The Canadian Shield
By: Huzaifa, Jaipaul & Rushan
What is it?
The Canadian Shields geographic area covers about half of Canada, making it the largest land region. It is a region of rock that is 4.4 million square kilometers big. A large portion of the land is covered by trees, but most of it is rock. It is known to be very rich in minerals like iron, nickel, copper, zinc, uranium, gold, silver, platinum and molybdenum. Near the northern part of the Shield, they are actively mining kmberlite diamonds.
How was it formed? (Geographical)
The Canadian shield formed when two tectonic plates collided, making one of thte plate to go under the other tectonic plate, which made folding occur. The plate that was forced down, melted and rose back up to the surface to cool down over time. Most of the land is occupied by rock, but there is a large portion which is covered by a very thin layer of top soil.
How was it formed? (Hydrologically)
Since the Shield is very large, its climate varies from location to location, but the climate was a big factor during the formation of the Canadian Shield. It has a very thin layer of soil lying on top of bedrock. This was caused by the severe weather during the ice age, which covered the Shield and scraped the rock clean.
How was it formed? (Climatically)
The Canadian Shield once had jagged peaks, higher than any of today's mountains, but millions of years of erosion have changed these mountains to rolling hills. It is the Earth's greatest area of exposed Archean rock. Today, the Shield is elevated at ranges of 300m to 610m above sea level, with a few low mountain ranges higher than 610m.
THE CANADIAN SHIELD