Canada Landforms, Climate, and Earth Layers

• The material covers most major topics in unit 2, but class slides and worksheets should be reviewed for completeness
• One needs to describe specific landform regions and their corresponding climate and vegetation regions as well as identify overlapping regions

4 Layers of the Earth

• The earth consists of four layers: crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core
• The crust has a thickness of 0-100km
• The lithosphere comprises the crust and uppermost solid mantle
• The asthenosphere sits below the lithosphere
• The mantle extends to a depth of 2900 km
• The outer core is liquid and extends to 5100 km
• The inner core is solid and extends to the center of the earth, 6378 km

Landform Regions of Canada

• Canada is divided into the following landform regions: Arctic Lands, Canadian Shield, Cordillera, Interior Plains, Appalachian Region, and St. Lawrence Lowlands

Six Factors That Affect Climate

• Climate is affected by latitude, ocean currents, winds and air masses, elevation, relief, and proximity to water
• Acronym LOWERN can be used to remember all six factors

Maritime and Continental Climates

• Maritime climates are influenced by closeness to water bodies, have small temperature ranges, and high precipitation, as seen in Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Continental climates develop away from the influence of the ocean, have large annual temperature ranges, and low precipitation, as seen in Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Maritime climates are cooler than continental ones

Rock Cycle

• Igneous rocks ("Fire Rocks") form from cooling and solidification of magma and are found in British Columbia, Manitoba, Yukon, Northern Quebec, and Newfoundland
• Sedimentary rocks form from eroded igneous rock by wind, water, and ice and are found in Edmonton, Regina, Toronto, and London
• Overlying sediments transform into solid rock under pressure
• Metamorphic rocks form when heat and pressure increase and are found in the Canadian Shield
• Rock undergoes metamorphosis (transformation) with depth below the Earth’s crust
• These rocks may contain deposits of metallic minerals

Plate Tectonics

• Divergent plate boundaries separate, allowing magma to rise and solidify as new crust
• Convergent plate boundaries involve one plate being pulled beneath another (subduction), creating a deep trench and a subduction zone
• Transform plate boundaries grind past each other, which may cause earthquakes

Plate Boundaries and Continental Drift

• Tuzo Wilson, a Canadian, assisted with the development of plate tectonics theory
• Earth's outer shell consists of about 20 plates, comprising continents and oceans
• Plate movement causes earthquakes, mountains, tsunamis, and volcanoes
• About 300 million years ago, all continents were joined as Pangaea.
• Alfred Wegner theorized in 1915 how Pangaea broke up and continents drifted in different directions
• Evidence includes:
  • Jigsaw fit between South America and Africa
  • Similar plant/animal fossils on different continents
  • Mountains with similar age/structure across the Atlantic
  • Ice sheets covering South Africa, India, Australia, suggesting they were once closer to the South Pole

Soil Profiles

• Leaching removes minerals from soil as water moves downward
• Calcification is when water carries dissolved minerals upward through the soil

Natural Vegetation Regions of Canada

• Canada is divided into the following vegetation regions: Tundra, West Coast forest, Cordilleran vegetation, Boreal and Taiga forest, Grassland, Mixed forest, Deciduous forest

Climate Graph Calculations

• Average temperature is calculated by adding the temperature for each month (12) and dividing by 12
• Temperature range is the difference between the highest and lowest temperatures
• Season of Heaviest Precipitation (SHP) is determined by adding all the Winter mm and all the Summer mm and selecting the season with the larger value
• Winter is defined as October to March
• Summer is defined as April to September
• Even means winter mm and summer mm are about the same