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• Also the youngest• Reaches higher altitudes than the Appalachian

Mountains• 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 a2 Canadian

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

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

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

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

LACEMOPS of North America• Latitude/Air Masses• Continentality• Elevation (both positive and negative)• Mountain Barriers• Ocean Currents• Pressure systems and Storms?

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

Cloudcroft, New Mexico

Spokane, Washington

Cape Canaveral, Florida

Alert, Nunavut

St. John’s, Newfoundland