Georgia is astate in theSoutheastern United States inNorth America. TheGolden Isles of Georgia lie off the coast of the state. The main geographical features include mountains such as theRidge-and-valley Appalachians in the northwest, theBlue Ridge Mountains in the northeast, thePiedmont plateau in the central portion of the state andCoastal Plain in the south. The highest area in Georgia isBrasstown Bald which is 1,458 m (4,783 ft) above sea level, while the lowest is at sea level, at theAtlantic Ocean. Georgia is located at approximately 33° N 83.5° W. The state has a total area of 154,077 km² (59,489 sq mi) and the geographic center is located inTwiggs County.^[3]

Georgia has primarily ahumid subtropical climate with hot and humid summers, except at the highest elevations. Georgia's subtropical climate depends onlatitude and how close an area is to theAtlantic Ocean or theGulf of Mexico. The state's weather is mostly moderate, but Georgia has occasionalextreme weather. The highest temperature ever recorded is 112 °F (44 °C) and the lowest is −17 °F (−27 °C).^[4] Georgia is vulnerable tohurricanes, though the coast rarely experiences a direct hurricane strike.

Georgia has 536 cities in 159 counties and 14 congressional districts. 152 of the 159 counties in the state are governed by a commission of between three and eleven commissioners while the other seven are overseen by asingle commissioner.^[5] Most of the 536 cities are governed by a mayor-council system. Georgia has almost eight million acres (32,000 km²) of prime farmland while over 60% of the land is made up of pine forests. Georgia has 70,150 miles (112,900 km) of streams and rivers, 425,000 acres (1,720 km²) of lakes, and approximately 4,500,000 acres (18,000 km²) of freshwater wetlands. Manganese, iron, copper, and other minerals make up the natural resources of the state.

Source:Georgia Department of Economic Development^[6]

1. Northwest (Rome /Dalton) – Paulding, Bartow, Whitfield, Floyd, Catoosa, Walker, Gordon, Polk, Murray, Pickens, Gilmer, Haralson, Fannin, Chattooga, Dade
2. Northeast (Gainesville) – Forsyth, Hall, Habersham, Lumpkin, White, Dawson, Stephens, Hart, Union, Franklin, Banks, Rabun, Towns
3. Metro (Atlanta) – Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, Clayton, Cherokee, Henry, Douglas, Fayette, Rockdale
4. West Central (Newnan) – Coweta, Carroll, Troup, Spalding, Upson, Butts, Meriwether, Pike, Lamar, Heard
5. East Central (Athens) – Clarke, Newton, Walton, Barrow, Jackson, Oconee, Madison, Morgan, Elbert, Greene, Oglethorpe, Jasper
6. Middle (Macon /Warner Robins) – Houston, Bibb, Baldwin, Jones, Peach, Monroe, Putnam, Crawford, Pulaski, Wilkinson, Twiggs
7. East (Augusta) – Richmond, Columbia, Burke, McDuffie, Washington, Jefferson, Wilkes, Hancock, Jenkins, Lincoln, Warren, Glascock, Taliaferro
8. West (Columbus) – Muscogee, Harris, Sumter, Crisp, Macon, Dooly, Chattahoochee, Taylor, Marion, Randolph, Talbot, Stewart, Schley, Clay, Webster, Quitman
9. South (Dublin) – Laurens, Wayne, Toombs, Tattnall, Emanuel, Dodge, Appling, Jeff Davis, Bleckley, Telfair, Candler, Evans, Johnson, Wilcox, Montgomery, Wheeler, Treutlen
10. Southwest (Albany) – Dougherty, Colquitt, Thomas, Lee, Decatur, Grady, Mitchell, Worth, Early, Terrell, Seminole, Miller, Calhoun, Baker
11. Southeast (Valdosta) – Lowndes, Coffee, Tift, Ware, Pierce, Berrien, Brantley, Cook, Ben Hill, Brooks, Charlton, Bacon, Lanier, Irwin, Turner, Atkinson, Clinch, Echols
12. Coastal (Savannah) – Chatham, Glynn, Bulloch, Liberty, Effingham, Camden, Bryan, Long, Screven, McIntosh

There are five major geographical regions of Georgia. They are theAppalachian Plateau region, theRidge and Valley region, theBlue Ridge region, thePiedmont region, and theAtlantic Plain region.

