Download Georgraphy Themes

The Geography of Western
Canada
Introduction
• Geography is something that surrounds us on a
daily basis.
• Geography looks at location, but it can also look
and shape many other things that take place in
your day to day life.
– i.e. weather, economy, and sports you choose to play.
• Geography explores human behaviour, and how
humans react with their environment in certain
situations.
Introduction
• The Royal Geographic Society was founded in
1830 in London, England.
– It had a goal to promote an “important and
entertaining branch of knowledge – geography.”
• Geographers try to unlock the mysteries of
Earth.
– Geographers are interested in the why and how of the
physical world, as opposed to, discovering unknown
places.
• Geography draws on a wide variety of fields,
such as climate, geology, hydrology, economics,
and biology.
– While looking at the above it draws on spatial patterns
on Earth in order to understand how human lives
work.
Introduction
Importance of Place
• Geography begins with the posing of
questions.
• Geographers use five organizing principles
to help them gather, organize, and analyze
their information.
– Places have a location.
– Places have physical and cultural
characteristics.
– Places change.
– Places interact with other places.
– Places are in regions.
Places Have a Location
• Location is the first step in the process of
geography.
• Every place can be located in precise terms
using latitude and longitude.
• Latitude: the distance of any point north or south
of the equator, measured up to 90 degrees.
• Longitude: the distance of any point east or west
of the Prime Meridian, measured up to 180
degrees.
• Along with knowing longitude and latitude it is
important to know the spatial location, and the
understand the other four organizing principles
that geographers use.
Places Have a Location
Places Have Physical and Cultural
Characteristics
• Physical characteristics include the landforms
and bodies of water found in a place, as well as
its soil and mineral deposits.
– These impact how people live, and present
advantages and disadvantages, or a combination of
both.
• All human activity leaves a mark on the physical
environment.
– These visual results of activity are known as the
cultural landscape.
– People of different cultures usually impact the
landscape in different ways.
• i.e. aboriginal peoples vs. white settlers.
Places Have Physical and Cultural
Characteristics
Places Change
• Nothing in nature stays the same.
– Landforms, vegetation, political boundary's, patterns
of settlement, all are changing all of the time.
• Geographers want to know how the natural
environment changes through human actions.
– i.e. How does a highway affect the development of
nearby real estate or industry?
• Knowledge of past changes help people to make
informed decisions about future changes.
Places Change
1960’s
1965
Places Change
1973
Places Interact With Other Places
• A places size and location determined the
level of contact it would have with the
world in the past.
• With new technology contact between
places has become easier, and now the
most remote locations still have some form
of contact with neighbouring communities
and the rest of the world.
• Because of technology, the places we
inhabit have impacts on one another.
Places Are In Regions
• A region is a area where certain
characteristics prevail.
• Regions allow for geographers to organize
information based on Earth’s surface.
– Regions can also be based on politics and
economic, as well as a bunch of other things.
• No two places in a region are the same,
but they are similar enough to be classified
together.
Places Are In Regions
Places Are In Regions
The Physical Regions of Western
Canada
• The landscape of Canada has made it
difficult in the development of the country.
• Western Canada is dominated by three
distinct regions.
– Canadian Shield.
– Interior Plains.
– Western Mountains.
• Rocky Mountains and Coastal Mountains.
• Each region has distinct geological
features, landforms, and climatic
conditions.
The Physical Regions of Western
Canada
The Canadian Shield
• Geologically speaking, Canada is one of the
oldest countries around.
• Shields are large masses of rock which are the
oldest parts of the Earth.
– They are the hard rigid blocks around which the rest
of the continents are formed.
• The Canadian Shield stretches from the Arctic
islands around Hudson Bay to the Adirondack
Mountains in the US, and east across Labrador.
• At one point in time the shield was a volcanic
mountain range as high as the Himalayas.
The Canadian Shield
• Over millions of years it has been weathered
and eroded down to a landscape of exposed
rock and lakes.
• The original make up of the shield was igneous
rock, but this has changed by heat and/or
pressure making it into metamorphic rock.
– These changes in the rock make up have made the
shield a vast storehouse of mineral like copper, gold,
lead, and nickel.
• As a result of the exposed rock, agriculture and
large scale settlement have been difficult on the
shield.
