Canadian Landform Regions Appalachian Mountains Arctic Lowlands Canadian Shield Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Lowlands Hudson Bay Lowlands Innuitian Mountains Interior Plains Western Cordillera

Appalachian Mountains Rolling hills Broad valleys Deep, fertile soil Mountains 1000 m Coniferous and deciduous forests More coniferous in cooler northern regions Most of Atlantic Canada

Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Lowlands South of the Shield Region of plain Fertile soil (brown earth) From southwestern Ontario along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to the mouth of Saguenay River (Quebec)

Canadian Shield Thin, acidic soils (podzols) Coniferous forests Not suited to agriculture Covers most of central Canada

Hudson Bay Lowlands In northern Ontario and Manitoba Mainly flat and poorly drained Soil is mix of tundra and podzols (leads to swamp forests)

Arctic Lowlands South of Innuitians Upland plateau surfaces and lowland plains Tundra, treeless plain Cold, dry climate Poorly drained soil Short growing season (sparse vegetation- lichens & moss)

Innuitian Mountains In the Far North Over 2000 m with steep-sided valleys Too cold for trees to survive

Interior Plains Between the Shield and Western Cordillera Extensive area of plain (3 prairie plains separated by 2 long steep slopes- escarpments) Southern central area is semi-desert Soil, black earth (chernozem) ideal for growing wheat

Western Cordillera Parallel mountain ranges (3000 m+) Separated by plateaus Interior valleys - good soil where rivers deposited sand/silt (large delta-Vancouver) Western slope forest is most luxuriant, fastest-growing 2-or-300 year old fir trees may be 100+ m high and 5 m diameter

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