Physical Regions of CanadaHow 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 Region½ 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 activityMillions of years ago.

Interior PlainsStretched 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

CordilleraParallel 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 CanadaClimate - 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?)