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Three
Canadian Land Regions
Because of Canada’s size, geographers have divided it into regions to make it easier to study.
A region is an area that is defined on the basis of the presence or absence of certain
characteristics. Geographers classify landform regions based on a combination of
characteristics:
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Age of rock
Type of rock
Relief
Gradient
Process that has shaped the area
There are generally 8 agreed upon land regions.
Appalachian Mountains
 Formed about 375 million years ago, most likely when the North American Plate and the
Eurasian Plate collided during the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea
 Mountains have been worn down by ice and water to produce rolling hills and broad
valleys.
 Deposits in many of the valleys have led to pockets of deep fertile soil.
 Typical mountain height is about 1000m.
 Forest vegetation is mixed coniferous and deciduous, with a greater coniferous
concentration in the cooler north
 Includes most of Atlantic Canada 802
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands
 South of the Shield
 Formed in Paleozoic era
 Have small areas that experienced volcanic activity and considerable amount of faulting,
or fracturing in the earth’s crust.
 10 000 years ago in Canada, this area was flooded by Champlain Sea, an ancient arm of
the Atlantic Ocean.
 Sea retreated leaving nearly level deposits of sand and clay with excellent base for
formation of fertile soil called brown earth.
 Stretch from southwestern Ontario along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to
mouth of Saguenay River in Quebec.
Canadian Shield
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Oldest rock in Canada at about 4 billion years old
Acts as the foundation of Canada’s other landform regions
Has experienced active volcanoes, extensive plains and great mountains
Moving water and ice carried Shield materials to surrounding areas, building great
thicknesses of rock
Most of the Shield has thin, acidic soils called podzols which will support coniferous
forests but are not suitable for agriculture.
The Canadian Shield covers much of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec,
Labrador, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
Innuitian Mountains
 Have rugged peaks that rise of 2000m with steep-sided valleys.
 Includes Ellesmere Island
 Formed during Mesozoic era
 Younger than the Appalachians
 Too cold for trees to survive
 Mountain range in Canada's Arctic territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
Arctic Lowlands
 South of the Innuitians
 Made up of upland plateau surfaces and lowland plains
 Region of tundra, a treeless plain, with a cold dry climate and poorly drained soil.
 Short growing season- only lichens and moss
 Most located in Nunavut.
Hudson Bay Lowlands
 Located within the Shield
 A low area of the Shield with accumulations of Paleozoic rocks to a depth of 2000 m.
 located in northern Ontario and Manitoba
 Are mainly flat and poorly drained with recent coverings of materials from seas, rivers,
and glaciers.
 Soil in this area is generally a mix of tundra and podzols, leading to the growth of
swamp forests.
Interior Plains
 Located between the Shield and Western Cordillera
 Created when inland seas receded
 Ranges in age from the early Paleozoic to the Cenozoic eras
 Erosion carved out three prairie plains separated by two long steep slopes called
escarpments-the Manitoba Escarpment and the Missouri Coteau.
 Plants and animals together with geology and climate conditions have lead to moist,
well drained rich in humus soil called chernozom, which is ideal for growing wheat
 Covers most of Alberta and large sections of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the
Northwest Territories
Western Cordillera
 Made up of a series of parallel mountains ranges-The Coast Mountains, the Columbia
Mountains, and the Rocky Mountains many of which rise to over 3000m.
 Includes British Columbia, Yukon and part of Alberta
 Mountains are separated by extensive plateaus
 Rockies are young mountains formed in the Cenozoic period
 Interior Valleys such as the Okanagan Valley-good soils have developed where rivers
have deposited sand and silt.
 City of Vancouver is built on a large delta-rich soils deposited by the Fraser River as it
empties into the ocean.
 Forest of west-facing slopes in B.C. is fastest growing forest in Canada