Landform Connections Unit Three - Chapter 10 Objectives Identify/Describe Canada’s Landform Regions Describe Glacial Effects Use Maps & Photos to Interpret Landform Relationships Describe How Art Reflects Canada’s Landscape R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 2 Important Landform Lingo Shield Rift Valley Highlands Plateaus Lowlands Intrusion Differential Erosion Fiord Escarpment Drainage R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 3 Important Glacial Lingo Ice Ages Till Ice Sheets Striation Glacier Spillway Advance Misfit Stream Retreat Till Plain Alpine Glacier Moraine U-shaped Valley Drumlin Continental Glacier Erratic Zone of Accumulation Esker Lake Plain R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 4 Landform Regions – Fig. 10-1 R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 5 Canada’s Profile – Fig. 10-2 R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 6 North American Landforms Three types: Shield Highlands Lowlands R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 7 HIGHLANDS 1. Appalachians 2. Western Cordillera – Coast Mountains – Interior Plateaus – Columbia Mountains – Rocky Mountains R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 8 HIGHLANDS - Appalachians R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 9 Western Cordillera - Coast Mountains R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 10 Western Cordillera - Columbia Mountains R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 11 Western Cordillera - Rocky Mountains R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 12 LOWLANDS 1. Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowlands 2. Interior Plains – Alberta Plain – Saskatchewan Plain – Manitoba Lowland R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 13 LOWLANDS – Great Lakes – St. Lawrence R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 14 LOWLANDS – Alberta Plain R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 15 LOWLANDS – Saskatchewan Plain R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 16 LOWLANDS – Manitoba Lowland R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 17 Landform Connections R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 18 R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 19 CANADIAN SHIELD AKA – Precambrian Shield Covers ½ of Canada Some of world’s oldest rocks @ Great Slave Lake Now: Flat, rounded rock hills – formerly mountains – now only “mountain roots” R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 20 CANADIAN SHIELD Canada’s Foundation – Canada’s Storehouse Igneous and Metamorphic Rock Metals & minerals - iron, gold, uranium, silver, lead, copper, zinc, nickel… Also diamonds due to ancient volcanoes – Note: minerals separated into layers – therefore, mining Smelting = extracting metal by melting R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 21 CANADIAN SHIELD Drainage caused by glacial movement Bedrock exposed by scraping actions Bedrock is impervious to water Disorganized patterns of winding rivers, lakes, swamps Shield center is lower than its sides – saucer-shaped R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 22 CANADIAN SHIELD http://talmud.epsb.ca/regions/north/lz/csi/csi.html R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 23 R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 24 CANADIAN SHIELD Two major landforms: – Rocky surface of igneous rock – Numerous coniferous forests R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 25 CANADIAN SHIELD Highest elevation about 500m above sea level Rocky surfaces because there were mountains at one time Freeze, thaw, and fluvial erosion eroded the mountains to create hard even land Southern section mainly boreal (coniferous) Northern part is frozen tundra R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 26 CANADIAN SHIELD “Canada’s Storehouse” R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 27 CANADIAN SHIELD R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 28 CANADIAN SHIELD R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 29 CANADIAN SHIELD R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 30 R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 31 THE LOWLANDS Surround the Shield Interior Plains – Alberta Plains, Saskatchewan Plains, and Manitoba Lowlands Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowlands R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 32 North America’s Plains Interior Plains Stretch from Arctic Ocean to Gulf of Mexico 1300 km wide at south 275 km wide at north Often covered by shallow seas – Lake Agassiz Paleozoic coral reefs covered by sedimentary rock created the oil and gas of Alberta and Saskatchewan R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 33 North America’s Plains Interior Plains Mesozoic Era seas over Saskatchewan evaporated to create mineral deposits – Potash Potash is used for fertilizer – Potassium Chloride – Table Salt Swamps at the edges had plant life that decomposed to create coal R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 34 North America’s Plains Interior Plains Differential erosion is when soft rock erodes more quickly than hard rock Various levels of elevation caused by differential erosion are separated by sharp ridges called escarpments Glaciation rounded the landscape