Chapter 11 – Canada's Geological History

• tsunami: A tsunami is a series of water waves (called a tsunami wave train) caused by
the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean. The original
Japanese term literally translates as "harbor wave. …
• continental drift: theory by German scientist Alfred Wegener stating that 300 million
years ago all of Earth's land masses, which were in constant motion, colldided to form
one supercontinent called Pangea. About 200 million years ago Pangea broke apart and
the continents ave drifted apart to their present locations. According to his theory, only
continents drifted.
• Pangea: supercontinent that included all of Earth's land masses. Existed 300 – 200
million years ago.
• Plate tectonics: theory that states tat Earth's outer shell consists of plates that move
causing earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, and the formation of new crust.
• Convection currents: circular movement in a gas or liquid created by uneven heating
• erosion: wearing away at the earth's surface followed by the movement to other
locations of materials that have worn away.
• Geological time: history of earth from its formation to the present. Earth's history may
be divided into several major time periods, called eras (cenozoic, mesozoic, paleozoic,
precambrian)
• eras: major divisions of geological time.
• Sediments: eroded material, such as and and gravel, that is deposited by water, wind,
or glacial ice
• glaciation: the state of being covered by glaciers
• Canadian shield: a large area of Precambrian rock that forms the core of Canada.
• Geoscience: a term used to describe a wide range of specialized scientific fields within
the broad areas of geology and resource management
• glaciers: slow moving masses of ice
• subduction: one plate sliding under another
• convection: occurs when a heated fluid or gas rises and is replaced by a cool fluid or
gas that in turn is heated and rises
• deposition: gradual laying down of materials
 • 30,000 earthquakes each year
• earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur when earth plates move
• in 1915, Alfred Wegener stated he theory called the continental drift
• Pangea means 'all land'
• Wegener's 4 pieces of proof: saw jigsaw fit between South America & Africa, found
same fossils on both continents, mountains similar in age & structure on both side of
Atlantic (Appalachians & Caledonian), Ice sheets covered now warm places such as
India (the warm places must have moved from a cold place).
• However, he couldn't explain what was powerful enough to move continents.
• A canadian named J. Tuzo Wilson in 1968 explained a new theory expanding on
continental drift called plate tectonics
• Plate tectonics states that earth's outer shell consists of 20 plates. Most these plates
are made up of both continental and oceanic crust. They are floating on a layer of hot
rock, several hundred km below earth's surface, which flows like slow moving plastic. It
is likely that convection currents caused by unequal distribution in earth's core is the
cause.
• Ridges are formed when two plates move apart, and magma comes up from the Earth's
core
• Trenches are formed when two plates collide, and one subducts under the other

• We find out about earth's early physical history by carefully analyzing landforms, rocks,
and fossils
• earth is 4.6 billion years old
• 4 major eras
• each era represents a time of major sediment deposition and plate movement.
• eras
Time period (millions) Major geological Major biological
events events
Cenozoic (recent life) 66 - present Ice sheets cover much of Human beings develop
N.A. age of mammals
Continents take their modern forms of life
present shape evolve
formation of the Rocky
Mount.complete
Mesezoic (middle life) 245 - 66 Formation of Rocky Age of reptiles (dinos)
Mount. Begin first flowering plants
 Innuitian Mount. first birds and mammal
Formed
shallow seas in the
interior of N.A. at
various times
Paleozoic (ancient life) 570 - 245 Appalachians formed Age of amphibians and
periods when large parts fish
of N.A. Covered by first insects
shallow seas large swamps – coal
formed from this
vegetation
first plants and animals
appear on land
Precambrian (earliest 4600 - 570 Precambrian shields First multicelled
life) such as Canadian shield, organisms
brazilian shield, african first single celled
shield, and Australian organisms
shield formed

