Untit Two Physical Geography Flashcards
Core
Hot, solid, 5000 degrees Celsius
Mantle/aesthenosphere
Tough liquid rock (molten magma), convection currents move through this layer.
Lithosphere/crust
Surface we live on, floats on mantle, oceanic and continental
Folding
Collision of two tectonic plates that results in rock material pushed up to create folds (continental+continental=fold mountains)
Faulting
Plates sliding/grinding against each other. Earthquakes created. (Continental+continental, ocean+ocean, c/o+c/o)
Subduction
The collision of two tectonic plates that results in one being pushed under the other. Oceanic plate always goes under. (Oceanic+continental=subduction volcanoes created)
Tension
Two tectonic plates are pulling apart from each other.
What is the western cordillera
A highland of Canada. It is a geologically young mountain range in the western edge of Canada. It is also referred to as the rocky mountains.
How was the western cordillera formed.
Pacific plate pushed under the North American plate causing faulting, folding, and volcanic activity.
What are the innuitan mountains?
Mountains in Canada’s far north. They were made in the Mesozoic era. They are very barren, jagged mountains with little to no trees and a lot of snow.
What are the Appalachian mountains?
A mountain range that stretch all the way from Georgia to Newfoundland in Canada’s east coast. They are very old so they now more closely resemble rolling hills.
How were the Appalachian mountains formed?
Layers of sedimentary rock were uplifted and folded at the end of the Paleozoic era.
What are the Great Lakes- st. Lawrence lowlands
An area the most southern part Canada that has large amounts of freshwater lakes, river valleys, and a generally rolling landscape.
How was the Great Lakes- st. Lawrence lowlands area formed?
Glaciation that occurred in the Paleozoic era.
What are the Hudson Bay- Arctic lowlands
An gently rolling landscape around the south western shore of Hudson Bay that has a harsh climate and many bays. The ground is frozen most of the year and has Paleozoic Era rock in it.
What is the Canadian Shield.
An area rich in lakes, rivers, trees and rounded hills. It has ancient mountains formed by volcanoes that have been worn to rocky hills.
How was the Canadian Shield formed?
The mountains were formed by volcanic activity but have been worn to rocky hills over many years.
What are Wegner’s evidence of continental drift?
- The continents fit together like puzzle pieces.
- He found the same types of fossils in both Africa and South America.
- Mountain ranges connect from places like Africa to South America.
- Evidence of ice sheets is found in India, which is a hot country. This suggests that it used to hold a different place on earth.
Continental drift
Land masses are in constant motion and are floating on top of molten magma
Weathering
The breakdown of rock in its place.
What are the types of weathering?
Chemical weathering- rocks broken into pieces by chemical bonds being destroyed.
Mechanical weathering- rocks physically broken into smaller prices by frost welding, thermal expansion, and biological weathering.
Erosion
The wearing away of earths surface followed by the movement of the rock material to another location. Caused by the movement of wind rain, running water, or ice.
Glacier
A slowly moving mass of ice. They are the most recent therefore most dramatic effect on Canada’s physical landscape.
Oak ridges moraine
The Oak Ridges Moraine is an ecologically important geological landform in the Mixedwood Plains of south-central Ontario, Canada.
