Canadian Landform Regions 

1. THE CORDILLERA
Video - Learn360 - Our Canada - Cordillera - Take notes using the following chart on the
Canadian Cordillera.
A. Landforms found in this region: B. Ecozones: Vegetation, wildlife and climate

The Cordillera includes plateaus, valleys and The is mostly mooses, wolverines, snowshoe hares,
plains as well as rugged mountains. The black bears and grizzly bears found in this region. 
most continuous mountain chains, known as
the Coast and Rocky Mountains.

C. First Nation people who have made home D. Economy: How people earn money in this region.
in this region for many centuries.
Forestry is a huge part of the economy in the Cordillera
The climate of the Cordillera's coast is mild, as it is famous for its large forests. The Cordillera is rich
wet and rarely has snow that stays. The in many different types of minerals, making mining a
interior of the Cordillera is usually colder and large industry. The fisheries are a large part of the
dryer with larger amounts of snow. In the economy as well with fish from this region are famous
summer, it is warmer and there is less rain. around the world.

The Forests of the Cordillera Region

There are many forests in the Cordillera region. However, they are often over exploited and
misused.  The Canadian government is always modifying how it manages and protects our
forests. Research the following.

A. What makes the cordillera a good B. How do forests protect soils?

location for forestry-based industries?
Forests and trees make an essential contribution
The Cordillera is a region that has forests to food security by helping to maintain the
in abundance. it consists of many different environmental conditions needed for agricultural
types of trees resulting in an adequate production. They stabilize the soil, prevent
area for forestry-based industries. erosion, enhance the land's capacity to store
water, and moderate air and soil temperatures.

C. Discuss the impacts forests have on local D. What is clear cutting? Where does it happen and
weather and climate. what impact does it have on the natural environment
in this area?
Warmer spring and summer temperatures,
coupled with decreases in water Clearcutting, clearfelling or clear-cut logging is a
availability, dry out woody materials in forestry/logging practice in which most or all
forests and increase the risk of wildfire. trees in an area are uniformly cut down. It has
Fires can also contribute to climate been happening in British Columbia since the
change, since they can cause rapid, large 1800s. This affects the region for the better and
releases of carbon dioxide to the the worse. While it provides a stepping stool for
atmosphere jobs in the Cordillera Region, it also forces
animals out of their habitat and closer to cities.
These are a couple of the many pros and cons
 there is.

2. APPALACHIAN REGION
Video - Learn360 - Our Canada - Appalachian region
Provinces included in this region. What is grown here?

The Appalachian Region is built of Canada's Many of the crops grown in this region
Atlantic Provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador, include fruits, berries, grain, and potatoes.
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince They are grown mostly in the Annapolis
Edward Island. These areas have a lower Valley. Mining: This region has many
population mostly located around the coast of minerals such as coal, copper, silver, lead,
each province. salt, and gypsum.

How water shaped this area? Industries that rely on bodies of water.

The Appalachian Region was formed by The Fishing Industry (now banned) was
volcanic eruptions, but rapid continuous flows of highly dependent on bodies of water in/near
water eroded the leftover rocks and ash the Appalachian region as it was a vital
moulding it into the beautiful region it is today. source of food and a building block for the
economy. 

Two First Nation Groups who live here Industries that rely on minerals.

The Mi’kmaq and the Beothuk were two The Coal Industry and the Oil Industry
aboriginal groups to inhabit this region  relied on minerals. Due to the geological
location of this region these industries were
able to thrive and succeed. 
First Nations Peoples - Appalachian Region
First Nations peoples should be valued and honoured in our Country.  The Mi’kmaq first nations
people have many unique beliefs and practices.  Research the following.

Where are they How do they travel? Their beliefs and culture How European arrivals
located? affect their culture and
The Mi'kmaq made The Mi’kmaq were survival?
Contemporary several different types organized and
Mi'kmaq of canoes, some for behaved just like any The Europeans
communities are interior travel on rivers other society today. affected the flow of
located and lakes, and other, The people of things in the Mi’kmaq
predominantly in larger, sea-going Mi’kmaq had many communities. This
Nova Scotia and canoes which could beliefs too just like interaction
New Brunswick, but make the 100 km or any other community. unfortunately was
with a significant so trip from Cape One of their beliefs mostly negative due to
presence in Breton to the was a dam created by the disease the
Quebec, Magdalen Islands or a beaver. They are a Europeans carried with
Newfoundland, possibly even to community with great them. It made almost
Maine and the Newfoundland. personalities, and one 1500 Mi’kmaq people
Boston area should aspire to be disappear. The
like them. Europeans helped the
Mi’kmaq with trades
and fishing, but the
interaction overall
resulted in favour of
the Europeans
3. THE ARCTIC REGION
Video - Learn360 - Our Canada -The Arctic Region
The Arctic - Lowlands The Arctic - Innuitian Region

