Download Lesson 4 Notes - St. Basil Secondary

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Canadian
Landforms
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Types of Landforms
• Canada is made up of three distinct
types of landforms:
The Canadian Shield
• Lowlands
• Highlands
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The Lowlands
• There are three lowland regions
surrounding the Shield:
• The Interior Plains
• The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
Lowlands
• Hudson Bay-Arctic Lowlands
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The Lowlands
• An area of land that is low in relation to the
surrounding country.
• The bedrock under these lowland is formed
mainly of sediments eroded from the Shield
• As rock particles collected, the weight of the
upper layers compressed the lower layers
into sedimentary rocks
Interior Plains
• It is found in the Yukon,
Northwest Territories,
British Columbia, Alberta,
Saskatchewan and
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The Interior Plains
• During the Paleozoic era, sediments that
eroded from the Shield and the Rocky
Mountains were deposited
• Part of the sedimentary rock consisted of
coral reefs
• Today, the reefs are thousands of metres
below the surface of the land and contain
much of the oil and gas found in Alberta and
Saskatchewan
The Interior Plains
• During the Mesozoic era, shallow seas
covered the region of Saskatchewan
• When the seas evaporated, thick layers
• of mineral deposits were left behind
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• Potash is mined from these layers and
used as fertilizer in Canada and overseas
• The swamps on the edges of these
ancient seas produced plants that were
changed eventually into coal, which is
The Interior Plains
• Erosion shaped the surface of the landscape
• the Interior Plains are mainly flat, but the
landscape is also composed of some rolling
hills, and deep, wide river valleys
• Overall, the land slopes gently downward
from west to east
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The Interior
Plains
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• Glaciation also shaped the landscape
• Glaciers left deposits that produced rounded,
gently, rolling landscape
• Glaciers melted and formed a large lake over
much of what is now southern Manitoba and
Saskatchewan, but as land rose, it drained
into the ocean
• Small portions of the lake remain today,
known as Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba,
The Interior
Plains
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• The soil that developed on these
sediments is deep and fertile
• Grain is grown in many parts of the
Interior Plains - it is known as Canada’s
“breadbasket”
• So much wheat is grown here
• Cattle is raised in places where the
climate is too dry for crops
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Lowlands
• It is the smallest region in Canada
• The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
Lowlands is located at the southern
regions of Ontario and Quebec. It
extends from Quebec City, to Windsor,
ON.
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Great Lakes - St. Lawrence
Lowlands
• Sedimentary rock formed here from the
Paleozoic era
• The Niagara Escarpment is best known
in this region. It was formed by
differential erosion (different rates of
erosion cause different levels of
elevation)
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Lowlands
• In the Great Lakes portion of the
lowlands, glaciation created rolling
landscapes
• While glaciers carried huge amounts of
material from the Shield, flat plains with
glacial hills and deep river valleys were
formed
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Lowlands
• Glaciers gouged out The Great Lakes
• The lakes were larger then than they
are now because of the enormous
volume of water from the melting
glaciers
• The meltwater drained into the ocean
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Lowlands
• The St. Lawrence Lowland was formed
by a rift valley (tensional forces cause
the earth’s plate to split apart. The
centre block will drop down, forming
steep walls)
Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Lowlands
• It is well-suited to agriculture because ot its
excellent soils and warm climate
• The flat land is ideal for transportation routes
and development of cities
• Canada’s two largest cities, Toronto and
Montréal are located here
• It is best known as Canada’s
industrial and urban heartland
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Hudson Bay - Arctic Lowlands
• Flat, low area covered by swampy forest
• The waters of
Hudson Bay
covered much of
this lowland at
the end of the
last Ice Age
• Has a layer of
sedimentary rock
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Hudson Bay Arctic Lowlands
• Made up of a series of islands located in the
far north
• Have gently rolling hills and low elevations
• Contains a great deal of swamps with poor
drainage
• Harsh climate does not permit farming - the
ground remains frozen most of the year
• Oil, natural gas and lignite ( form of coal) is
deposited here
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