The Appalachian Plateau region is the southern portion of the Appalachian Plateau that stretches from New York through Georgia and west into Alabama.

The Ridge and Valley region lies in the northwestern portion of the state.^[7] The area was formed due to extreme folding and faulting events. This folding and faulting created a series of ridges and valleys that vary in "height, width and geological materials".^[8] It consists oflimestone,sandstone,chert,mudstone andshale as well as many other types of rocks. Much of the land in the area is heavily forested as forests cover almost half of the region.^[9]

The Blue Ridge region of Georgia is situated in the northeast of the state just north of the Piedmont.^[7] The mountain peaks in the Blue Ridge, which are among the highest in the state, average between two thousand and five thousand feet.^[8] It includesigneous,metamorphic, andsedimentary geology; the main types of rocks in the area aregneiss,slate andsaprolite. The soils of the Broad Basin are mostlyloamy or clayey Ultiso.^[9]The Blue Ridge consists primarily of Precambrian metamorphic rocks, and the landscape has relatively high relief.

The Piedmont region consists of Paleozoic metamorphic and igneous rocks, and the landscape has relatively low relief. The Piedmont is the second largest region of Georgia, and it has 3 water systems: theChattahoochee River,West Point Lake, andLake Sidney Lanier. The rocks of the Piedmont are made up ofPrecambrian andPaleozoic metamorphic and igneous rocks and the soils are of a finer texture than those found on the coastal plain. Some specific types of rock in the Piedmont areschist, gneiss, andphyllite among others.^[9] Georgia's coastal plain is made up of sedimentary rock dating from theLate Cretaceous to Holocene periods.^[10] The primary natural mineral resource in the area iskaolin.^[11]

The Coastal Plain region is the largest and includes portions of theAtlantic coastal plain and the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain. The Atlantic Coastal Plain and Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain consist of sediments and sedimentary rocks that range in age from Cretaceous to Present. The boundary between the Piedmont Region and the Coastal Plain Region is the Fall Line. The Sandhills or Carolina Sandhills is a 10–35 mi (16–56 km) wide region within the Atlantic Coastal Plain province, along the inland margin of this province.^[12] TheSatilla River is in the Atlantic Coastal Plain.Alapaha River,Suwanee River, and theFlint andChattahoochee rivers flow through theGulf Coastal Plain and theFlorida Panhandle into theGulf of Mexico.Lake Seminole is a reservoir at the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers on the Georgia–Florida border.

The oldest known rocks found in Georgia are from thePrecambrianProterozoic Era and are about 1 to 1.34 billion years old. They are found in the Piedmont Plateau and Blue Ridge mountain regions. Approximately 1 billion years ago a metamorphic change occurred during an event called theGrenville Orogeny and caused the rocks, which were originallysediment, to compress into a form of rock calledgneiss 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 themarble,metaconglomerate,phyllite,quartzite,schist, andslate 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 camefolding,faulting, andigneous intrusions in the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Valley and Ridge and the Appalachian Plateau.^[13]

TheGeorgia mountains region are part of theBlue 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,^[14] is part of the chain and sits in an area known asWolfpen Ridge.^[15] Other mountains in Georgia includeRabun Bald,Arabia Mountain,Big Bald Mountain,Black Mountain, andBlood Mountain.

Stone Mountain, located inStone Mountain, Georgia is a well-known mountain that has anelevation of 1,683 feet (513 m)amsl from its summit and 825 feet (251 m) above the surrounding plateau. The mountain is known for itsgeology and also for its enormousbas-relief depicting threeConfederate leaders:Jefferson Davis,Robert E. Lee andThomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The bas-relief is the largest in the world.^[16]

Several major rivers run through the state of Georgia. Some of them are theFlint River,Towaliga River,Ocmulgee River,Etowah River,Altamaha River,Savannah River, and theSuwannee River. TheChattahoochee River is Georgia's longest, at 436 miles (702 km).^[17] The river begins in the Blue Ridge Mountains just below Brasstown Bald and ends at Lake Seminole in the southwesternmost corner of Georgia where it creates a boundary between Alabama and Florida.^[18]

Lake Lanier is the largest lake in Georgia^[19] followed byLake Oconee as the second largest.^[20] Lake Lanier is 26 miles (42 km) long and covers approximately 47 miles (76 km) of riverbed^[21] Lake Oconee is 20 miles (32 km) long and about a mile wide.^[20] Other lakes in the state includeLake Acworth,Lake Allatoona,Lake Blackshear,Jackson Lake (Georgia),West Point Lake,High Falls,Lake Seminole,Lake Chatuge andWalter F. George Lake.

