Major Canadian Landforms Activity Sheet – Answer Key and Notes A. Bourgaize Social Studies 9

Canadian Shield How old is it? ◦ 4 billion years old How was it formed? ◦ Active volcanoes, plains, mountains. ◦ Erosion (water and ice) and deposition (plate movement) created thick rock What natural resources exist here? ◦ Thin, acidic soils ◦ Some good farming land

Arctic Lowlands How old is it? ◦ Probably 2-4 billion years because worn down How was it formed? ◦ Plateau and lowland plains – probably through erosion/glaciation What natural resources exist here? ◦ Treeless ◦ Poorly drained soil ◦ Short growing season – lichen & moss

Innuitian Mountains How old is it? ◦ Young, mesozoic How was it formed? ◦ Colliding plates (mountains) ◦ Not yet worn by erosion What natural resources exist here? ◦ Too cold for trees

Western Cordillera How old is it? ◦ Young, cenozoic How was it formed? ◦ Plates collide What natural resources exist here? ◦ Valleys – good soils ◦ Delta – rich soils ◦ Forest (on west facing slopes)

Appalachian Mountains How old is it? ◦ 375 million years ago How was it formed? ◦ Mountains worn down by ice and water What natural resources exist here? ◦ Deep, fertile soils ◦ Deciduous trees ◦ Coniferous trees in north

Interior Plains How old is it? ◦ Ranges: Paleozoic to Cenozoic How was it formed? ◦ Inland seas receded ◦ erosion What natural resources exist here? ◦ Sparse vegetation, cacti (southern central) ◦ Deep soils (chernozem, 25cm deep, black) – good for growing wheat

Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowlands How old is it? ◦ Paleozoic How was it formed? ◦ faulting ◦ Flooded by Champlain sea ◦ When retreated left clay and sand leaving area level ◦ Erosion and deposition What natural resources exist here? ◦ Brown earth – fertile soil

Hudson Bay Lowlands ***not on sheet*** How old is it? ◦ Paleozoic How was it formed? ◦ Flat and poorly drained ◦ deposition What natural resources exist here? ◦ Tundra ◦ Podzols ◦ Swamp forests