5-CGC1W1 Canada’s Landform Regions

How are Landform Regions made?

Landform features are made from oceans, lakes, glaciation, faulting erosion and the deposition of soils and rocks

Landform regions are very old

The oldest in Canada - The Canadian Shield is about 4 Billion years old

Landforms

• Topography or natural features of the land’s surface

• Area’s vegetation, water, ice and rock

Elevation

Height above sea lvl

Relief

Difference in elevation between points on the surface

Gradient

The steepness of slopes

General Apperance

Landform descriptions

5 characteristics

Age of rock

Type of rock

Relief

Gradient

Processes that have shaped the area

Canadian Shield (or Precambrian Shield)

Ancient hard rock (4 billion years old) and it is what all the other areas were created from

Metamorphic and Igneous rocks

They make up most of the Canadian Shield because it is so old it is relatively flat compared to the other regions.

Called the Storehouse of Canada’s metallic minerals (lead, gold, nickel, copper and zinc.)

Tourism Industry

Southern parts of the Shield with canoeing, fishing and hunting being among the most popular activities

Interior Plains

Rolling hills, deep, wide valleys, downward from west to east. This is due to differential erosion, since harder and denser rocks erode more slowly than the softer rocks and soil deposits

Canada’s breadbasket

This region is excellent for growing grains and oats, (In Alberta)

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands

The area is made up of sedimentary rock (from Paleozoic era) - many areas of differential erosion (Niagara Escarpment & Niagara Falls)

Great Lakes portion & St. Lawrence Lowland portion

Great Lakes portion - glaciers gouging out the landscape leaving a rolling landscape with flat plains, and deep river valleys

St. Lawrence Lowland portion - Created when the land between two faults dropped or sank down. The area is great for agriculture

Hudson Bay Lowlands

Very flat, covered by swamps and lightly forested areas

Layers of sedimentary rocks overtop of the ancient Canadian Shield

Muskeg is the bogs and water in the swampy areas

The vegetation is mostly bushes and isolated trees which up what is called Tundra

Arctic Lowlands

Group of Northern Islands with a gently rolling landscape

Very harsh climate does not permit farming - Permafrost (ground is frozen for the whole year)

Grass and shrubs such as lichen and moss make up the vegetation (TUNDRA)

Paleozoic era, does contain some lignite (poor quality of coal), oil and natural gas deposits

Highlands

Canada is surrounded by a mountainous rim, also made up of, in part sediments from the ancient Canadian Shield

Appalachian Mountains

Oldest of the highland regions in North America, formed at the end of Paleozoic era (300 million years ago ago) by tectonic activity of colliding plates. (Volcanic as well)

Made up of sedimentary rock (rich deposits)

Volcanic activity and faulting have created igneous and metamorphic outcroppings (plateaus of rock which consist of metallic minerals)

What do harbours do? - Appalachian Mountains

Deep protected harbours for ocean freighters, fishing fleets, and have become the sites for major cities

Intuition Mountains

Formed in middles of the Mesozoic era when the North American plate moved northward

Mainly composed of sedimentary rock

Barren landscape, covered by ice

Weathering and erosion

Western Cordillera

(Cordillera Mountains - Rockies, Coastal etc.)

Separated by plateaus and valleys

Created when Pacific plate subdued under the North American plate, causing folding, faulting and volcanic activity

Great height and jagged appearance means they are geologically young (Cenozoic Era)

Farming or mining towns located in river valleys, fishing, forestry, shipping and tourism

These all can change by

Global Warming