What You Need to Know About Canada’s Landform Regions

Parts of Canada’s land formations were built up by tectonic forces such as volcanoes and the collision of plates that create new mountain ranges. Volcanic activities create new igneous rocks that form from cooled magma/lava.

Title The land is worn away by forces of erosion. These forces break down rock and move it to a location that is usually at a lower elevation. Erosion results from the action of moving water, freezing and melting water, wind, glaciers, precipitation, and chemical action such as water on limestone or the effects of acid rain.

Eroded sediments will eventually become sedimentary rock. The creation of sedimentary rock occurs most often in the ocean, but can occur on land that were once sea floors (prairies). The tremendous weight of the accumulated sediments causes the lower layers of sediment to compress into rock. Sandstone is a type of sedimentary rock found on Prince Edward Island, meaning P.E.I. was once under water.

Both igneous and sedimentary rock can be changed into various kinds of metamorphic rock when they are exposed to great heat and pressure, under the earth’s surface.

The Rock Cycle

The type of rock in a particular location affects the economic activity in that location. E.G. Oil and gas production in Alberta.

It is easier to see recent geologic events, then those which occurred billions of years ago. E.G. It is hard to prove huge mountains, which have been worn away, existed 600 million years ago.

The effects of glaciations are central to the appearance and structure of Canada’s landforms, not because the power of the glaciers was overwhelming, but because it occurred recently in geologic time.