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

2. 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

3. 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)

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

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

6. 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)

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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Links
Natural Resources Canada