Landforms The ice caps or glaciers, fjords, barren Innuitian Mountains, mountain range
tundra, pingos (huge mounds of solid in Nunavut, Canada. It extends
ice) treeline, northern lights (aurora southwest to northeast across several
borealis) and the polar ice pack Arctic islands for about 800 miles
(permanently frozen sea ice) are just a (1,300 km) and reaches heights of
few of the unique features found in this 6,000 feet (1,830 metres) or more.
landscape. “Innuitian” is derived from innuit, a
term applied by the Eskimos of Alaska
to themselves
Climate The Arctic Lowlands have long, cold The Innuitian Mountains experience a
winters and short cool summers. This very hostile and harsh climate.
polar environment has extremely long Slightly more than half of the
nights in winter that last up to 3-4 precipitation falls as snow and
months, and the same for daylight in the because this is a treeless area, the
summer. The average temperature can wind has a huge affect. The northwest
be as low as -20 degrees Celsius in the and the High Arctic are dry with an
north and -6 degrees Celsius in the annual average of 10 cm of
south. precipitation a year.

Vegetation Hudson Bay Lowlands are covered by a The Innuitian Mountains lie north of
swampy forest and its vegetation the tree line, forbidding any trees to
includes bushes, trees that are spread grow, and as the land is barren with
apart, stunted tamarack, and black vast areas of permafrost. Plant life is
spruce as it is mainly transitional forest. limited as well however, plants, such
Arctic Lowlands: It has poor vegetation as rare barriers, moss, lichens, tough
with low growing shrubs and seeds (no grass, small shrubs, and Arctic
trees) willows can survive.
Animals The common animals that can be found There is very little or no wildlife in the
in Canadian Arctic region are arctic fox, Innuitian Mountains due to its
caribou, muskox, polar bear, seal and extremely harsh climate. The only
whales. The extremely cold temperature animals that have been spotted there
has limited the activities of these arctic are goats, arctic owls, arctic foxes,
mammals; especially the species that seals, polar bears, walruses, caribou
live on land, such as polar bears and and arctic hares.
arctic foxes.

First Nations The term Arctic peoples in Canada ← Same

People generally refers to the Inuit population,
descendants of the Thule people, who
lived in the Arctic from 400 to 1,000
 years ago. The Inuit refer to their
homeland as Inuit Nunangat. In 2011,
there were nearly 60,000 Inuit in
Canada, 73 per cent of whom lived in
Inuit Nunangat.

Natural There are many different natural There are five industries of the
Resources resources in the Arctic region of Innuitian Mountains: fishing, mining,
and Canada. The land has gold and other fur trading, hunting, and whaling. Due
Economic minerals like zinc and copper, as well as to the extreme climate, the Innuitian
Activity 
diamonds. There are many mines in the Mountains are largely unexplored. ...
Arctic to extract these minerals and The main natural resources of the
diamonds that provide jobs. Canada is Innuitian mountains are gold, lead,
the third largest producer of diamonds zinc, copper, nickel and diamond
in the world. mining.

4. THE CANADIAN SHIELD

Video - Learn360 - Our Canada -The Canadian Shield

Rocks and Landforms Forests

There is a lot of igneous and metamorphic rock This region predominantly consists of Boreal
found in this region. Lakes, swamps, forests. It ranges from extremely cold to
mountains, volcanoes etc. are different extremely hot weathers. Common
landforms found in this region. coniferous trees include white and black
spruce; jack, red, white and eastern white
pine; balsam fir; tamarack; eastern hemlock;
and eastern red cedar.
First Nations Cities 

The Canadian Shield is the traditional territory Sudbury, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec, Iqaluit,
of several Indigenous peoples. The Innu made Thunder Bay, and Winnipeg.
their home on the Shield in what is now Québec
and Labrador, while the Cree, Anishinaabeg
and Métis occupied large swaths of the region
through Québec, Ontario, Manitoba,
Saskatchewan and Alberta

Mining and Minerals

There is a lot of gold and diamonds that can be

found in the Canadian Shield. 
 Mining and the Canadian Shield
Research the following information.
Mineral  Where it is minded in the Shield How it is used in manufacturing