The Canadian Shield
Interior Plains
• The Interior Plains stretches from the Canadian Shield to
the Rocky Mountains.
• It covers almost all of Alberta.
• The plains have been formed as eroded material from
the shield was deposited in layers at its edges.
– The horizontal layers are made up of sedimentary rock.
• Millions of years ago when there was a tropical climate in
the area, and water covered some of it, occasional
flooding left deposits of plants and animals.
– The deposits have turned into fossil fuels like oil and natural gas,
and potash.
– They were formed by being compressed between sedimentary
layers of rock.
Interior Plains
The Western Mountains
• The western mountains are made up of parallel
mountain ranges that are separated by a series of
plateaus and valleys.
• The Rockies and the Coastal Mountains, along with the
interior Plateau, were formed when plate collision
caused the Earth’s crust to buckle lifting sections into the
air.
– The pressure of the collision and plate tectonics also formed
valley’s, plateaus, and trenches.
– Glaciers and rivers sculpted the mountainous territory we see
today.
• The sediments carried away by the rivers formed the rich
river valley we know like the Fraser River Valley.
– They are rich in minerals like copper, gold, molybdenum, and
coal.
The Western Mountains
Pg. 101 Figure 3-11
of your text.
The Climates of Western Canada
• Most of the areas in Western Canada
experience a continental climate of
temperature extremes, and low
precipitation.
• Coastal areas, such as those in BC,
experience maritime climate with mild
temperature changes and high
precipitation.
• Temperature and precipitation of
communities depends on the location and
local conditions of the community.
Factors Affecting Temperature
• Latitude
– This determines the
intensity and amount of
sunlight an area receives
– Te farther north a
community is the lower the
angle the sun’s rays strike
at.
• This also results in a
greater seasonal variation
in the length of daylight
and night.
– The closer to the equator
the warmer the weather
because of a greater angle
of the sun in the sky.
• Altitude
– The higher the altitude the
lower the temperatures.
– For every 150 meters rise
in altitude, temperature
drops approx. 1 degree
Celsius.
Factors Affecting Temperature
• Distance from the Sea
– The surface of land heats
and cools faster than water
does.
– Interior areas will have
more dramatic temperature
variations as a result.
– Coastal areas tend to have
more moderate variation in
temperatures because they
are by water.
• Wind Direction
– Winds coming from the
ocean increase the
moderating effect of the
water on the temperature.
• The reverse is true for
winds coming off land.
– Prevailing winds are those
winds that are blowing
most regularly.
• Western Canada normally
has westerly (from the
west) or northerly (from
the north).
– West Coast communities
are the only one in Canada
that have winter
temperatures above
freezing.
Factors Affecting Temperature
• Ocean Currents
– The currents are either
warm or cold depending on
there origin.
– They affect the temperature
of land by either warming
or heating the air blowing
over them.
– Warm air absorbs more
water than cold air.
• Precipitation
– Precipitation is determined
by the distance from the
sea, and the prevailing
winds.
– Heavy precipitation is often
confined to a season or
seasons.
– Western Canada
experiences three basis
types of precipitation.
• Orographic, convectional,
and frontal.
Factors Affecting Temperature
• Orographic
– The prevailing westerly
winds push warm most air
up against the coastal
mountains, allowing the air
to cool and shrink creating
precipitation.
– The air then warms coming
down the other side of the
mountainside creating an
area called rain shadow.
– The same happen on the
Rockies, but the
precipitation is less, and in
the winters the air warming
coming down the easterly
mountainsides creates
Chinooks that can raise
temperatures 20 degrees in
a mater of hours.
Factors Affecting Temperature
• Convectional
– It is caused by convection
currents in the atmosphere.
– Falls primarily on the
prairies in the hot months.
– As the ground heats up it
heats the air, and the warm
air rises and expands
meeting coolers air which
then also warms, rises and
expands.
– When the air begins to cool
it forms clouds of rain or
hail.
– It provides much needed
moisture, but also can
damage the crops.
Factors Affecting Temperature
• Frontal
– Most of Canada lies in a zone
between cold polar air from
the north, and warm tropical
air from the Gulf of Mexico.
– The two air masses can’t not
mix and where they meet is
called a front.
