C. Managing Canada's Resources and Industries · Managing Canada's Resources and Industries

Where Canada's Resources Are: Physical Geography and Resource Distribution

C1.2 A1.5About 70 minutes

Learning goals

I can explain how rock type, landforms, soil and climate determine where resources are found in Canada.
I can describe the main resources of each of Canada's landform regions.
I can use the concept of spatial significance to explain a resource pattern.

Words to know

spatial distribution
The pattern of where something is located across an area: clustered, scattered or in a line.

physiographic region
A large area with similar landforms and rock, such as the Canadian Shield or the Interior Plains.

igneous rock
Rock formed when melted rock (magma or lava) cools and hardens, such as granite.

metamorphic rock
Rock changed by great heat and pressure deep underground, such as gneiss.

sedimentary rock
Rock formed from layers of sediment (sand, mud, shells, plant remains) pressed together, such as sandstone and shale. Fossil fuels form in sedimentary rock.

ore
Rock that contains enough of a valuable mineral to be mined at a profit.

growing season
The number of days between the last spring frost and the first fall frost, when crops can grow.

continental shelf
The shallow, gently sloping sea floor at the edge of a continent, often rich in fish.

Hook: why Sudbury and not Saskatoon?

Sudbury, Ontario, is famous for nickel mining. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is surrounded by wheat and canola fields, with potash mines nearby. Fort McMurray, Alberta, is the centre of the oil sands. Why is each resource found in its own place and not everywhere?

The answer is physical geography: the rocks under our feet, the shape of the land, the soil and the climate. Resources are not spread evenly. Their spatial distribution follows the physical geography of the country.

Rock type comes first

Igneous and metamorphic rock (hard, crystalline rock, much of it very old) is where many metallic minerals are found. Heat, pressure and fluids moving through the rock concentrated metals like nickel, copper, gold and zinc into ore deposits. This is the rock of the Canadian Shield.
Sedimentary rock formed in layers at the bottom of ancient seas, lakes and swamps. Tiny buried organisms became oil and natural gas, buried swamp plants became coal, and evaporating seas left behind potash and salt. This is the rock of the Interior Plains and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands.
Young fold mountains, like the Western Cordillera, contain a mix of rock types, so they hold many different minerals, plus steep rivers.

A simplified west-to-east slice through Canada. Notice how hard old rock (the Shield) holds metal ore veins, while flat sedimentary layers (the Plains) trap oil and gas. Not to scale.

Landforms, soil and climate

Landforms shape access and energy. Steep mountain rivers in British Columbia and rivers dropping off the rocky Shield in Quebec, Manitoba and Labrador are ideal for hydroelectric power.

Soil decides farming. During the last ice age, glaciers scraped soil off much of the Shield, leaving thin, rocky ground. Meanwhile, soil was deposited on the Plains and the Lowlands. The dark grassland soils of the Prairies (called chernozems) are some of the most fertile in the world.

Climate sets the growing season and the type of forest. Southern Ontario's Lowlands have one of Canada's longest growing seasons, which allows fruit and vegetable farming (for example, tender fruit in the Niagara region). Farther north, cold winters and short summers support the boreal forest of spruce, fir, pine and poplar. Even farther north, permafrost (ground frozen for at least two years in a row) makes building roads and mines difficult and expensive.

Oceans matter too. Canada has coasts on the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans. Shallow continental shelves, such as the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, have historically been rich fishing grounds, and the sedimentary rock under the shelf off Newfoundland holds offshore oil.

Each landform region has its own set of resources. Use this as a quick reference for the rest of the unit.

Worked example

Modelled example: explain a resource pattern

Explain why Saskatchewan has both potash mines and huge grain farms, while the area around Sudbury has nickel mines and forests but few large farms.

