Physical Regions of
Canada
How can Canada be divided into physical
regions?
Appalachian Region
Southeastern USA to
Maritimes
Varied landscape of rolling
hills, valleys, small mountains,
highlands and coastal fjords
What is left of an older
mountain range worn down
by glaciers and millions of
years of erosion
o
Sedimentary rock
o
Igneous rock
o
Metamorphic rock
The Rock Cycle
Canadian Shield Region
½ of Canada’s land surface
Hardest rigid blocks,
surrounded by younger
continental landforms
Once volcanic mountain
range
2 billion years old
Sparcely populated, little soil
fertility
Full of valuable minerals:
gold, nickel, platinum,
diamonds etc.
Arctic Region
Untapped mineral
reserves
St. Lawrence Lowlands
Between Lake Huron,
Erie and Ontario
Glacial melt created great
lake and fertile soil
surrounding St. Lawrence
Niagara Falls – created by glacier activity
Millions of years ago.
Interior Plains
Stretched from Cordillera
mountians to Canadian shield
Mostly flat land rolling hills and
river valleys
Millions of years ago was tropical
climate – over time remains
pressed between sedimentary
layers to form large deposits of
fossil fuels such as oil and
natural gas and evaorites such as
potash
Evaporite – type of sedimentary
deposit resulting from the
evaporation of seawater
Cordillera
Parallel mountain ranges
Includes dormant
volcanoes, glaciers, ice
fields
Rocky and Coastal
mountains
Formed by plate collision
caused the earth’s crust to
buckle, pushing and
folding volcanic rock into
mountains.
Plate movement called
plate tectonics
Climates of Canada
Climate - temperatures, humidity, rainfall, and atmospheric conditions of
a region over a long period of time
Continental climate – climate of continents interior
Maritime climate – a coastal climate
Conditions that affect Canada’s regions (old p.104, new p.25)
Latitude
Altitude
Distance from the sea
Wind direction
Ocean direction
Prince Rupert, Edmonton, and St.John’s are all app. same latitude, yet
have different climates. What are the main reason the climate of each city
is different from the other two?
Climographs
(old p.105, new p.26)
precipitation and temperature
Precipitation - Rainfall, snow, hail and fog – varies by region
Climographs – show average monthly temp. with line graph and
monthly precipitation with bar graph
Climate Change
Past 200 years world’s become more industrialized and
burns massive amounts of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural
gas) - trapped green house gases in atmosphere
Greenhouse effect – change of weather patterns
List 3 impacts climate change has had on your
community. In what ways has if affected you and your
family? (socially, economicaly, politically?)