Browse "Regions"

The importance of Beringia is twofold: it provided a pathway for intercontinental exchanges of plants and animals during glacial periods and for interoceanic exchanges during interglacials; it has been a centre of evolution and has supported apparently unique plant and animal communities.

The Canadian Shield refers to the exposed portion of the continental crust underlying the majority of North America. The crust, also known as the North American Craton, extends from northern Mexico to Greenland and consists of hard rocks at least 1 billion years old. With the exception of the Canadian Shield, the rocks of the North American Craton are buried deep within the continent and covered by soil and other material. At 5 million km2, the Shield makes up roughly 50 per cent of Canada’s land mass. Shaped like a horseshoe — or the shields carried during hand-to-hand combat — the Canadian Shield extends from Labrador in the east to include nearly all of Québec, much of Ontario and Manitoba, the northern portion of Saskatchewan, the northeast corner of Alberta, much of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and into the Arctic Archipelago. (It also reaches into parts of the United States, in New York, Wisconsin and Minnesota.) While at times a barrier to settlement, the Shield has also yielded great resources, including minerals, coniferous forests and the capacity for hydroelectric developments.

The Cassiar District lies in British Columbia's northwest corner; it historically encompasses the Stikine and Dease River watersheds and that of the upper Taku, NASS and Kechika.

The paucity of precipitation in deserts is due to one or a combination of causes.

A drainage basin is an area of land that contributes the water it receives as precipitation to a river or network of rivers.

Prairie farmers, as they cope with continuing drought, might wonder just whose brilliant idea it was to farm the area. Recurrent droughts are the largest source of risk, uncertainty and hardship in the Western Canadian economy.

Eastmain (or East Main) refers to the east shore of Hudson Bay, although in the 1680s the term was restricted to the vicinity of the Eastmain River. The corresponding reference to the west shore of Hudson Bay is the Westmain (West Main).

Foothills, a region of rolling, undulating or hilly terrain lying between an area of plains and a mountain range.

Main Forest TypesWorldwide there are 3 main forest types related directly to climatic zones: equatorial- and tropical-region forests, temperate-zone forests, and forests associated with colder climates.

A forest region is a major geographic belt or zone characterized by a broad uniformity both in physiography and in the composition of the dominant tree species. Canada can be divided into eight forest regions.

The lowland is formed from both glacial and alluvial deposits laid down more than 10 000 years ago as a delta at the mouth of a much larger postglacial Fraser River.

Height of land, a region of high ground that may act as a watershed.

Holland Marsh, 2900 ha of organic (muck) soil, is located near Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ont, 50 km north of Toronto.

The vegetation is low arctic tundra in the N, dominated by dwarf shrubs and grasses, and woodland in the S, consisting of scattered, stunted spruce with a lichen carpet. The summer range and calving grounds of the large Bluenose caribou herd lie within this region.

The Innuitian Region (also known as the Innuitian Orogen) is one of Canada’s six geological regions.

James Bay is the southern appendage of Hudson Bay. It is about 160 km wide between Pointe Louis-XIV on the east coast and Cape Henrietta Marie on the west.

Formed of ancient Precambrian rocks and heavily glaciated during the Quaternary (1.65 million to 10 000 years ago), the mountains support more than 70 small glaciers, the southernmost in eastern North America.

Although the other limits are less well defined, the highlands may be considered to extend 100-200 km northward from the scarps and to stretch from the Gatineau River in the west (mean elevation 400 m) some 550 km to the SAGUENAY RIVER in the northeast.

The dark grey lunar surface reflects only 7% of the sunlight it receives (comparable to the reflectivity of black soil). The moon is dominated by thousands of craters, ranging from microscopic pits to gigantic Clavius, diameter 230 km.

Muskeg (from Cree maskek and Ojibwe mashkiig, meaning “grassy bog”) is a type of northern landscape characterized by a wet environment, vegetation and peat deposits. Chiefly used in North America, the term muskeg escapes precise scientific definition. It encompasses various types of wetlands found in the boreal zone, including bogs, fens, swamps and mires. In Canada, muskeg and other peatlands cover up to 1.2 million km², or 12 per cent of the country’s surface.