Assignment Week 2 (April 13-17^th)

This week`s outcome/focus is to demonstrate an understanding of the basic features of Canada`s landscape.  Please review the attached notes and answer the questions that follow

Any questions:

Email david.morrison@nbed.nb.ca

Canada's Landform Regions

Since Canada is so big geographers divide it into regions to make it easier to study.  They look for common characteristics or combinations of characteristics.  


Geographers classify landform regions based on a combination of characteristics:

-        age of rock

-        type of rock

-        relief

-        gradient

-        process that has shaped the area

There are 8 major regions that exist in Canada.  They are:

-        Canadian Shield

-        Appalachian Mountains

-        Western Cordillera

-        Innuitian Mountains

-        Arctic Lowlands

-        interior Plains

-        Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands

-        Hudson Bay Lowlands 


Canadian Shield has the oldest rocks in Canada (about 4 billion years old)

Through it's history has experienced active volcanoes extensive plains and great mountains.

The moving water and ice carried materials to surrounding areas, building very thick rocks.  These sediments were then pushed, by plate movement, to form mountains such as the Appalachian Mountains, plains such as the Interior Plains and lowlands such as the Hudson Bay Lowlands.

Most of the Shield has thin, acidic soils called podzols.  These soils are great for coniferous forests but not for agriculture.  However in some areas where rocks have not been eroded or glacial lakes have left deposits (Lac St. Jean, Que.) farming is possible.

The Canadian Shield covers much of Central Canada, including parts of Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Labrador, the NWT and Nunavut.

Appalachian Mountains:

The mountains were formed at various times in geological history.  In the East, the Appalachian Mountains were formed about 375 years ago, most likely when the North American Plate and Eurasian

Plate collided during the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea.  They have now been worn down by ice and water and have produced a landscape of rolling hills and broad valleys.  The soil in these valleys are very fertile and the typical height of the mountains are around 1000 m.

The Appalachian region includes most of the Atlantic Canada.

The Western Cordillera is made up of a series of parallel mountain ranges - the Coast Mountains, the Columbia Mountains and the Rocky Mountains -many which rise over 3000m.  The Rockies are young mountains and were formed in the Cenozoic period.

In the Okanagan Valley there is good soil due to the deposits of sand and silt from the rivers.  The city of Vancouver is built on a large delta, it has rich soils deposited by the Fraser River as it empties into the ocean 

The Innuitian mountains are younger than the Rocky Mountains therefore erosion has not yet worn down their summits, leaving steep-sided valleys and rugged peaks that rise over 2000m.  This area is too cold for trees to survive.

Arctic Lowlands - this area is to the south of the Innuitian Mountains.  It is a region of upland plateau surfaces and lowland plains.  It is an area of tundra, no trees, with a cold, dry climate and poorly drained soil.  A short growing season allows for only little vegetation and moss.  Most of this region is in Nunavut

Interior Plains - an extensive area of plain that was created when inland seas receded (disappeared).  Erosion carved out 3 prairie plains separated by two long steep slopes called escarpment (the Manitoba Escarpment and the Missouri Coteau)

The southern central area is semi-dessert which even includes cacti.  The soil is for the most part deep, moist, well-drained and rich in humus that contains at least 1 percent carbon.  This soil is called black earth or chernozem and is ideal for growing wheat.

Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Lowlands

This is another region of plain.  They have small areas that experienced some volcanic activity and a considerable amount of faulting or fractures of the earth's crust.  Near the end of the last ice age (10 000 years ago) this are was flooded by the Champlain Sea, an ancient arm of the Atlantic Ocean.    When the water receded it left sand and clay leaving the are nearly flat and an excellent fertile soil called brown soil.

Hudson Bay Lowlands

This area is mainly flat and poorly drained with recent coverings of materials from seas, rivers and glaciers.  The soil is generally a mix of tundra and podzols, leading to the growth of swamp forests.


Canada’s Physiographic (Landform) Regions Questions:

1. Why do geographers divide Canada in 8 different regions and how are they separated?

2.     List the most significant characteristic to you that is used by geographers to classify the different regions in Canada?

3.     How come the "Canadian Shield Area" is not good for agriculture?

     4.          What has worn down the Appalachian Mountains?

5.     What 3 chains of Mountains form the Western Cordillera?

     6.          What is the soil like in regions such as the Okanagan Valley?

7.     How are the Innuitian Mountains different from the Rocky Mountains?

     8.          Explain why there is little vegetation in a tundra?

9.     Define the term "Chernozem."

10.     Describe the Hudson Bay Lowlands.

* In this particular section on Canada`s Landforms and regions, what did you enjoy learning most about and why?