Physical Geography of the United States and Canada

basin, canyon, continental divide, continental shelf, glacier, plain, plateau

​Vocabulary

identify the physical geographic features of the United States and Canada.

Goal

Physical Geography of the United States

​Essential Question-What are the main physical features of the United States and Canada?

Multiple Choice

North America has many different types of landforms! What is the landform behind Comet in the image?

• 
  canyon

• 
  mountain

• 
  plateau

Draw

There are many mountain ranges in the U.S. and Canada. The ranges in the west are younger, higher, and sharper, while in the east, they are older, lower, and more eroded. Locate the following: Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, and Pacific Ranges.

-Run from Canada to Alabama
-Oldest mountain range in North America
-Second largest range in North America (1,500 miles)
-Round peaks=eroded by ice and water over time.
-Highest peak 6,684 ft in Mount Mitchell, NC.
(More than 5 Empire State Buildings)

Appalachian Mountains

-Beginning in Alaska and ending way down in Mexico
-Longest mountain range in North America
-3,000 miles long (twice as long as the Appalachian Mountains
-Some peaks reach 14,000 feet tall.

Rocky Mountains

-Includes Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Range, the Coast Range, and Alaska Range
-Sierra Nevada extends along eastern part of CA.
-Cascade Range-northern CA to Washington
-Coast Range begins in British Columbia and ends in Alaska
-Alaskan Range is in southcentral Alaska and has the highest mountain peak in North America-Mount McKinley is 20,000 feet tall.

​​Pacific Ranges

-A continental divide is a natural boundary that separates a continent's river systems.
-North America's continental divide is located in the Rocky Mountains.
-Ex: All the rivers west of the Rockies flow toward the Pacific Ocean.
-Rivers east of the Rockies flow toward the Mississippi River and Atlantic Ocean.

​

​Continental Divide

-Northeast Canada has a large area of rock located around the Hudson and James Bays called Canadian Shield.

-This area has many minerals-cooper, nickel, and gold.

-Very cold climate so many people do not live here.

​

​Canadian Shield

Plains and Plateaus

• The plains and plateaus of the United States and Canada are found in many different areas, including the coastlines and between mountain ranges.

• Plains-flat areas of land/few trees.

• Plateaus are elevated areas of flat land (like a table)

These fields are covered with grass or grains. They stretch over 500 miles wide, go all the way north into Canada, and reach the border with Mexico.

Great Plains

​-Great for growing food and provides a large portion of food for the U.S.
-Called America's Breadbasket.

Great Plains

-Also known as the Gulf Coastal Plains.
-They have many rolling hills and rivers flowing through them.
-Harbors along the coast make good shipping ports.

​​Atlantic Coastal Plains

Draw

Can you locate the following?

Rocky Mountains

Great Plains

Pacific Ranges

Appalachian Mountains

Between the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Ranges lies the Columbia Plateau.
-Formed by lava that came up from the cracks in Earth's surface.

​-Colorado Plateau was heavily eroded by Colorado River.

-Between the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Ranges are basins and canyons.
-A basin is a dip in the surface of the land.
-A canyon is a deep valley with steep sides.

​

Basins and Canyons

-The most famous canyon in the U.S.
-Created by the process of erosion from the strong flow of the Colorado River
The deepest part is 6,000 feet (more than a mile deep!)

Grand Canyon

-Located in the southwestern part of the U.S.
(between Sierra Nevada Mntns and Rocky Mntns.)
-Lowest elevation in the U.S.
-Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level.
-Created challenges for people attempting to settle throughout this region.
-Daytime temperatures reach 120 degrees in the shade and only two inches of rain in a year.

The Great Basin

Multiple Choice

Death Valley gets its name because of the problems settlers faced attempting to cross it. Which characteristic of this place might have caused that name?

• 
  There are no animals to eat for food.

• The temperature is too high.

• 
  There is a very small amount of rainfall.

-The U.S. and Canda have two types of islands.
1. Continental Islands are parts of the continental shelf that are not underwater.
-A continental shelf is a shallow underwater platform that forms a continental border.
-Continental islands were once connected to a continent and now surrounded by water on all sides.

2. Arctic Island is extremely cold with little or no trees.

​

Islands

​The island with the border around it is an aerial view of Greenland, which is an example of a continental island.

Victoria Island, located in the box, is an example of an Arctic island off the mainland of Canada.

The island of Manhattan, off the coast of New York, is another continental island. Manhattan is also an important economic world center for the United States.

(Canada has many islands that are important to their economy (Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton Island.)

​*Remember, Hawaii is part of the region of Oceania.

-Glaciers (large pieces of ice formed on land) covered most of Canada thousands of year ago).
-The weight pushed the land down and created a basin. (The edges did not sink which created highlands.)
-Water filled the low areas of the basin to create more freshwater lakes than any country in the world.
-Not all lakes in North America were formed by glaciers. (Ex: Inactive volcanoes, a river that floods, or even created by people.)
-Glaciers created the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world (the Great Lakes).

​

Lakes

Multiple Choice

How do the Great Lakes benefit the people and environment nearby?

• 
  They provide drinking water for many people.

• 
  People can bring non-native species of animals and plants to live there.

• 
  More people can settle there and interfere with the coastal habitats.

-2, 357 miles long and one of the longest in North America.
-Starts as a tiny stream in Minnesota and is up to 1.5 miles wide.
-Empties in Gulf of Mexico.
-Responsible for drawing water from 2 Canadian Provinces and 31 states.
-One of the world's busiest waterways.

Mississippi River

-Flows 750 miles from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
-The river forms part of the border between Canada and U.S.
-Several large Canadian cities are located along this river (Quebec and Montreal)
-Essntial in connected the Great Lakes to Atlantic Ocean.
-Ships coming in from the ocean and make their way to farms and businesses along the great lakes. Great for the economy!

St. Lawrence River

-Another one of the longest rivers (1,885 miles)
-Located in the southwestern part of U.S. and forms a portion of the border between Mexico and U.S.
-Starts as a stream created from melting snow in the peaksof the Rocky Mountains (12,000 feet high).
-Flows through areas of deserts and plateaus.
Allows farming in areas that receive little rain.

Rio Grande River

Match

Match the river with its economic impact on the United States and Canada.

• 
  

  one of the world's busiest commercial waterways

• 
  

  helps to connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean

• 
  

  provides essential water for farming in a dry climate

Mississippi River

St. Lawrence River

Rio Grande River

• 
  

  Mississippi River

• St. Lawrence River

• 
  

  Rio Grande River

Draw

Label each of the hotspots with one of the physical features of the United States of Canada listed below:

Word Bank

• Mississippi River

• Great Lakes

• Cascade Mountains

• Victoria Island

• Great Plains

Open Ended

Choose one of the physical features listed below and explain one reason why it is important to the economy of either the United States or Canada. (Great Plains, Mississippi River, Great Lakes)

Sentence Starter: The ______is/are important to the economy of North America because...