North American Physical Geography

The United States and Canada

All images courtesy of Wikimedia and Google Maps

Important Physical Features

Rocky Mountains

• Largest mountain range in North America and youngest

• Peaks make up the Great Continental Divide• Stretches from Alaska to Mexico

Appalachian Mountains

• Second largest North American range• Oldest range in North America• Low altitude peaks due to weathering and

erosion• Stretches from Alabama to Nova Scotia

Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio Rivers• River system composed of three of the largest

rivers in North America• System drains 31 states and 2 Canadian

provinces• All flows to the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans

Columbia and St. Lawrence Rivers

• C- 4th largest in US; starts in Rocky Mnts of British Columbia and ends empties into the Pacific

• St. L- Connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean

Great Lakes

• Consists of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario

• Largest repository of fresh water in the world– Contains 21% of the world’s surface fresh water

• Volume of 5,400 cubic miles, and a surface area of 94,000 square miles

• 2000 square mile lake• Six times saltier than the oceans due to the fact

that it has no outlet

Great Salt Lake

Grand Canyon

• Carved out by the Colorado River over a 5 million year time period

• Over a mile deep in some places• The canyon itself has been dated at an

estimated 17 million years old

Canadian Shield

• A very thin layer of soil on top of bedrock• Many bare outcroppings of the bedrock as a

result of glaciation• Canadian Shield is immensely rich in raw

minerals• Not many people live here; why?

Death Valley

• 3,000 square miles of desert located in the Mojave Desert

• Hottest place in North America• Driest place in North America• Badwater Basin is the lowest place in North

America

Resources

• Mineral– Both the US and Canada have immense mineral wealth,

stretching from oil to precious metals

• Vegetation– US has healthy lumber industry, as well as a plethora of

agricultural ventures– Canada utilizes their lumber more than the US does as

they have a larger supply

LEMPOSA of North America• Latitude• Elevation (both positive and negative)• Mountain Barriers/Orographic Effect• Proximity to water/Continentality• Ocean Currents• Storms and Atmospheric Pressure?

– These are less predictable, but what types of storms are abundant in North America? What about in the locations we are looking at?

• What kinds of climates do the following locations have? And why?

Cloudcroft, New Mexico

Spokane, Washington

Cape Canaveral, Florida

Alert, Nunavut

St. John’s, Newfoundland