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Physical Geo of United States & Canada
SSWG8a. Describe the location of major physical features and their impact on Canada and the United States.
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Mountains/Highlands Rockies, Appalachians, Cascade, Alaska, Brooks, Coastal Range, Sierra Nevadas Rockies in US & Canada and divided into 5 sections & 2000 miles long Appalachian Mts. Created by tectonic plates California mountains along fault lines Alaska Range contains Mt. McKinley—highest in the United States
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Mountains/Highlands Cascade Range Appalachian Mountains
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Mountains/Highlands Coastal Range Sierra Nevada
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Plains Major Features: Great Plains Gently rolling hills
Breadbasket of America growing corn, wheat, etc. Because of the landscape, area is a magnet for tornadoes
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Plains Farming on the Plains Great Plains Bison
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Rivers Major Features: Mississippi, Missouri, Colorado, Rio Grande, St. Lawrence Mississippi begins in Minnesota and flows into the Gulf of Mexico Missouri flows into Mississippi and begins in the Rockies Many dams on Colorado River—Hoover Dam St. Lawrence River is main river of Canada and feeds Great Lakes
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Rivers Colorado River Mississippi River
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Lakes Major Features: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior (HOMES), Great Salt Lake Great Lakes created because of glaciers Great Salt Lake has no fish, but brine shrimp 7x as salty as ocean water Lake Michigan only Great Lake completely in US
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Lakes Great Salt Lake Lake Michigan
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Additional Water Features
Main Features: Bering Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Labrador Sea, Hudson Bay, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean Hudson Bay is large inlet that is mostly unpopulated—used mostly for shipping. Bering Sea near Alaska and was used for commercial fishing
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Additional Water Features
Bering Sea Hudson Bay
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Deserts/Valleys Main Features: Death Valley, Mojave Desert
Both are found in California Death Valley called this because during the California gold rush, people tried to take it as a shortcut and died. Highest temperature in America in Death Valley (134F in 1913) Mojave between Sierra Nevada & Colorado River
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Deserts/Valleys Death Valley Mojave Desert
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Additional Land Features
Major features: Canadian Shield, Grand Canyon, Aleutian Islands, Hawaii Canadian Shield has exposed shield & buried shield—rugged land not good for agriculture Grand Canyon carved by the Colorado River Aleutian Islands & Hawaii are archipelagoes of the US
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Additional Land Features
Canadian Shield Grand Canyon Skywalk
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Weirdo Feature Scablands
Its desert and plateau and basin and a valley with some random water Formed because of an Ice Age flood Part of it looks like the surface of Mars and helps scientists theorize about life on Mars Created pockets of water that are about 20 feet across and 10 feet deep
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Weirdo Feature Scablands
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