– The warm, less dense air rises
over the cold air, and as the
warm air rises it condenses
and forms clouds resulting in
prolonged precipitation.
– There is more frontal activity
during the winters because the
two air masses have more
variance, and the polar air
extends farther south.
– Cyclonic storms result from
fierce frontal activity, and they
are push west to east by
prevailing winds.
Water Resources of Western
Canada
• Most of the rivers and water sources start in the
cordillera.
• High levels of precipitation and melting of
snowpacks provide constant flow.
• The rivers flow east or west from the Rockies
and the Coastal Mountains until they reach
major body of water like the Pacific Ocean or
Hudson Bay.
– Along the way they meet up with other bodies of
water, river, lakes, etc.
• The abundance of water in Western Canada has
made some people complacent.
Water Resources of Western
Canada
• Population and developments have
created threats to water quality.
– i.e. Lower Fraser River Basin has been a
dump sit for industrial and municipal sewage,
and agricultural run-off.
• For many Canadians, water quality, and
not water quantity, will be the issue in the
future.
Ecosystems and Biomes
• Biomes: an ecological community of plants and animals
extending over a large area.
• The environment of Western Canada is made up many
different biomes.
– Each of the biomes has its own characteristics. This can be
vegetation, and animal species.
• A biome contains a number of smaller ecosystems.
– Natural area where the life cycles of plant, animals, etc, are
linked to their physical surroundings.
• Smaller ecosystems are made up of habitats.
– Habitats are places where plants and animals have adopted a
specific set of conditions.
• Ecosystems are interdependent on each other.
– Altering one thing can set of chain reactions.
The Western Biomes
• Boreal Forest
– Most of the region is made up of coniferous trees.
• Needle leaf evergreen trees are able to survive the cold
winters, and the erratic precipitation.
• The needles do not freeze, and very little moisture is lost
through them.
• They make the most of the growing season by starting early
in the spring.
– The soil type of the region is known as podzol.
• It is acidic and not very fertile because of the lack of humus
(remains of decomposed plants).
– Deer, moose, black bear, wolves, and other fur
bearing animals inhabit this biome.
– Blue jays , owls, and other birds frequent the forests.
The Western Biomes
The Western Biomes
• Parkland
– It is a transitional area
between the dry prairie
grasslands and the coniferous
forest region of the north.
– Natural vegetation is long
grass, with isolated stands of
trees.
• The trees are mainly aspen,
willow, and pines.
– The long grass provides lots of
humus after it decays over
many years.
• In return the soil is rich and
black.
– The parkland is the ideal
region for growing wheat
because of the rich soil and
the sufficient precipitation.
The Western Biomes
• The Prairie
– Sometimes called the
grasslands.
– Covers an area between
Winnipeg and Calgary.
– It is very dry in the
southeast around the
Alberta/Saskatchewan
border.
• The driest of areas is
know as Palliser Triangle.
– The prairie is sufficiently
moist in the northwest to
support ranching and
agriculture, but not moist
enough to support the
growth of trees.
The Western Biomes
• The Prairie con’t
– Natural vegetation is short
grasses, and some areas of
long grass.
• Some indigenous grasses
have been destroyed as a
result of human activity.
• Human activity has also
resulted in wind erosion.
– The soils of the region are
brown in color and high in
mineral content.
• The darker soil is ideal for
growing wheat and grains.
– Common animals are
gophers, ground squirrels,
prairie dogs, hawks, owls,
badgers, deer, and antelope.
• Bison were common before
their extermination.
The Western Biomes
• Interior Mountain Region
– Consists of a variety of different landforms.
• Meadows, plateaus, and mountains.
– Vegetation is highly varied, and includes pine forests,
sub alpine forests, and in the high meadows, areas of
tundra the are similar to the arctic with shrubs,
lichens, and grass.
– The region has many different soil types.
• Soils of coniferous region on the mountains, prairie soils in
the grasslands, and tundra soils in the meadows.
– Wild life consists of bears, deer, mountain goats, and
sheep, as well as, owls, woodpeckers, and bluebirds.
• Canada’s only preying mantis – the ground mantis – is found
in this region, along with the rattlesnake.
