Physical Geography of U.S. and Canada
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Transcript of Physical Geography of U.S. and Canada
Physical Geographyof U.S. and Canada
Landforms of the U.S.
• 5 Different Regions• From East to West
1. Coastal Plains2. Appalachian Mountains3. Interior Plains4. Mountains and Basins5. Pacific Coast
Coastal Plains
•What does Coastal mean?
–The flat or gently sloping land near a shore.
• Two areas 1.Atlantic
Coastal Plain2.Gulf Coastal
Plain
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 TrailPiedmont 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• Eastern plains• Flatlands, grassy
hills, and thick forests
• Soil is rich in nutrients
Great Plains• 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
• West of the Rocky Mts. • Three large plateaus1.Columbia2.Great Basin3.Colorado– What is a Plateau?
• Basins
Mountains and Basins
Plateaus The Great Salt LakeWhy 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• Mountain ranges surround
most of the state• Mt. McKinley, the tallest
mountain in the U.S. 20,320 feet
• Borders the Arctic Ocean
Hawaii• 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 and 3 territories.
• Provinces are political divisions, similar to states in America
• Nunavut is the newest territory Created in 1999
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.