prairies within canada Flashcards
types of soil
class 1: holds moisture, great supply of nutrients
class 2: some limitations but still holds moisture well
class 3: across saskatchewan, not the best
fort mcmurray suffered from (3)
- collapse in oil prices
- catastrophic wildfire
- shortage of pipelines
alberta oil sands estimated ___ billion barrels of recoverable oil and about __% of Canada’s total reserves
165 & 96
how does the prairies rank within the rest of canada for population and GDP
third in population and second in gdp
Which province carries the rest of the prairie provinces in gdp and population
alberta
what are the main physiographic regions and what are they comprised of
- interior plains: sedimentary basin, minerals (oil/gas, coal, potash), and agriculture
- canadian shield: mining, hydroelectricity, little bit of logging
what are the minor physiolgraphic regions
hudson bay lowland
cordillera
environmental challenges of prairies
- warmer climates causes issues such as wild fires
- the disposal of radioactive waste from uranium mines near lake athabaska
what percentage does alberta hold of the areas gdp and with what resource
72%
oil and gas
what is the crow rate
allowed farmers to move grain across the prairies more easily with subsidized rates on the railway
recent challenges for prairie farmers (4)
- elimination of the crow rate
- drought
- heavy subsidization of european and american farmers
- rural depopulation and disappearance of small communities
what is the key to creating a knowledge based economy
by applying modern technology this would allow for more economic advances to be made
natural assets of the prairie resource base (4)
- agriculture land
- energy
- potash reserves
- uranium
____________ and ________ are more dependent on the oil market and ___________ is not
Alberta and Saskatchewan
Manitoba
key trends in agriculture
more large farms with few that hold small amounts of land, more technology, depopulation of rural areas, growth of foreign markets
3 agricultural regions
- fertile belt - semi arid with tall grass suitable for ag (area surrounding palisters triangle)
- dry belt - area surrounding the sand hills (pallisters triangle)
- agricultural fringe (little bit surrounding the fertile belt) and peace river country
energy sources for each province
alberta - mainly natural gas and coal and coke
saskatchewan - mainly natural gas, coal and coke and small amount of hydro
manitoba - 97% hydro
Alberta produces _____ % of crude oil in canada
80.5%
main oil sands in alberta
Athabasca oil sands
Cold lake oil sands
Peace river oil sands
horizontal drilling
changes the way that oil and gas wells are drilled, allowed for so much more oil and gas to be produced than in a vertical well
problems with tailing ponds
stores toxic water and must be stored for long periods of time, leakage from these ponds results in negative effects on the landscape
where is the potash capital of the world
saskatoon because they have 6 of 9 mines
what are the 5 census metropolitan areas in western canada
Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton
