Chapter 5 Section 1

1. Chapter 5Section 1 The Land

2. Objectives: • List various landforms, such as mountain ranges, plateaus, and islands • Analyze the importance of water sources in North America

3. Landforms • Landforms can be defined as specific geomorphic feature on the surface of the earth. • Examples: • The surface of the United States and Canada is covered with a variety of landforms as well as wildlife.

4. Western Mountains • A collision between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates created mountain ranges called the Pacific Range. • The Pacific Range includes the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, Coastal Range, and Alaskan Range. • Like the Pacific, the Rocky Mountains were formed in similar fashion. • They link the U.S. and Canada and extend 3,000 miles from New Mexico to Alaska.

6. Plateaus • Dry basins and plateaus fill the area between the Pacific Range and the Rockies. • Columbia plateau in the north formed by lava. • Colorado Plateau is heavily eroded and has steep walls that plunge 6,000 feet. • The Great Basin cradles Death Valley, the hottest and lowest place in the U.S. • Nechako Plateau and Fraser Plateau are colder and narrower than the plateau areas in the U.S.

7. Columbia Plateau

8. Colorado Plateau

9. Great Basin

10. Interior Landforms • East of the Rockies the land falls and flattens into the Great Plains. • They extend 300-700 miles across the center of the region reaching elevations of up to 6,000 feet. • They are sometimes called the Interior or High Plains.

11. Great Plains

12. Eastern Mountains and Lowlands • At the end of the Canadian plains is the Canadian Shield. • The Shield is a giant core of rock that makes up the eastern half of Canada and northeastern United States. • The heavily eroded Appalachian Mountains are North America’s oldest Mountain Range • Coastal lowlands lie east and south of the hills.

13. Islands • Islands are important in this region. • What islands are found in and near North America?

14. Rivers from the Rockies • The high ridge of the Rockies is called the continental divide. • A divide is a high point or ridge that determines the direction that rivers flow. • East of the divide, waters flow towards the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay, Atlantic Ocean, and Mississippi River. • To the west, waters flow to the Pacific Ocean. • Many rivers, such as the Colorado and Rio Grande have headwaters, or sources, in the Rockies and tributaries that connect with other rivers. • Northeast of the Rockies, the Mackenzie River drains much of Canada’s interior lands.

15. The Mighty Mississippi • One of North America’s longest rivers, the Mississippi, flows 2,350 miles from its source. • It begins in Minnesota and swells to a width of a mile and a half wide and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. • Drains 1,200,000 sq. miles of land, including all or parts of 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

16. Conclusion: • Miniparagraph: Today I learned… For instance… Furthermore… Clearly…

17. Objectives: • Evaluate natural resources in the United States and Canada • Evaluate the impact of resources on the Economy

18. Eastern Rivers • The St. Lawrence River flows 750 miles from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. • Forms part of the border between Canada and the United States. • In the eastern U.S., a boundary line called a fall line marks where the higher land of the Piedmont drops to the lower Atlantic Coastal plain. • Along the fall line, eastern rivers break into rapids and waterfalls. • Uses of falls?

19. Glaciers and Lakes • Northern Canada- glacial dams created Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake • Glaciers gouged the Canadian Shield, leaving glacial basins that became the Great Lakes. • Providing and link between inland and coastal waterways has been crucial to economic development.

20. Natural Resources • There are a variety of natural resources within the United States and Canada. • The geologic processes that shaped the North American landscape left the region rich in a variety of resources.

21. Fuels: • The United States and Canada have important energy resources such as petroleum and natural gas. • Texas and Alaska rank first and second in oil reserves. • Coal in the Appalachians, Wyoming, and British Columbia have been mined for 100 years.

22. Minerals • Mineral resources are plentiful in this region. • The Rocky Mountains contain gold, silver, and copper. • Parts of the Canadian Shield are rich in iron and nickel. • Low grade iron ore exist in northern Minnesota and Michigan. • Canada’s minerals include 28% of the worlds supply of potash, 18% of copper, 14% of gold and 12% of it’s silver.

23. Timber • Forest and woodlands once covered much of the U.S. and Canada. • Today forests cover less than 50% of Canada and 1/3 of the U.S. • Commercial lumbering companies face the challenge of harvesting the regions timber resources responsibly. • Why is it important to harvest responsibly?

24. Fishing • The waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico are important to the economy because of the fisheries, or places for catching fish and other sea animals. • The Grand Banks, once the largest fishing grounds, covered about 139,000 sq. miles off the southeast coast of Canada. • Fishers harvest cod for at least 500 years, resulting in decreased stocks and a ban on cod fishing in 1992.

25. Conclusion • Image Identification Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120

26. Classwork/ Homework • Page 120 1,3,4,5,6