landforms_of_canada.pdf

INTRODUCTION TO CANADA’S LANDFORM REGIONS INTRODUCTION TO CANADA’S LANDFORM REGIONS A region is an area or division. A landform is any physical feature of the Earth’s surface having a characteristic, recognizable shape and produced by natural causes. (e.g. continents, ocean basins, plains, plateau...

INTRODUCTION TO CANADA’S LANDFORM REGIONS INTRODUCTION TO CANADA’S LANDFORM REGIONS A region is an area or division. A landform is any physical feature of the Earth’s surface having a characteristic, recognizable shape and produced by natural causes. (e.g. continents, ocean basins, plains, plateaus, mountain ranges, hills, valleys, slopes, drumlins, dunes). A landform region is a large area of land that has major characteristics throughout its area! Types of Landform Regions 1) Shield: large area of Precambrian rock that forms the core of the continent 2) Highlands: areas of high elevation containing mountains and plateaus 3) Lowlands: areas of low elevation containing plains and hills Canada’s 7 Landform Regions • Canadian Shield • Western Cordillera • Appalachian Mountains • Innuitian Mountains SHIELD HIGHLANDS • Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowlands • Hudson Bay – Arctic Lowlands • Interior Plains LOWLANDS CANADA’S LARGE LAND MASS IS EXTREMELY DIVERSE! Canada’s 7 Landform Regions The Western Cordillera • Tall, young mountains, pointed peaks, bare rock and snow near mountain tops, v-shaped valleys with green vegetables. Interior Plains • Flat land suited to farming where the majority of Canadian fossil fuels are found. The Canadian Shield • Many lakes, lumpy irregular land, many rivers not straight, scrubby vegetation covers region. Great Lakes- St. Lawrence Lowlands • Rolling land, some hills, flat enough for farming. Hudson Bay-Arctic Lowlands • Very low, near sea level, flat, and swampy. Appalachian Mountains • U-shaped wide valleys, rounded hills/mountains, short, old mountains, range along coast. Innuitian Mountains • Rounded mountains, exposed rocks, covered with snow. Why Are There Different Landforms? • The Earth’s physical landscape is partly the result of conflict between forces that build up the land (constructive forces) and those that wear down the land (destructive forces). Constructive Forces: • These are forces that push up the land to create mountains/highlands. This can occur in 3 ways: folding, faulting and volcanism. Deconstructive Forces: • These are forces that wear the land down via erosion/weathering. Constructive Forces: •These are forces that push up the land to create mountains/highlands. This can occur in 3 ways: folding, faulting and volcanism. 1) Folding – crustal plates move together forcing the land between to buckle and fold - This is the most common type of mountain ex. Rocky Mountains, Appalachians Constructive Forces: •These are forces that push up the land to create mountains/highlands. This can occur in 3 ways: folding, faulting and volcanism. 2) Faulting – parallel cracks in the crust allow the center portion of land to rise or fall, creating flat-topped mountains - least common type of mountain ex. Ottawa Valley, St. Lawrence Valley. Constructive Forces: •These are forces that push up the land to create mountains/highlands. This can occur in 3 ways: folding, faulting and volcanism. 3) Volcanism – cracks in the crust allow magma to reach the surface and cool and harden to become volcanic mountains - this type is the quickest to form ex. Hawaii, Canadian Shield, Coast Mountains Deconstructive Forces: •These are forces that wear the land down via erosion/ weathering. Weathering: this is the process of wearing away and breaking down the surface. This can be accomplished by chemical or mechanical processes. In average conditions, weathering is a slow process. But this rate can increase with a number of factors. Deconstructive Forces: •These are forces that wear the land down via erosion/ weathering. A. Mechanical Weathering Mechanical weathering involves the disintegration of rock when it is split or broken into smaller pieces without it changing its composition. Examples of this would be abrasion, freezing-thawing, and plants-animals. Deconstructive Forces: •These are forces that wear the land down via erosion/ weathering. B. Chemical Weathering Chemical weathering involves the disintegration of rock when it is split or broken into smaller pieces by changing its composition. Examples of this would be hydrolysis or oxidation.