north america regions
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
North America Region Project
Socials 9: ChinNicole Hunter
Legend/Key
Appalachian
Appalachian
• Mountainous area• East coast of north America • Extends 2400 kilometres • Width of the mountain varies
between 160 to 480 kilos
Topography Climate
Vegetation
• Made out of many different mountain ranges
• Mountains formed almost 300,000,000 years ago
• Labrador Current brings cold water to south
• Causes freezing during to the winter season in northern parts of the region
• Gulf stream brings warm water north from the Caribbean
• Originally the region was heavily forested with different coniferous and deciduous trees
• Trees could survive in poor and unproductive mountain soil
Concerns• Water pollution isn’t adequately
regulated• Absence ownership holds hurt
Appals
Economic Activity
• Mining• Forestry • Agriculture • Chemical industries • Heavy industry• The region poverty rate was 16.1%
Coastal Plains• Lowland area
• Stretches about 3200 kilos from cape cod
• Average elevation of less then 200 metres above sea level
• Surface is mostly flat and gently rolling• The region contains many swamps and
marches • When there’s sinking, the land
submerge the lower reaches of many streams
Economic Activities
Concerns
Vegetation
Climate
Topography
• Tourism and recreation • Shipping at the ports • Commercial fishing • Paper making
• Farming pollution seeping into the ground
• Running off into the river and lake system
• Driving automobiles • Disposing waste into landfills • Lumber harvesting
• The soil of Coastal Plains are very sandy
• The originals vegetation of the area was pine forest
• Natural vegetation adapted the sandy soil
• In the north there's cold and snowy and hot humid summers
• South has subtropical climate, with cool to warm winters
• Also the southern has a higher chance of having a hurricane
• Hurricane seasons occurs between late summers and early winters
Coast Plains
Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowland
Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Lowland• Smallest geographical region in Canada
• Includes the triangle formed by Lake Huron, Ontario and Erie
• Contains many escarpments
• Best known being the Niagara Escarpments
Economic Activities
Climate
• Has a rolling landscape• Mainly made by glaciation • Flat plains are broken by hills and deep river
valleys• On the St. Lawrence section consist of flat
plains on either side of the river
Concerns
Vegetation
Topography
• A humid continental Climate • Humid because of the Great Lakes • Tends to cool during the summer • The great lake warms the surrounding areas
in winter• Winter vary from cool to cold and warm to
humid
• Number of non native species that are taking over the lakes
• Every eight months a new species enters the great lakes
• New animals or insects coming into or leaving an ecosystem can be just as damaging as pollution
• Most of the food source of most fish in lake Michigan had being Diporeia
• Diporeia shrimp have declined from over 10,000 per square meter to virtually zero on the lake bottom because of zebra mussels
• Lake Michigan the decrease in Deporeia is extreme high at 44% killed over the past ten years
• Lake Huron is down by 57% in Deporeia polutation in just in past three years
• Originally the region, which has very fertile soils, was heavily treed
• Once had Canada's largest broad-leafed forests, because its soil and climate conditions aloud maples, beech, hickory, and black walnuts to thrive
• Other places in the region the Vegetation was mixed forest of both deciduous and conifers
• Transportation• Trading post• Supports multi billion outdoor
recreation• Tourism industry• Extensive agricultural
Interior Plains
Interior Plains • Vast seep of plain
• Not entirely flat
• Land is composed of gently rolling hills deep river valleys
• In USA, this region runs between Appalachian Mountains on the east coast, and on the rocky Mountains
• In Canada, this region runs between Canadian Shield and Rocky Mountains
Topography
• Originally the Central Lowland east of the Mississippi was covered with trees and were scattered evergreens
• West of Mississippi in the region, prairie grasses grew as tall as a person
• Natural vegetation of the Canada prairies was also grassland
• Tree grew only in the river valleys• Northern part of the region, boreal forest
grows, gradually becoming tundra towards the Arctic Ocean
Vegetation
• Its divide into Central Lowland and Great plains in the US
• Central Lowland is formed by Canadian Shield, St. Lawrence, and, the Great Lakes
• The region is higher in elevation than the Central Lowland
• Its rising about 600 metres to 1500 metres above the sea level in west
• Plains are softly rolling also gradually sloping down from west to east
• Is a continental Climate• Climate of extremes• It has long hot summers, cold winters and
little precipitation• Farther in the north, the winter season are
shorter and cool in the north as well• Northern part of the region has Arctic