The Western Biomes
The Western Biomes
• Coastal Forests
– These forests on the Pacific
Northwest are rain forest, but
they are coniferous trees.
• This makes them different
from the other rain forest
which have trees with a more
broad leaf canopy.
– They receive most of their rain
from November to March, and
grow during the mild winters.
– The trees today mainly consist
of Douglas firs, red cedars,
and hemlock.
– The largest trees are close to
90 meters tall, with diameters
of 1-2 meters.
– The soil and wildlife found in
the region are similar to those
of the boreal forests.
The Cultural Landscape
• Environments that have
been used and altered by
humans are called
cultural landscapes.
• Culture determines how
people use the land.
• Opposing cultures may
have different attitudes on
how to use the land, and
this may result in crisis.
– i.e. the extinction of the
bison, or the conflict
between the
environmentalists and BC
loggers.
Settlement and Population
• The beginning of the 20th
Century was when Western
Canada first began to see the
effect of large scale settlement.
• Prior to this the Native peoples
of the land had used the
environment they lived in
without significantly changing
it.
– They used the land and water
resource where ever they lived
in a way they respected the
environment.
• The Laurier era brought large
scale settlement to the
Canadian West, and by doing
so it upset the harmonious
balance that had been in place
for millennia.
Settlement and Population
• Immigrants have changed the way the land looks by
bringing their traditional ways of life.
– i.e. Métis farmers in Manitoba followed French practices of
dividing the land into long narrow strips.
• Extensive farming, cattle ranching, mining,
manufacturing, and urban development have al
contributed to the alteration of the natural environment.
• The physical environment and economic possibilities
play a role in where people decide to settle.
– Landforms and climate play roles in the permanent settlement of
people.
– Flat land, mild winters, adequate precipitation, and good soil are
some of the factors that often entice people to settle in an area.
• i.e. prairies and the interior of BC.
Settlement and Population
• People go where they can find work.
• This means that other areas may experience growth, but
it may not be as permanent as in other areas.
– Resource towns go through boom and bust phases.
• i.e. Barkerville, Uranium City.
– Resource towns do not employ as many people as the
manufacturing and service industries, and this is why a majority f
population is concentrated around major cities.
• ¾ of the population of Canada lives in urban centers.
• Resources affect the patterns of settlement.
– Soil type, energy resources, mineral, etc, all play a role in where
people will settle.
– This becomes know as population distribution, and the number
of people settling in an area is known as population density.
– Generally speaking, the bigger the urban center, the bigger the
population density.
Settlement and Population
1996
2001
Boundaries: The Lines on a Map
• The provincial and territorial boundaries are
what geographers call artificial boundaries.
• Prior to European settlement, the Native
peoples, Métis, early explorers, and fur trappers
divided Western Canada by its natural
boundaries.
– These boundaries are ill-suited for political purposes
because leaders like to have clear and defined lines.
• As time past, the natural boundaries were
replaced by political boundaries.
– In some cases dividing boundaries led to conflict.
• i.e. Alaskan Boundary dispute.
Boundaries: The Lines on a Map
• Natives in frontier regions did not have the
power to draw line on a map, but in the
last few decades this has changed.
• 1982 Constitutional Act addressed
concerns with aboriginal title, and began to
recognize it by law.
– This led to more aboriginal groups becoming
successful in reclaiming control of their
traditional territories.
– New line markings of First Nations land claims
appear on some BC maps.
Boundaries: The Lines on a Map
• Under the control of the Hudson Bay Company,
the west had very ill-defined boundaries.
• With the sale of Rupert's Land, and
confederation, more specific boundaries needed
to be established by the Canadian government.
• By 1949, provincial status had been granted to
all areas south of 60 degrees north latitude.
• 1999, the division of the Northwest Territories
into Nunavut and the Western Territory
completed the expansion of self government.
Boundaries: The Lines on a Map
• Boundaries are not visible on the landscape, but
they have big effect on people’s lives.
• They determine a wide variety of things like the
taxes you will pay, the education you receive,
the government you have, your laws, etc.
• Boundaries are challenged constantly.
– i.e. Northern Passage.
• Things like the North American Free Trade
Agreement challenge the idea of boundaries as
well.
– Where do national and international powers start and
finish?
Boundaries: The Lines on a Map