
River, and the Suwannee River.
The Chattahoochee River is Georgia's longest,
at 436 miles. Lake Lanier is the largest lake in Georgia
followed by Lake Oconee as the second largest.
Other lakes in the state include Lake Acworth,
Lake Allatoona, Lake Blackshear, and Walter F. George Lake.
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.
This article is licensed under
the
GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
Wikipedia article "Georgia".
and the
Wikipedia article "Georgia Geography"
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