Identify the regions: southern Saskatchewan is in the Interior Plains; Sudbury is on the Canadian Shield.
Link rock to minerals: the Plains are built of sedimentary layers. An ancient sea evaporated there and left thick potash beds deep underground. The Shield is ancient igneous and metamorphic rock. The Sudbury Basin's rocks contain rich nickel-copper ore.
Link soil and climate to farming: glaciers and grasslands left deep, fertile soil on the Prairies, and the land is flat, so large machines can farm huge fields. Around Sudbury the soil is thin and rocky, so forests grow better than crops.
Use geographic thinking (spatial significance): the place matters because of what lies under it and on top of it.

The pattern follows physical geography: sedimentary rock and fertile, flat land in Saskatchewan; ancient mineral-rich rock and thin soil around Sudbury.

Geographic thinking: spatial significance (A1.5)

When you explain why here?, you are using spatial significance: the idea that the characteristics of a place, and its location relative to other places, matter. A good answer links at least two physical factors (for example rock type and soil) to the resource.

Hands-on activity

Sandwich geology

You need: two slices of bread, a spread (jam or honey), a slice of cheese, a plate and a clean drinking straw. (Check for food allergies first.)

Stack: bread, spread, cheese, bread. These are sedimentary layers, laid down one on top of another.
Push the straw straight down through the top layers like a drilling rig. Notice that the soft, sticky middle layer (the spread) is like oil or gas trapped between harder layers.
Now try pushing the straw into a hard object, like an unpeeled apple or a raw potato. It is much harder: that is like drilling into Shield rock, where miners must blast and dig tunnels to reach ore veins.
Write 3 sentences explaining which landform region each part of your model represents and which resources each would hold.

What to look for: the explanation should connect layers to fossil fuels and potash, and hard crystalline rock to metal ores.

Just for fun

Some of the oldest rocks known on Earth, the Acasta Gneiss in the Northwest Territories, are about 4 billion years old. That part of the Canadian Shield has truly been around the block.

Your turn

Name the landform region where most of Canada's oil and natural gas is found, and explain why.

Why are there so many hydroelectric dams on rivers of the Canadian Shield?

Give two reasons farming is common in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands.

What resource is found under the Grand Banks besides fish? Why is it there?

How does permafrost affect resource development in the North?

Explain the meaning of spatial distribution in your own words.

More practice: warm-up

Which landform region is the largest and rockiest, wrapping around Hudson Bay?

What kind of rock forms in layers?

Which region has young, high mountains in the west?

What type of forest covers much of northern Ontario?

On which coast do salmon fisheries matter most?

More practice: on your own

Explain why potash and salt are both found in sedimentary rock.

Why do the Cordillera and the Shield both produce hydroelectricity, even though they are very different?

A student says, "Northern Ontario has no farms because it is too cold." Is this a complete explanation? Improve it.

How did the last ice age help create today's farmland in southern Ontario and on the Prairies?

Why might two places with the same climate have different resources?

Challenge

Choose two physical factors and explain how they work together to explain why Fort McMurray is a centre of the oil industry.

Diamonds are mined in the Northwest Territories, even though it is far from markets. What does this tell you about how physical geography and value interact?

Predict one way climate change could change the distribution of a resource in Canada. Explain.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Why is the Canadian Shield rich in metallic minerals?

Which region produces most of Canada's oil, natural gas and potash?

Which pair of physical factors best explains why the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands have so much farmland?

The Canadian Shield has thousands of lakes and fast rivers dropping off rocky land. Which resource does this create?

Why is farming limited across most of the Canadian Shield?

Which statement best describes the link between physical geography and resources?

For parents and teachers

Help your teen connect rock, soil, landforms and climate to resources. A useful prompt at home: Why here? (for example, when you buy Ontario apples or see a Saskatchewan potash news story). Common difficulties: thinking resources are spread evenly; giving only one factor (just climate) when two are needed; mixing up igneous/metamorphic and sedimentary rock. The fun fact about the Acasta Gneiss is widely reported by geologists; the 'about 4 billion years' figure is approximate.