Sedimentation produced the fertile soils of SK and MB – Canada’s Breadbasket R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 35 North America’s Plains Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowlands Two Parts: – Great Lakes Lowlands – e.g. Niagara escarpment – St. Lawrence Lowlands Niagara Escarpment – differential erosion – Niagara Falls to Manitoulin Island Great Lakes Lowlands – Glaciation - were larger than today – as they drained into the ocean, shrank to present size St. Lawrence Lowlands – Rift Valley formed by faulting – Champlain Sea R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 36 North America’s Plains Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowlands Most southern region of Canada Holds 50% of Canada’s population Only 14% of Canada’s total land area Two Largest cities – Toronto and Montreal 70% of manufacturing Canada’s Urban and Industrial Heartland R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 37 Hudson Bay-Arctic Lowlands Hudson Bay and James Bay region Flat, low and swampy Islands of gentle rolling landscape Paleozoic, sedimentary rock contains lignite (a form of coal), oil, and natural gas Cannot be farmed, harsh climate, frozen soil R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 38 Coastal Lowlands Lowest region of the Plains East coast of US and around the Gulf of Mexico Grows cotton, corn, tobacco, veggies; also petroleum and minerals Non-metallic minerals - minerals that yield non-metals when processed – e.g. salt, phosphates R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 39 THE HIGHLANDS There are three (3) Highland areas: 1. Appalachian Mountains – east 2. Innutian Mountains – north 3. Western Cordillera – west R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 40 Appalachian Mountains From Georgia through the Maritimes in Newfoundland Uplifted/folded sedimentary rock 300M years old when North America collided with Africa and Europe Nova Scotia and Newfoundland have same rocks as Wales & Scotland R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 41 Appalachian Mountains Sedimentary non-metallic rock like coal Plateaus - elevated flat area - metallic rocks like iron and zinc Rolling peaks due to erosion Ice Age created a “drowned coastline” R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 42 Innutian Mountains Up to 2,500m Younger than the Appalachians Barren due to climate Much is ice covered and has permanent snow Resemble Appalachians with similar minerals R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 43 Western Cordillera Geologically young Uplifted by collision of Pacific and North American plates Several ranges of approximately 680 km in width Only remaining glaciers (excluding the Arctic) R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 44 Western Cordillera Lightly populated – usually on flat plateaus Vancouver & Victoria exist in river valleys Banff & Jasper flourish due to tourism R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 45 Western Cordillera Three major divisions: Eastern Mountains Interior Plateaus Coast Mountains R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 46 Eastern Mountains Two main ranges: Rocky Mountains Columbia Mountains R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 47 Eastern Mountains Rocky Mountains Up to 4000 m above sea level East of Columbia Mountains 65 M years ago Folded/faulted sedimentary rock Full of fossils and coal R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 48 Eastern Mountains Columbia Mountains Separated from Rockies by the Rocky Mountain Trench Trench caused by erosion Trench is 10 km wide, 1600 km long, 2000 m below mountains on either side R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 49 Eastern Mountains Columbia Mountains Columbia Mountains are actually three separate ranges collectively known as the Columbia Mountains 3000 m tall – older than Rockies Metamorphic “intrusion” – molten rock injected between layers of rock below surface – more mining than in Rockies R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 50 Interior Plateaus Rugged plateaus of 1300 – 2000 m tall Metamorphic rock with gold, copper and zinc Have major rivers Excellent farmland R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 51 Coast Mountains Two ranges separated by a trough: Coast Mountain Range – on mainland Island Mountain Range – offshore R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 52 Coast Mountains Active earthquake region North American and Pacific plates move between 2-10 cm/year Over 100 quakes over magnitude 5 in past 70 years Glaciers in coastal valleys eroded land to create fjords – long narrow inlets with steep mountainous sides R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 53 Western Cordillera Western Cordillera widens in US Additional subdivisions – Basins and Ranges – e.g. Great Basin in Utah R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 54 Glaciation of Canada Canada covered about 4X by Ice Ages in last 10 000 years Ice Ages about 250 million years apart – advance and recede Previous Ice Ages @ 600M and 2B years ago Ice is one of the hardest substances on Earth South America, Africa, India, Australia, Antarctica glaciated during our Pangea stage R. Schroeder Unit 3 - Chapter 10 55 Glaciation of Canada Last ice age about 1-2M years