• How canadian landform regions came to look as they do

1. the land is built by tectonic forces such as volcanoes and the collision of plates
(that create mountain ranges). Volcanic activities create new igneous rocks that
form from cool lava/magma
2. the land is built by the forces of erosion. These forces break down rock and move it
to a location that is usually at a lower elevation. Erosion results from water related
activities
3. There is constant conflict between the forces that build the land and those that
erode the land. Whichever force is more active will influence the land more. Land
building is relatively quickly, while erosion is a slower, more continuous process.
4. Eroded sediments eventually turns into sedimentary rock. This usually happens on
the ocean, but can occur on land. Weight makes sediments become rock
5. Igneous and sedimentary rock can be changed into various kinds of metamorphic
rock when exposed to heat under Earth surface
6. Type of rock in a place affects its economy (e.g. oil and gas in areas with
sedimentary rock
7. Clearer evidence of recent geological events than those in the far past. Where once
there were ancient mountains, they were work away so there is no evidence that
they existed
 8. Effects of glaciation are key to canadian landforms not because the glaciers were so
powerful, but because they occurred relatively recently.

Region When Mountains Formed Appearance

Canadian Shield Precambrian (570 – 1500 Ancient mount. leveled by

million) erosion, leaving rock covered
by thin soil and many lakes

Appalachians Paleozoic (245 – 570 million) Significantly eroded to

rounded mount. and hills

Western Cordillera Late Mesozoic & early Significantly eroded mount.

Cenozoic (30 – 100 million) with jagged high peaks

• People with careers in geoscience include: finding new resources, studying earthquakes
and volcanoes (trying how to predict them), planning and building large structures,
working to minimize the impact of environmental problems
Chapter 12 – Canada's Landform Connections
• Landform: nautral feature on Earth's surface
• drainage: process whereby water is removed from an area by flowing out of
depressions in the land such as lakes and rivers
• meltwater: water resulting from the melting of glacier ice /snow
• topography: natural and human features of the landscape
• shield: large area of Precambrian rock that forms the core of a continent
• highlands: areas of high elevation containing mountains and plateaus
• lowlands: areas of low elevation containing plains and hills
• bedrock: solid rock beneath the soil
• impervious: quality of a substance that does not allow fluids or gases to pass through
it
• differential erosion: process whereby softer sedimentary rocks erod more quickly than
harder rock, shaping the surface of the landscape
• escarpment: steep cliff formed by erosion or faulting
• rift valley: valley created when the portion of the land between two faults (cracks in
earth) drops down. The St. Lawrence River valley is an e.g.
• lignite: soft, low value coal sometimes used in thermal electric plants
• plateaus: elevated flat area (highlands)
• differential erosion: softer rock erods quicker that harder rock

• 2 factors most responsible for Canada's landforms: the underlying geology, and the
impact of glaciation
• Underlying geology is importan because it determines a regions landform (e.g.
mountains and plains)
• Glaciation is important because it happened relatively recently. Glaciation provides the
details (e.g. amount of soil, the drainage pattern)

• canada is a great physical diversity

• canada is made up of 3 distinct landforms: shield, highlands, and lowlands
Canadian Shield

• geological foundation of Canada.

• More than half of Canada (4.8 million km square) and two small parts of the U.S.
• Some of world's oldest rock (3.96 billion years) located in Shield near Great Slave Lake
• Mostly round hills of rock (roots of ancient mountains)
• eroded billions of years, so relatively flat
• 2 types of rock: igneous, metamorphic
• valuable minerals: deposits of lead, gold, nickel, copper, zinc, & other metals
• often called the storehouse of Canada's metallic minerals
• rich diamond deposits found where ancient volcanoes existed
• precambrian rocks here no fossil fuels
• mineral deposits formed when magma (containing dissolved minerals) forced its way up
into cracks in the Shield rock. Magma later cooled & hardened
• magma rose to surface. mineral deposits formed and dissolved minerals were forced
deep into the cracks in the surrounding Shield. Forms rich deposits.
• Minerals in the Shield rock cooled, seperated into layers according to densities. Lighter
ones top, heavy to bottom
• nickel & copper same densities (found in sudbury)
• mining companies here
• not much farming b/c thin soil (except northeastern Ontario and connected Quebec b/c
of clay deposits)
• tourism industry important
• glaciers scrapped the bedrock, creating depressions, which where filled with melted
glacial water and formed lakes (bedrock is impervious)
• glaciers deposited sand, gravel, clay: dammed rivers/forced them to flow in different
directions, causing disorganized drainage
• in time, the drainage will be reorganized
• water source makes water generated energy
• center of Shield is lower than outer portion
• water flows into center of Shield (Hudson bay)
• glaciers remove enormous soil and stuff
• rivers /swamps breeding grounds for blackflies and mosquitos
Lowlads consist of 3 regions: interior plains, great lakes-st. Lawrence lowlands, Hudson bay-
arctic lowlands
• bedrock formed mostly sediments eroded from Shield
• as weight of layers collected, it formed into sedimentary rock

