Extra Focus

• Plate tectonics and erosion

  • Help explain geologic history
• Land violently pushed up due to internal forces

  May form mountains
• Mountains formed by internal forces


  Slowly and continuously worn down by wind, rain, running water, and ice (erosion)
• Eras

  • Cenozoic
  • Mesozoic
  • Paleozic
  • Precambrian
• Time Period (millions of years ago)

  • 66 million -
  • 245 million - 66 million
  • 570 million - 245 million
  • 4600 million - 570 million
• Major Geological Events

  • Ice sheets cover much of North America
  • Continents take on their present shape
  • Formation of the Rocky Mountains completed
  • Formation of Rocky Mountains begins
  • Innuitian Mountains formed
  • Shallow seas in the interior of North America at various times
  • Appalachians formed
  • Precambrian shields, such as the Canadian Shield, Brazilian Shield, and Australian Shield are formed
• Major Biological Events

  • Modern forms of life evolve
  • Age of mammals
  • Human beings develop
  • First birds and mammals
  • First flowering plants
  • Age of reptiles, such as dinosaurs
  • First plants and animals appear on land
  • Large swamps - coal formed from this vegetation
  • First insects
  • Age of amphibians and fish
  • First single-celled organisms
  • First multi-celled organisms
• Canadian Shield

  Ancient mountains have been leveled by erosion, leaving rocks covered by thin soil and many lakes
• Appalachian Mountains

  Significantly eroded to rounded mountains and hills
• Western Cordillera


  Slightly eroded mountains with jagged high peaks
• Rocks Change Through

  1. Pressure and/or heat

  2. Compression

  3. Weathering
• Forces That Change Rocks

  • Water
  • Wind
  • Heat & pressure
  • Melting
• Rocks are Broken Down By

  • Weathering
  • Melting
  • Mechanical Erosion
• Weathering

  The breaking down of rocks by chemical erosion and abrasion
• Mechanical Erosion

  Breaking down rock by mechanical processes such as freezing and thawing, tree and plant growth
• How to Classify Rocks

  • Texture
  • Colour
  • Mineral composition
• 7 Major Physiographic Landform Regions of Canada

  • Western Cordillera
  • Interior Plains
  • Canadian Shield
  • Hudson Bay - Arctic Lowlands
  • Innuitian Mountains
  • Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Lowlands
  • Appalachians
• Three Ways to Define a Landform Region

  • Surface Type or Topography
  • Rock Type
  • Differential Erosion
• British Columbia and Yukon

  • Coast Mountain Range - Western Cordillera
  • Interior Plateau - Western Cordillera
  • Eastern Region of Western Cordillera
• Western Cordillera

  • Maritime climate on west coast
  • Economies based on logging, mining, and tourism
  • Major source of lead, zinc, copper, and gold
• Interior Plains

  • Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
  • True prairies occur in southern reaches of Alaska and Saskatchewan
  • Sedimentary rock from coral reefs
  • Contain much of the oil and gas in Alberta and Saskatchewan
  • Potash (used as fertilizer)
  • Rolling hills and deep, wide river valleys
  • Slopes from west to east
  • Subjected to glaciation
  • Farming region (thousands of acres or hectares)
  • Good for growing grain, namely wheat
  • Cattle ranching when the weather is too dry
• Prairie Economics

  • Primary industries: Agriculture, Cattle ranching and sheep ranching, Natural resources: Tar sands, Oil production
  • Secondary Industries: Refinement of oil, Agriculture processing
  • Rapid Growth in Prairies: Boom in oil production since mid 1900's, Record increase in population (2nd to Ontario), Record immigration levels
• Canadian Shield

  • Igneous and metamorphic rock (some are the oldest in the world)
  • Relatively flat with rounded rocky hills
  • Eroded for billions of years
  • Gouges, scrapes, thousands of lakes, poor drainage patterns, rocky outcrops
  • Disorganized drainage (due to glaciation) of winding rivers, lakes, and swamps
  • Good for water-generated energy
  • Glaciers removed enormous amounts of soil, clay, rock, and gravel
  • Mainly covered by a thin layer of soil
  • Mining activities: Nickel, uranium, gold, silver, lead, diamond, copper
  • Not much farming, Very thin soils
  • Vegetation: Boreal forests (coniferous), marshes, bogs
• Hudson Bay - Arctic Lowlands

  • Flat, low area covered with a swampy forest
  • Sedimentary rock on top of the ancient Shield
  • Harsh climate unfit for farming
  • Paleozoic sedimentary rock where the Arctic Lowlands are formed contain lignite, oil, and natural gas deposits
• Current Impacts on Arctic Populations

