Physical%20Geography%20of%20the%20United%20States%20and%20Canada

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Physical Geography of the United States and Canada

• Chapter 5
• A Land of Contrasts

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Land Area

• Together the U.S. and Canada cover more than 7
  million square miles.
• In total area, Canada ranks 2nd and the U.S. 3rd
  (Russia is 1st)
• Together they fill 1/8 of the land surface of the
  earth
• An Inuit homeland, Nunavut, created in 1999
  covers nearly ¼ of Canadas land area.

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Landform Pattern

• High Western Mountains
• Pacific Ranges (Alaska Range, Coast Range,
  Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada)
• Rocky Mountains continental divide
• Highest point Mt. McKinley (20,320 feet) in
  the Alaska Range

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Continental Divide

• Highest ridge of the Rocky Mountains is the
  continental divide in North America.
• Separates the waters flowing
• west to the Pacific and to the
• east toward the Mississippi
• River and Atlantic Ocean.

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Landform Pattern

• Central Plains broad, flat upland extending for
  about 400 miles from the Rockies through the
  central U.S. and Canada
• Area is flat with no significant change in
  landforms
• Great Plains
• Canadian Shield

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Landform Pattern

• Low Eastern Mountains
• Appalachian Mountains 2nd longest mountain
  range in North America
• 1,500 miles extending from Quebec to Alabama
• North Americas oldest mountains worn down due
  to erosion

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The Islands

• Canada 3 huge islands in the Arctic Ocean
  Ellesmere, Victoria, and Baffin
• United States 2 island chains created by
  volcanic activity
• Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska
• Hawaiian Islands (politically part of the U.S.,
  but not geographically part of North America)
  about 2,400 miles to the SW of the U.S.

8
Bodies of Water

• Mississippi River largest river in N.A. in
  terms of volume and drainage area
• Mackenzie River Canadas longest river
• Many lakes were formed by glaciers during the Ice
  Age.
• Great Lakes
• HOMES
• Huron, Ontario,
• Michigan, Erie, Superior

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Land Forests

• One of the richest natural resources is the land
  itself.
• Fertile soils make North America the worlds
  leading food exporter.
• About 1/2 of Canada is covered by woodlands, 1/3
  of the United States.
• Both countries are major producers of lumber and
  forest products.

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Mineral Resources

• Gold
• Silver
• Nickel
• Iron
• Copper
• Uranium
• Zinc

GOLD
SILVER
COPPER
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Climate

• Canada - varies from temperate in south to
  subarctic and arctic in north
• United States - mostly temperate, but tropical in
  Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in
  the great plains west of the Mississippi River,
  and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest

Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Oahu
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Climate

• Pacific Ranges create a rain shadow and on the
  leeward side are the Great Salt Lake Desert,
  Blackrock Desert, Mojave Desert, Death Valley.
• Great Plains experience extreme weather
  conditions due to their distance from large
  bodies of water.
• Most of Canadas forests are in the subarctic
  region.
• We live in a humid subtropical climate.

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Effects of Extreme Weather

• Tornado Alley Great Plains
• Hurricanes Atlantic and Gulf Coast
• Winter snowstorms
• Flooding

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Human/Environment Interaction

• Settlement agriculture alter the land
• 1st inhabitants nomads who migrated from Asia
  over Beringia, a land bridge that once connected
  Siberia Alaska (hunters gatherers)
• Early settlements became permanent after
  agriculture replaced hunting gathering
• When people began to cultivate crops, they
  changed the landscape to meet their needs

15
Building Cities

• Where do cities develop?
• Depends a great deal on the physical setting
• Water
• Landscape
• Climate
• Weather
• Availability of natural resources

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Montreal Adapting to the Weather

• Canadas 2nd largest city major port
• Temperature is below freezing more than 100 days
  a year
• Located on a large island where the St. Lawrence
  Ottawa rivers meet
• French built a permanent settlement there in 1642
• Community was founded at the base of Mount Royal
• Large areas of Montreal have been developed
  underground, including a network of shops
  restaurants

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Montreal

• Underground city shops

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Los Angeles Creating Urban Sprawl

• Mild climate year-round
• Along the Pacific coast
• City expanded into nearby valleys desert-like
  foothills
• During the 1980s, L.A. became the 2nd largest
  city in the U.S.
• Rapid expansion brought with it problems
• Air pollution, inadequate water supplies,
  construction on earthquake-threatened land

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Los Angeles
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Transportation

• St. Lawrence Seaway North Americas most
  important deepwater ship route
• Completed in 1950s as a joint project of the U.S.
  Canada
• Connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean by
  way of the St. Lawrence River

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St. Lawrence Seaway
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Transportation

• 1st Transcontinental railroad was completed
  across the U.S. in 1869
• A trans-Canada railroad, from Montreal to British
  Columbia, was completed in 1885
• Today, the U.S. has the worlds largest railway
  system
• Canada has the 3rd largest

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National Highway System

• Seattle, WA

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Richmond, KY
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Transportation

• U.S. has about 4 million miles of road Canada
  has about 560,000 miles
• National Highway System network of more than
  46,000 miles of highways that crisscross the U.S.
• Started in the 1950s, it connects the U.S. with
  Canada on the north and Mexico on the south,
  also runs east-west across the country.