Physical Geography
of U.S. and Canada
Landforms of the U.S.
• 5 Different Regions
• From East to West
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Coastal Plains
Appalachian Mountains
Interior Plains
Mountains and Basins
Pacific Coast
Coastal Plains
• What does
Coastal
mean?
• Two areas
1. Atlantic
Coastal Plain
–The flat or
2.
Gulf
Coastal
gently sloping
Plain
land near a
shore.
What is a Megalopolis?
A continuous line of
Settlement
Appalachian
Mountains
• Over 1,500 miles
long
• From eastern
Canada to
Alabama
• Mountains are
about 300million
years old. (**Notice
their shape.)
Appalachian Trail
Piedmont area is very
fertile, good for farming.
In 1937 became a
National Scenic Trail
Interior
Plains
• 500 miles wide, from
Appalachian Mts. To
the Rocky Mts.
Interior Plains
Central Lowlands
Great Plains
• Eastern plains
• Flatlands, grassy
hills, and thick
forests
• Soil is rich in
nutrients
• Western plains
• Grassy Pastures,
Prairie lands
Mountains and Basins
Rocky Mountains
• Longest mountain
range in North
America
• Extends from Alaska
to Mexico
• Formed from
Tectonic Plates
Mountains and Basins
• Basins
• West of the Rocky Mts.
• Three large plateaus
1. Columbia
2. Great Basin
3. Colorado
– What is a Plateau?
Mountains and Basins
Plateaus
The Great Salt Lake
Why is it called the Great Salt
Lake?
The Pacific Coast
The Pacific Coast
• Two mountain ranges
–Cascade Range
–Sierra Nevada
• Nevada means “snow capped”
• East of the mountain ranges are
fertile lands, great for farming
Alaska and Hawaii
Alaska
Hawaii
• Mountain ranges surround
most of the state
• Mt. McKinley, the tallest
mountain in the U.S.
20,320 feet
• Borders the Arctic Ocean
• Made up of 8 large
islands and 120 small
islands
• Volcanoes erupted and
formed the islands
• Coral Reefs surround
part of the island
Canada
Landforms of Canada
• Canada is divided
into 10 provinces
• Nunavut is the
newest territory
and 3 territories.
Created in 1999
• Provinces are
political divisions,
similar to states in
America
Serves as a territory
for Canada’s
indigenous people
Glaciers
• Glaciers are giant
ice sheets that are
slowly moving
• Glaciers moved
across Canada
thousands of years
ago, and made the
landforms that are
present today, like
mountains and lakes
Shield and Tundra
• The Canadian Shield is
formed from ice sheets
that depressed the land
surface and scooped
out thousands of lake
basins. It carried away
much of the region's
soil. Drainage is
generally very poor on
the shield. The southern
part of the shield has
thick forests while the
north is covered with
tundra.
• Tundra is a treeless
plain where the soil
beneath a few inches is
permanently frozen.
Located in Canada’s far
north.