The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States in the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. The coverage across this area amounts to more than 130,000 square miles (340,000 square kilometers) and extends into southern and eastern Utah, western Colorado, northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. Some geographical maps show the Colorado Plateau extending into the extreme southeastern area of Nevada.

The Colorado Plateau is made up of mostly high desert, with scattered areas of forests. In the southwest corner of the Colorado Plateau, in the state of Arizona is found the Grand Canyon, through which flows the Colorado River. About ninety percent of the plateau is drained by the Colorado River and its three primary tributaries: the Green River, San Juan River, and Little Colorado River. The remaining ten percent of the Colorado Plateau is almost entirely drained by the Rio Grande River and its tributaries.

Then, those geographical maps which show the Colorado Plateau extending into the state of Nevada, would show that the remaining one percent of the Colorado Plateau is drained by the Virgin River, which is also a tributary of the Colorado River