Gold Gold is found across the Canadian The most important industrial use of gold is
Shield, in British Columbia and in the manufacture of electronics. Solid
Nunavut, and on the island of state electronic devices use very low
Newfoundland voltages and currents which are easily
interrupted by corrosion or tarnish at the
contact points. ... A small amount of gold is
used in almost every sophisticated
electronic device.
Silver The Southern Province, for example, Today silver is invaluable to solder and
is home to the mining district of brazing alloys, batteries, dentistry, glass
Sudbury, Ontario, known for its coatings, LED chips, medicine, nuclear
production of copper and nickel. North reactors, photography, photovoltaic (or
of this region, the Superior Province is solar) energy, RFID chips (for tracking
one of Canada's most important parcels or shipments worldwide),
sources of metals, including deposits semiconductors, touch screens, water
of copper, gold, iron and silver purification, wood preservatives and many
more
Copper Today, the largest concentration of Copper is used in building construction,
active mines on the Shield — and in power generation and transmission,
the world — is located around electronic product manufacturing, and the
Sudbury, Ontario. Metals mined here production of industrial machinery and
include copper, nickel, gold and transportation vehicles. ... Copper is an
palladium. essential component in the motors, wiring,
radiators, connectors, brakes, and bearings
used in cars and trucks.
Uranium The Athabasca Basin is a region in After mining, the ore is crushed in a mill,
the Canadian Shield of northern where water is added to produce a slurry of
Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. fine ore particles and other materials. The
It is best known as the world's leading slurry is leached with sulfuric acid or an
source of high-grade uranium and alkaline solution to dissolve the uranium,
currently supplies about 20% of the leaving the remaining rock and other
world's uranium. minerals undissolved.
Iron Ore Most of Canada's iron ore comes from Iron ore is one of the most abundant
the Labrador Trough region, along the elements on Earth, and one of its primary
border between Quebec and uses is in the production of steel. When
 Newfoundland and Labrador, and combined with carbon, iron changes
from Nunavut character completely and becomes the
alloy steel. Iron processing, use of a
smelting process to turn the ore into a form
from which products can be fashioned.
Diamond Kimberlites — formations where Most industrial diamonds are used for that
s diamonds can be located — are purpose. Small particles of diamond are
scattered throughout the Shield, with embedded in saw blades, drill bits, and
the largest deposit located near Lac grinding wheels. These tools are then used
de Gras, Northwest Territories, about for cutting, drilling, or grinding hard
300 km northeast of Yellowknife. materials.
Canada's first diamond mine — called
Ekati — opened there in 1998.

5. THE INTERIOR PLAINS REGION

Video - Learn360 - Our Canada -The Interior Plains

Landforms and Soil Vegetation 

The Forests, Lakes, Hudson Bay Lowlands Southern Manitoba is open grassland
Manitoba and the Canadian Shield. and aspen. In the centre is mixed forest.
Plains To the north is boreal forest and bush-
tundra by Hudson Bay.
The Prairie Hummocky moraine. The natural vegetation is generally
Grasslands Prairie potholes (kettle ponds) dominated by Spear Grass, Wheat
Coulees. Grass, and Blue Grama Grass.
Boulder. Sagebrush is abundant. Local saline
Salinities pond. areas feature Alkali Grass, Wild Barley,
Shale outcropping. Greasewood, Red Samphire, and Sea
Lacustrine plain. Blite. Drier sites in the southwest are
home to yellow Prickly Pear Cactus.
The The Foothills landforms include Lodgepole pine and white spruce are
Foothills forested hills, rolling grasslands, and some plants that you can find in the
broad river valleys. The Elevation is as foothill’s region. Coniferous trees have
low as 700m in the foothills and the been seen in the upper region of the
highest Elevation in the foothill’s foothills. In the lower part of the foothill’s
region was made by two plates that region, you can find short grassy areas,
smashed into each other. bushes and deciduous trees.
The Badlands & hoodoos are some The main trees found here are Aspen,
Parklands landforms in the Parkland. A badland Willow, Poplar and Saskatoon bushes
region is a very dry and hot place. A (See Picture). This type of vegetation
hoodoo is a sandstone with a rock grows here because this region has lots
shape at the top. It is made when of sun, but not too much rain. The
erosion happens. Parkland region is Alberta's richest
agricultural region, and most of its land
is dedicated to farming.
The Boreal Landforms - Taiga (Boreal Forest) Because these trees face such harsh
Forest Most of the taiga land consists of hills, conditions, boreal forests are mostly
valleys, lowlands, mountains, and dominated by coniferous species (see
plains. Bodies of waters are one of the below). Six genera of trees are found as
few things that surround the Boreal canopy dominants across the entire
Forest. During the summer, the Boreal extent of boreal forest: pine (Pinus), fir
forest is surrounded by grassy plants. (Abies), larch (Larix), spruce (Picea),
birch (Betula), and aspen (Populus).
The Taiga Most of the Taiga Cordillera is covered Coniferous trees are the dominant plants
Tundra with steep mountains and narrow of the taiga biome. A very few species in
valleys, the North West contains four main genera are found: the
wetlands and rolling hills, and the evergreen spruce, fir and pine, and the
North includes tundra, which is above deciduous larch. In North America, one
the tree line so only small plants live or two species of fir and one or two
there. The Mackenzie Mountains species of spruce are dominant.
dominate the region of the Taiga
Cordillera.

