Geography of Canada Mr. T Physical Geography 1.Climate 2.Landforms 3.Soil and Vegetation 4.Ecozones Climate Weather is the day to day readings of temperature and precipitation (and wind speed, barometric pressure, and several other factors) Climate is the long term patterns of temperature and precipitation We can illustrate climate and compare climates from different locations easily using a climograph TORONTOJFMAMJJASONDAnn Temp ( o C) Precip(mm) Climate A Climograph of Toronto Months JFMAMJJASOND Temp. ( o C) Precip (mm) Landforms Appalachian Mountains Landforms Canadian Shield Landforms St Lawrence Lowlands Landforms Great Lakes Lowlands Landforms Arctic Lowlands Landforms Interior Plains Landforms Western Cordillera Landforms Innuitian Mountains Landforms Arctic Lowlands Landforms Soil and Vegetation Soil is a naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose material on the surface of the earth, capable of supporting life Soil is made up of four components (MOMA): Minerals Organic Material Moisture Air More about qualities of soil (and their disappearance!) will be discussed in Unit 3 Soil and Vegetation Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region (which very much depends on soil quality) In Canada, we have everything from desert cactus to massive rainforest trees, and everything in between Mosses Plants Shrubs Coniferous trees Deciduous trees Ecozones An ecozone is an area of the earths surface that has a unique combination of plants, wildlife, climate, landforms, and human activities. If you were to overlay or combine the climate, landforms, soil (and vegetation) maps of Canada shown in this slideshow, you would see patterns emerge resulting in Canadas 15 terrestrial (land) ecozones ++=