The document summarizes 8 major physical regions of North America: 1. The Appalachian region is a mountainous region extending over 1000 miles along the east coast with forests, fertile valleys, and a history of mining and manufacturing. 2. The Coastal Plains region along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts has flat lowlands, swamps, and agriculture including cotton as the top crop. 3. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region has a landscape formed by glaciation, including the Great Lakes, and features farming, manufacturing, and mining industries. 4. The Interior Plains region includes the central lowlands and Great Plains, originally covered by forests and prairies, and now featuring agriculture and energy

1. 8 Physical Regions

2. Topography:
Appalachian Region
-Made up of different moutain ranges
-Old mountains formed 300,000,000 years ago
-once sharp now rolling moutains, hills
-Contains fertile plateaus and river valleys
Vegetation:
Climate:
-Affected by two ocean currents
-Labrador current causes
freezing in winter
Economic activity:
-Originally heavily forested
-205, 000 square mile region
-Deciduous, coniferous trees
-once depended on minning, forestry,
-Could survive in mountain soils
agriculture, chemical industries
Environmental concerns:
-Now include a variety of manufacturing
-Over the past decads the hobe 21 mountain top
removal coal minning opreration has obliterated
23 square miles of the high land
-minning operation clear cut the hillsides and
"fill"the mountain hollows to the brim
-extends more than 1000 miles

3. Topography:
The Coastal PlainsClimate:
- Average evalation of less then 200 meters
-In the north it has cold, snowy
above sea level
winters
-Surface mostly flat or gently rolling
-Hot humid summers
-Many swamps, marshes
- In the south it is a subtropical
-Wide belt of fertile agriculture
climate -subject to hurricanes
Vegetation:
Economic activity:
-Soils are mainly sandy
-Magor crops:cotton,tobacco, corn,
-Some areas lush jungles developed
peanuts, broilers, eggs, cagttle
-originally pine forests
-Cotton is the jumber one crop
Enviromental concerns:
-Population of 4.5 million
-Soils are mostly clay and clay looms
-Covers 13 million acres tracking the gulf of
mexico
-Over years farmland has been
converted to pine plantations

4. The great lakes St. Lawrence lowland
Topography:
Climate:
-Rolling land scape, created by glaciation
-Humid continental climate
-Flat plains broken by hills and deep river
-humid because of great lakes
valleys
-lakes cool temperature in summer
-St. Lawrence section, flat plains on both
-winters vary from cool to cold
sides of river
-summers warm to hot
Vegetation:
Economic activity:
-originally heavily treed
-Farming poultry, dairy, meat, specialty crop
-because of soil and climate
-Manufacturing cars, carparts, steel, iron,
-in the great lakes portion maple, beech,
textiles, clothing
hickory and black walnut trees thrived
-minning minerals, copper, iron, silver, lead,
-elsewhere it is a mixed forest
zinc, coal
Environmental concerns:
-Alot of waste and population
-fresh water baisins are third most densly poluted
-the weather is beginning to get hotter and hotter
-lots of air polution

5. The interior plains Climate:
-in the U.S the plains are divided into the central
Topography:
lowland and the great plains
-the northern boundary of the central lowland
formed by Canadian sheild, great lakes, st.
Lawrence river
-great plains rise frlm 600-1500 meters above sea
level
Vegetation:
-originally central lowland was covered with
mixed deciduous trees
-great plains-prairie grasses
-northern portion of interior plains boreal forest
grows
Environmental concerns:
-farm polutants seeping into the groundand
waters
-lumber harvesting
-disposing waste into landfills
-continental climate
-climate of extremes
-long, hot summers
-Cold winters, little precipitation
-farther noth, short cool
summers, longer, colder winters
Economic activity:
-agriculture, minning
-cattle, pigs, poultry, wheat, barley, oats,
flax, canola, potatoes, corn, and sugar beets
-large amount of minerals
-oils, gas, gypsum and coal

6. Topography:
The canadian sheild
-During iceage glaciers removed most soil
Climate:
-leaving barren of rock surface
-North winters are long and cold
-evalation 100 meters above sea level in north
-summers are shorter and cooler
- In south the evalation is 500 meters above
Vegetation:
Economic activity:
-Dominated by the minning of metals and
-covered mostly by boreal forest
minerals
-North of the tree line no trees can grow
- 1900's Hudson bay company used land as
Environmental concerns:
-Acid rain ruining forests crops, buildings
- once acid rain hits the amount and
diversity of vegetation, zoo, plankton,
amphibians and fish decrease
fur resources
-logging of the boreal forest

7. Topography:
The western cordillera
Climate:
-new mountains
-Maritime climate
-twice as high as the Appalachian
-west coast is moist and mild
mountains
-winters qbove freezing
-Rocky mountains to the east
-summers are cooler than the interior
-all rivers east of rockies flow east
-valleys are warmer then mountain slopes
Vegetation:one side of mountain to other
-varies hugely from
-on moist side, douhlas fir, western hemlock,
western red cedar,
-slme grow as high as 30 story office buildings
-on the leeward sloppes grasses and cactus grow
Environmental concerns:
-slope erosion
-harmful metals in water
-lost wild habitat for lads for agriculture
Economic activity:
-pupl and paper industry
-minning
-copper, gold, lead, diamond,
nickel, platinum
-fishing

8. The Intermountain region
Topography:
-flows brackish lakes
-some disappear into desert lakes
-some rivers find a way into the ocean
Vegetation:
-Sparse grassland to plants
-survive in semi deserts or deserts
Economic activity:
-cattle ranching
-minning
-fruits
-vegitables
Climate:
-affected by its location and elevation
-winters cooland wet or hot and dry
-southern portions winters are short
and warm
-northern portions winters are moist
and hot, dry summers
Environmental concerns:
-eleven bird species are endangered
-forest fires because of dry air
forests

9. The arctic
Climate:
Topography:
-severe because it is far from the equator
-near the ocean is very flat
-winter lasts 10 months in the north
-mountains far north are
-summers are short amd nlt very hot
formed by glaciers
- is a desert because of the little
Vegetation:
-very few life forms
-trees cannot grow on the tundra
-climate is to vold so thawing ocvurs during
the summer
-small shrubs, mosses, lichens only grow
Environmental concerns:
-climate change
-changes in biological diversity
-use of toxic substances
-thawing of perma forest
precipitation
Economic activity:
-natural resources oil, gas,
minerals
-their "occupation" is hunting
and fishing
-furs, meat

10. Bibliography
cranny, M. (1947). Crossroads a meeting of
nations. (pp. 160-177).
Great lakes st.lawrence lowlands. (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://abishop4.tripod.com/
St Lawrence Great Lakes Lowland - Pollution."
St Lawrence Great Lakes Lowland - Pollution.
N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014
Conservation History , A. O. T. (2007).
Texas legacy project. Retrieved from
http://www.texaslegacy.org/bb/regions/c
oastalplain.html