The document summarizes the major physiographic regions of North America: - The Canadian Shield is a basement rock region covered by thin soil and dotted with lakes. It is rich in minerals and was heavily glaciated. - The Appalachian Mountains were formed by tectonic collisions and once reached 20,000 feet high. They run along the eastern US and Canada. - The Western Mountains include the Rocky Mountains, plateaus like the Colorado Plateau and Columbia Plateau, and coastal ranges like the Pacific Coast Mountains. Landforms include the Grand Canyon. - The Interior Lowlands contain the Great Plains, stretching from Canada to Mexico along the Rockies, and various coastal plains along the Gulf and Atlantic.

1. NORTH AMERICA

3. Eastern Mountains

4. Western Mountains

5. Interior Lowlands & Great Plain

6. Coastal Plains

8. Canadian Shield: Also known as Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier canadien in French. It is basically a basement rock covered by very thin soil. There are several bare rock outcrops dotted with numerous glacial lakes. The shield has been glaciated many times and the sediment has been carried into the interior lowlands.

9. The soils in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois are the transported materials from the Canadian shield. The shield is primarily made up of metamorphic rocks. The shield was originally a region of very large mountains and some volcanic activity, but over the millennia the area was eroded. The glacial activity over here is quite pronounced and presently this area is covered by coniferous trees.

10. The height of the shield ranges from 305m to 610m. There are a number of mountain ranges within the shield: the Adirondack (northeastern New York state), Superior Highlands (northern Minnesota, Wisconsin & Michigan states), Torngat and Laurentian. The shield is a rich source of metallic minerals such as iron, nickel, copper, zinc, uranium, gold, silver, platinum and molybdenum.

11. This is the highest point of the Canadian Shield Mount Caubvick (1652 m). It is situated in New Foundland.

12. The Eastern Mountains The eastern mountain complex consist of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachians, are about 1,500 miles in length, and 480 km wide extending from central Alabama in the U.S. up through the New England states and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Quebec.

14. The Blue Ridge Mts. in Virginia

15. The Alleghenies in Pennsylvania

16. The Catskills Mts. in New York

17. The Green Mts. in Vermont

18. The White Mts. of New HampshireThe highest point is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 ft (2,037 m)

19. The Appalachians are the product tectonic collision. During the middle Ordovician Period (about 496-440 million years ago), a change in plate motions set the stage for the first Paleozoic mountain building event . There were four such tectonic movements which is believed to be responsible for the formation of Appalachian Mountains. At one time the mountains may have been 20,000 feet high. However, today the average height of the Appalachian mountains is 3000ft. Because of dense forests and rugged steep slopes it acted as a barrier for the first 150 years of European settlement.

21. Intermountain Plateaus

24. The Middle Rockies,

25. The Northern Rockies (all in the United States),

29. Width: 29 km

30. Average Depth: 1600 m

32. Thickness: 5000m approx

35. Okanagan plateau

36. Shuswap Highland

37. Quesnel Highland

38. Fraser Plateau

40. The Pacific Coast Range It is a series of mountain range stretching from Alaska to Central Mexico. The Canadian Section of this coast range is called the Canadian Cordilleras.

42. Coast range (Mount Waddington, 4019)

43. Insular Mountain , Vancouver (Golden Hinde, 2196m)

44. Olympic Mountain, (Mt. Olympus, 2427m)

45. Cascade Range (Mt. Rainier, 4392m)

46. Oregon Coast range (Mary’s Peak, 1250m)

47. California Coast Range

49. Great Plains It lies in the eastern side of the Rockies, stretching from Texas to Arctic region of Canada. Some considers it beyond the Rio Grande river in Mexico. It is around 3200 km long and 800 km wide. The Canadian section is often known as Prairies. One of the important rivers of this area is Missouri.

52. The Gulf Coastal Plains The included states are Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. There are 15 metropolitan areas within the gulf coast region.

53. The Atlantic Coastal Plains consisting off Georgia, North and South Carolina , Virginia up to Boston.

54. Deserts Great Basin Desert Mojave Desert Chihuahuan desert Sonoran Desert (largest)