climate with really long cold winters
Climate
Concerns Economic Activities
• Farm pollutants seeping into the ground
• Separating off into the river and lake programs
• Incorporate industry
• Agriculture (split into two parts)
• Livestock: cattle,pigs,poultry• Vegetables:
wheat,barley,oats,flax,conola
Canadian Shield
Canadian Shield• Its not facing enough people
living in it to support the economy and pay taxes
• Lakes are located where racks are igneous
• Pollution of the great lakes • Acid rain
• Has industry dominated by the mining of metals and mineral
• Early 1900s Hudson Bay, used land as a resource for fur trading
• Mining is the logging of the boreal forest
• Boreal forest covers most of the shield; spruce, pine, and fir
• Also some deciduous trees such as: white birch and poplar
• The trees are weak• The trees are more good for
pulp and paper
• Varies throughout the vast area• Winter is extremely long and
cold • Summer is becoming shorter
and cooler
• Glaciers removed most of the soil leaving a barren rock surface
• Glaciers also affected the drainage of the shield to a significant degree
• Shield consist of a chaotic pattern of rivers,lakes,swamps and muskeg
• Elevation of the Shield is about 100 metres in the south
• Middle of the shield is a lot lower in elevation than its other portion
Economic Activities
Concerns
Vegetation
• More then 2 billion years old • Consist of great volcanic mountain• Mountains were levelled by millions of
years of erosion • Platform of rocks that stretch from
Labrador, around Hudson Bay and James Bay
Climate
Topography
Western Cordillera
Western Cordillera
• Runs along the west coast of North America
• Consist of range after range of mountains
• Separate by plateaus and valleys
• Construction and development of the land
• Causes of habitat destruction in Eco zone
• Lead to death
• Winters are above freezing• Summers are cool • Parts of the wettest regions on earth
Climate
Concerns
• Comprised of new mountains not yet worm down by erosion
• More then twice as high • Rivers going east to south
• Leeward slopes: grass and cactuses
• Top of mountains • Vegetation becomes
scarce or crease
• Fishing• Mining• Orchards• Vineyards• Forestry
Economic Activities Topography
Vegetation
Intermountain region
Intermountain region
• Area in us and Canada• Lies between the rocky
mountains and cascades, and Sierra Nevada
• Thinly populated, high plateaus • Contain only deserts in the US
• Many bird habitats are being destroyed by human actions
• Up to 11 bird species in the region is endangered
• Because of the dry air, forest fires can be a problem
Concerns
• Winter can be cool, wet or hot• Southern parts of the region,
winters are short and warm• Northern: Climate is more
moderate• Moist winters and hot dry
summers
Climate
• Ranges between sparse grassland to plants that can survive in semi deserts or deserts conditions
• Higher areas are covered in thin pine
• Stream and rivers never reach the sea
• They instead, flow into brackish lakes, such as great salt lake in Utah
• Some rivers do find a way to the ocean
• There's areas that can be made productive by irrigation
• Cattle ranching• Irrigation
Vegetation
Economic Activities
Topography
Arctic
Arctic• Combination of lowlands and mountains
• Lowlands are found un a series of islands lying north of Hudson bay
• Mountain are found in extreme northwest border
• Near the ocean is very flat• Mountains of far north were
formed by folding and are covered by glaciers
• Immense lowlands in the west
• Very severe• Its far from the equator • Winter lasts for ten months in far
north• Summer is very short and not very
warm• Some parts of the arctic is covered in
ice year round
• Trees can’t grow on the tundra because the climate is too cold and dry
• Only small amounts of thawing occurs during the summer
• Mosses,shrubs,lichens , are the only things that can grow
• They’re attach to ground, soaking up the moisture and tiny amounts of warmth that’s there
• Melting of the permafrost• Global warming cold change the
landscape• Buildings and roads put warmth and
pressure on the permafrost causing melting
• Invasive species push aside native vegetation and reduce of the plant cover
• North and South pole means stronger ultraviolet rays will harm tundra
Climate
Concerns
Topography
Vegetation
Economic Activities
• Extraction of petroleum and mineral resources
• One tenth of worlds oil• Quarter of its natural gas• Commercial fishing• Traditional hunting, reindeer
herding
Mount Logan
Resourceshttp://www.appalmad.org/
http://www.arc.gov/appalachian_region/TheAppalachianRegion.asp
http://ca.yahoo.com/questions/index?qid=20100505773826AAllqep
www.ask.com/answers/43443121/what-is-an-econmic-activity-in-the-coastal-plains
www.great.lakes.net/econ/
http://ca.yahoo.com/questions/index?qid=20100505773826AAllqep
www.interiorplains.weebly.com/economic-activities.html
gcp.desire2learn.com/d21/lor/viewer/viewfile.d2file/6605/8957/CanadianEnviormentalIssuesL12_print html
www.thearctic.is/articles/overviews/changing/enska/index.htm