Major Relief Features (Landforms) of Continental Areas

The brown area shows the part of the North American continent that has been stable for over 600 million years. This region is made up of a basement older Precambrian metamorphic and igneous rock that is mostly covered by a relatively thin cover of younger sedimentary rock. Geologists call these long-stable continental cores cratons.

The Canadian or Laurentian Shield (Craton)

Stable Platform area

Old Fold Mountains

Atlantic Coastal Plain

Atlantic Continental Shelf

Atlantic Continental Slope

Young Fold Mountains:

Cordillera:

Accretionary Belt:

And Volcanoes

Nearby ocean feature - Deep Sea Trench

Batholith igneous rock cores to mountain ranges

Volcanoes: Mount Rainier in the Cascade Range