Georgia has fourteenbarrier islands off of its coast. Four of these islands are known asThe Golden Isles. The largest of these islands isCumberland Island inCamden County.^[22] The island is uninhabited and is only accessible by boat. Some of the next largest islands areSt. Simon's Island inGlynn County as the second largest;^[23]Ossabaw Island, twenty miles (32 km) south ofSavannah, is the third largest of the islands andSapelo Island, sixty miles south of Savannah, is the fourth.^[24][25] The smallest of the islands isJekyll Island in Glynn County.^[26]

The majority of Georgia has primarily ahumid 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 thenorth Georgia mountains, receives moderate to heavy precipitation, which varies from 45 inches (1,100 mm) in central Georgia^[27] to approximately 75 inches (1,900 mm) around the Northeast part of the state.^[28] The degree to which the weather of a certain area of Georgia is subtropical depends not just on thelatitude, but also on how close it is to theAtlantic Ocean orGulf 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 4,500 feet (1,400 m) or higher above sea level.

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 °C),^[29] while the lowest ever recorded is −17 °F (−27 °C).^[4] Georgia is one of the leading states in incidents of tornadoes. The areas closest to the Florida border get the same smallF0 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 tohurricanes, 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 strongtropical storm winds and heavy rain to the Georgia interior, as well as hurricanes that come close to the Georgia coastline, brushing the coast on theirrecurvature on the way up to hitthe Carolinas.

In 2006 and 2007, however, Georgia has had severe droughts, especially in 2007. Temperatures over 100 degrees have been recorded.

This section is an excerpt fromClimate change in Georgia (U.S. state).[edit]

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Climate change in Georgia encompasses theeffects of climate change, attributed to man-made increases in atmosphericcarbon dioxide, in theU.S. state ofGeorgia.

Studies show that Georgia is among a string of "Deep South" states that will experience the worst effects of climate change,^[39][40] with effects including "more severe floods and drought", and higher water levels "eroding beaches, submerging low lands, and exacerbatingcoastal flooding."^[41]

In coming decades, climate change will cause higher temperatures, and more severe flooding and droughts in the state, according to a 2016 pamphlet published by theUnited States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The temperature changes will increase the risk of heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses.^[41]

Georgia is made up of more than 500cities^[42] in 159counties within 14congressional districts. The map to the right shows the county boundaries for all 159 counties in Georgia.

149 of the 159 counties in the state are governed by a committee made of between three and eleven commissioners^[5] while the other 10 counties are overseen by a single commissioner. All commissioners are elected by the voters of their county for terms that range between two and six years with most counties having terms lasting four years. Serving members wield both executive and legislative power in their county.

Most of the 536 cities in Georgia are governed by a mayor-council system. All municipalities in the state are considered cities. There are no lesser incorporations such as towns, villages, or boroughs. Most basic public services rendered outside of the cities are provided by the counties.

Georgia has almost eight million acres (32,000 km²) of prime farmland while over 60% of the land is made up of pine forests.^[43] Due to the great number of forested areas in the state Georgia produces more lumber and pulpwood than any other state east of the Mississippi river; from these forests come 74.4 percent of the rosins and turpentines (naval stores) produced in the United States, and over half of the world's supply.^[43] Both the agricultural areas and the waters of Georgia have created a thriving environment forhunting,fishing andgame.^[43]The state of Georgia has much in the way of agricultural resources. Georgia has 70,150 miles (112,900 km) of streams and rivers, 425,000 acres (1,720 km²) of lakes, and approximately 4,500,000 acres (18,000 km²) of freshwater wetlands.^[43]

The geological resources of Georgia include many types ofminerals,manganese,ironore,copper,coal,oil,clays,stone, kaolin,sand andgravel.^[9]

• Geologic map of Georgia

33°00′N83°30′W / 33°N 83.5°W /33; -83.5

• Geography of Georgia (U.S. state)

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