Canadian Landform Regions

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