  • Europeans explored region ~ 1500's
  • Region now has 20+ Aboriginal bands, 30,000+ Inuit
  • Mid 1800's - search for Northwest Passage
  • 1930's - Mining increased population and settlements
  • Recent years - oil and gas exploration in Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean - increased population to region
  • Resources and Activities: Trapping, fishing, fossil fuels (oil and gas deposits), Metallic Minerals (zinc, iron ore, lead, diamonds)
• Innuitian Mountains

  • Mesozoic Era - North American plate moved northward
  • No vegetation (above tree line)
  • Geology similar to Appalachians but younger - sedimentary rock (with igneous intrusions)
• Arctic Lowlands

  • Sedimentary rock
  • Rolling landscape
  • Above line of continuous permafrost (soil frozen > 2 years)
  • Harsh climate unfit for farming
• Paleozoic sedimentary rock where the Arctic Lowlands are formed contain lignite (poor quality of coal), oil, and natural gas deposits
• Current Impacts on Arctic Populations

  • Europeans explored region ~ 1500's
  • Region now has 20+ Aboriginal bands and 30,000+ Inuit
  • Mid 1800's - search for Northwest Passage
  • 1930's - Mining increased population and settlements
  • Recent years - oil and gas exploration in Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean - increased population to region
• Arctic Economy

  • Trapping
  • Fishing
  • Fossil fuels (oil and gas deposits)
  • Metallic Minerals (zinc, iron ore, lead, diamonds)
• Innuitian Mountains

  • No vegetation (above tree line)
  • Geology similar to Appalachians but younger - sedimentary rock (with igneous/metamorphic)
  • Some igneous and metamorphic rock, but mainly sedimentary rock
  • Not as much time for erosion to wear down mountains
  • No industrial activity - too remote/harsh, covered by ice and permanent snow
  • Barren - trees cannot survive in extremely cold temperatures or short summers
  • Contain similar minerals to the Appalachians
  • However, they have not been exploited because the region is too remote, making it too costly for development
• Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Lowlands


  • Sedimentary rock from Paleozoic era with extremely fertile topsoils - great for agriculture
  • Thin wedge of the Canadian Shield jutting across the St. Lawrence River separates the two sedimentary lowland regions
  • Glaciation created a rolling landscape
  • Glaciers carried huge amounts of material (soil, sand, and gravel) from the Canadian Shield and dumped the throughout the region
  • Flat plains with glacial hills and deep river valleys
  • Glacial features in region: escarpment, eskers, drumlins, moraines
• St. Lawrence Lowlands

  • Faulting formed rift valley
  • St. Lawrence River flows through valley to the Atlantic
  • Monadnocks: Volcanic intrusions in sedimentary bedrock
  • Softer sedimentary rocks erode leaving harder igneous rocks behind (Mount Royal, Montreal)
  • Together make up 70% of the country's manufacturing industries
• The Lowlands

  • Clay used for brick & manufacturing tiles
  • Sand and gravel deposits used for road and construction materials
• The Lowlands are the country's largest manufacturing area coinciding with greatest population
• The Appalachians

  • 2% of Canada's areas ~ 11,200 km shoreline in the Atlantic Ocean
  • Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland
  • Prince Edward Island known for exporting potatoes (fertile soil, warm weather)
  • Paleozoic era - layers of sedimentary rock were uplifted and folded at the end of the
  • Rich in non-metallic materials
  • Coal
  • Volcanic activity and faulting created igneous and metamorphic rocks in certain areas
  • Plateaus of this rock contain metallic materials such as iron and zinc
  • Mainly sedimentary rock with volcanic igneous and metamorphic outcroppings (rock formation where the bedrock underneath shows through)
  • Millions of years of erosion and glaciation reduced jagged peaks to rolling mountains and hills
  • In the last ice age, the weight of the ice pressed down on the Appalachians
  • As the land sank and the ice melted, the small inlets along the east coast were flooded by the sea
  • Long bays created a "drowned coastline"
  • Provided deep harbours for ocean freighters (major cities)
  • Fertile river valleys along the seacoast
  • Economic activity: Offshore oil and gas, agriculture
• Glacier

  Slow moving mass of ice (10 m to 1000+ m per year)
• Ice Sheets

  Large, thick mass of glacial ice - covered vast continental areas in the past (includes North America)
• Ice Age

  Extended period of time with freezing temperatures where temperature is low enough to accumulate in great amounts - glaciers advance (grow in size)
• With warmer temperatures

  Glaciers retreat (shrink in size)