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