>>1600605Not same anon you're replying to, but technically the entire western Cordillera formed via the same methods, either via plate tectonics or volcanism. Though at different times and places. So there are distinct sections within the cordillera even though it can all be placed within one larger system of mountain chains.
Mentioning the only the major components, you have (south to north roughly); the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sierra Nevada, Basin and Range, the Rockies, the Cascades, Alaska Range (US and parts of Canada), and northernmost Brooks Range in the arctic. The Pacific Coast ranges can be a larger denomination including the entire mountainous sections along the west coast from Mexico to Alaska, running roughly parallel to the Rockies.