• interior plains part of great plains N.A.

th
• Extend from 49 parallel north to arctic ocean (2700 km north -south, 1300 km wide at
bottom, 275 km wide at top)
• during formation, covered by shallow inland seas.
• Sediments from Shield & rocky mounts. Deposited here
• rock layers thousands of meters thick
• millions of years to form
• part of sedimentary rock was coral reefs
• today, reefs are thousands of meters below the surface
• they contain the oil and gas found today in alberta
• other minerals lie below surface: shallow seas from Mesozoic era covered
Saskatchewan. When seas evaportaed, leaving minerals. Potash formed from this
• Swamps on edges of ancient seas produced plants that became coal.
• Ancient lake, Lake Aggassiz, larger than all great lakes combined
• mostly not flat. Mostly rolling hills and wide river valleys
• land changed by erosion. Some sedimentary rocks here are hard, others are soft
• different rates of erosion caused different elevations on Prairies: Alberta Plain,
Saskatchewan Plain, Maintoba Lowland
• each Plain seperated by an escarpment (sharp drop in elevation)
• escarpment forms when hard rock layer overlays a soft layer resists erosion.
• Subject to glaciation
• glaciers created rolling landscape. When glaciers melted, formed much of manitoba's
lakes.
• Later, the land rose, most water drained into the ocean.
• Small portions of this lake (lake agassiz) remain (lake manitoba e.g.)
• Worlds leading producer of potash is Saskatchewan
• refered to as Canada's bread basket.
• Where climate is too dry for farming, cattle are raised
 • relatively undisturbed sedimentary rock
• glacial effects produced level to rolling landscape
• 2 parts: Great Lakes Lowland and St. Lawrence Lowland
• these 2 parts seperated by a thin bit of the Canadian Shield near Kingston
• bedrock = sedimentary rock from Paleozoic
• this rock can be seen in several escarpments (Niagra Escarpment)
• Great Lakes Lowlands: glaciers created a rolling landscape
• characters: flat plains with glacial hills and deep river valleys.
• Great lakes located in baisins gourged out by glaciers. However, geo'ers believe there
were bodies of water before the glaciers made them bigger.
• Much of water in great lakes from melted glaciers
• they used to be bigger, but much water drained into the ocean.
• 10,000 years ago, melted glaciers formed Lake Iroquois, covering modern day Toronto
• St. Lawrence Lowland (is a rift valley) formed: rift valley formed by faulting. It was
flooded toward end of last ice age by a part of Champlian Sea (part of Atlantic)
• good for agriculture
• good for transportation b/c flat land
• 50% of canada's population here
• covers 1.4% of canada's land
• 70% of canada's industries
• called Canada's industrial and urban heartland

Hudson Bay Arctic Lowlands is very flat, low area with swampy forest
• encompasses James Bay too
• Hudson Bay Lowlands: layers of sedimentary rock over canadian Shield
• waters of hudson bay covered much of this place, depositing sand, silt, clay (which
became layers of sedimentary rock)
• Arctic Lowlands: series of islands in canada far north: gently rolling landscape
• no farming (too cold and ground frozen)
• the paleozoic sedimentary rock contains lignit (poor quality coal), oil and natural gas