Lake Agassiz

Lake Agassiz was formed over 10,000 years ago as the glaciers that covered it began to melt. 

Research the following questions associated with Lake Agassiz. 

1. What caused the glacier to melt 11,000 years ago?

During the last Ice Age, northern North America was covered by an ice sheet, which alternately
advanced and retreated with variations in the climate. ... The melting of remaining Hudson Bay
ice caused Lake Agassiz to drain nearly completely.

2. How did Lake Agassiz get its name?

The fine claylike silt that accumulated on the bottom of Agassiz is responsible for the fertility of
the valleys of the Red and Souris rivers. The lake was named in 1879 after the Swiss-born
naturalist and geologist Louis Agassiz, who conducted extensive studies on the movement of
glaciers.

3. Besides Lake Winnipeg what are some of the other bodies of water that are remnants of
Lake Agassiz?

Winnipegosis, Lake of the Woods and Hudson Bay.

6. THE GREAT LAKES AND ST. LAWRENCE LOWLANDS REGION

The Great Lakes Region The St. Lawrence Lowlands

First Notable tribes around the Great The St Lawrence Iroquoians form a
Nations Lakes included people we now call group of nations that occupied, between
the Chippewa, Fox, Huron, Iroquois, 1200 and 1600 CE, a vast territory
Ottawa, Potawatomi and Sioux. stretching along the St Lawrence River
Approximately 120 bands of Native from the mouth of Lake Ontario to
Peoples have occupied the Great downstream from Québec City.
Lakes basin over the course of
history.
Landforms Same →  The St. Lawrence Lowlands is a plain,
although it includes many mountains
such as the Laurentian Mountains, a
mountain range in southern Québec, to
the north and the Adirondacks, a range
of mountains in New York, to the south.
The Appalachians are in the southeast
and the Precambrian Shield of Ontario is
in the west.
The Groundwater is important to Groundwater is important in the western
Importance ecosystems in the Great Lakes part of the region for maintaining summer
of Water Region because it is, in effect, a stream flow in an area with a net
large, subsurface reservoir from moisture deficient for four months of the
which water is released slowly to year.
provide a reliable minimum level of
water flow to streams, lakes, and
wetlands.

Agriculture  The Great Lakes region is known for An economic activity that is prevalent in
its bountiful and diverse agricultural this region is agriculture as the soil is
production. Its fertile lands and fertile and the climate is not too cold.
waters provide ideal conditions for Farming is extremely important and crops
corn, soybeans and hay crops, as such as wheat, oats, and corn. Farmers
 well as 15% of the country's dairy also raise cattle like pigs, poultry etc.
products.
Natural Most of the minerals are found within There are many minerals mined in the St.
Resources the rocks in the Great Lakes area. Lawrence lowlands such as iron ore,
The minerals found here include iron zinc, silver, coal, copper and lead. These
ore, zinc, silver, coal, copper and minerals are non-renewable resources so
lead. These minerals are dependent they cannot be reused, and they are
on the rocks found in this region. The limited. There are renewable resources
rich soil in this lowland’s region is such as the five great lakes.
another natural resource.
Industries Education and health, shipping and Lawrence lowlands mine iron-ore, zinc,
logistics, agriculture, mining and coal, silver, copper and lead. They
energy, tourism, and finance are retrieve the minerals by drilling into the
some of the other major industries rocks and using machinery. Many jobs
that generate business for the region. are directly and indirectly linked to
And despite having a border, the mining. These are only some of the
Great Lakes Economy is highly industries in the St.
integrated.

GREAT LAKES AND ST. LAWRENCE RESEARCH

1. How were the great lakes created?

About 20,000 years ago, the climate warmed and the ice sheet retreated. Water from the
melting glacier filled the basins, forming the Great Lakes. Approximately 3,000 years ago,
the Great Lakes reached their present shapes and sizes.

2. How does the climate near the great lakes differ from other areas of the shield?

The Great Lakes hold about one-fifth of the world's surface fresh water. They are so large
that they influence regional weather. The lakes keep nearby regions cooler in the summer
and warmer in the winter, when compared regions farther inland