Geo Exam Study Sheet

Rocks
Igneous: magma/lava cools and hardens either inside the earth’s crust (intrusive or outside (extrusive)
Examples: metallic minerals, granite, pumice, basalt
Sedimentary: other rocks are weathered, eroded, deposited, and cemented into new rock
Examples: fossil fuels, silt, sandstone
Metamorphic: other rocks transform into metamorphic rock when under intense heat and pressure
Examples: metallic minerals, marble, diamond, gneiss
Rock Cycle
Processes
Erosion: Rock fragments or soil are removed by wind, water, glaciers. When landforms wear down over time
Deposition: Sediments are laid down in layers, usually in lakes or oceans
Subduction: When an oceanic plate and a continental plate converge and the oceanic plate slides underneath.
The oceanic plate melts back into the crust. Subduction zones are often the sites of volcanoes.
Convection Currents: The core of the earth heats the mantle, which rises towards the crust, it spreads apart,
cools, then sinks back down. Repeat. This is what drives the movement of plates.
Earth’s Structure

Boundaries
Divergent: When two plates go in opposite directions. Mid Atlantic
Convergent: When two plates go in the same direction and one slides underneath. Pacific Coast of North
America
Transform: When two plates are going in opposite directions but sliding across.

Continental Drift, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation

Continental Drift: the idea the continents move and were all once together as one in a supercontinent called
Pangea. Evidence for that is that all the continents seem to fit like a puzzle by similar rocks, landforms, and
fossils along coastlines and by evidence of glaciers in tropical locations.
Plate Tectonics: The idea that Earth’s crust is broken up into 20 rigid plates floating atop the molten mantle.
Plates move driven by convection currents in the mantle. This movement causes continental drift, mountains,
earthquakes and volcanoes. Unlike the continental drift theory the plate tectonics theory explains how
continents and plates move.
Glaciation: The process of ice advancing and covering large areas of land. The last major period of glaciation
ended 10,000 years ago.
How glaciation affected the physical geography of Canada: Because glaciation was so recent the effects of it
are still in place today. Glaciers both erode and deposit. In the Canadian Shield lots of erosion happened. The
erosion removed most of the soil and left the land with just bedrock and many drained lakes and rivers, which
is why the place is so rich in metallic minerals. In Southern Ontario, deposition had a big effect. Because lots of
natural resources have been deposited, the area has deep, rich topsoil and lots of sand and gravel.
Landform Regions
Canadian Shield: Oldest Canadian Landform region. Magma rose to the Earth’s surface and cooled off.
Glaciers caused it to be more flat and filled with more water bodies. Formed during Precambrian Era. Exposed
bedrock, hilly, lots of lakes. Very rich in metallic mineral deposits.
Interior Plains: Formed by sediments from the Canadian Sheild and Rocky Mountains that were deposited in
inland seas. Eventually sedimentary rock formed, which is kilometers thick. Flat land bodies with fertile deep
soil, oil, natural gas, potash.
Great Lakes-St.Lawrence Lowlands: St.Lawrence formed by double faulting from Appalachian mountais and
Canadian Shield. The great lakes formed by faulting where water filled up valleys. Flat land with fertile soild
and lots of water bodies. Soil, gravel, sand.
Western Cordillera: The North American and Pacific Plate collided causing folding, faulting and volcanic
activity. High mountains, plateaus, valleys, mountainous. Minerals worth mining, agricultural space.
Hudson Bay-Arctic Lowlands: Waters from the Hudson Bay covered the lowlands during the last ice age, which
caused sand, silt and clay to be deposited creating sedimentary rock. Swampy forest-like place. Sedimentary
rock, lignite, oil, natural gas deposits.
Innuitian Mountains: Formed during Mesozoic Era when the north American pole moved northward. Covered in
ice and very barren with tall mountains. Mostly sedimentary rock
Appalachian Mountains: Layers of sedimentary rock were uplifted and folded at the Paleozoic Era. Many
Valleys, with high mountains and green hills with lots of rivers. Non-metallic minerals, like coal, and metallic
ones like iron and zinc.
Climate
Difference between climate and weather: Weather is the condition during a short period of time, while climate
is the expected patterns in the weather over a long period of time.
Maritime Climates:
Temperature range less than 25 degrees C
Annual precipitation greater than 1000mm
Winter precipitation greater than summer
Continental Climate:
Temperature ranges greater than 25 degrees C
Annual precipitation less than 1000mm
Summer precipitation greater than winter
Canadian Climate Regions:
Pacific maritime: mild winters, warm summers, heavy precipitation, especially in fall and winter, small
temperature range, rarely below 0 degrees C
South Eastern: fairly cold winter, warm to hot summer, moderate precipitation, spread evenly with slightly more
precipitation in summer, temperature range about 25, low just below 0
Artic: very cold and long winter, summers are cool and short, low precipitation, mainly in summer, large
temperature range, lows at least -25 C, highs barely above 0 C
Prairie: cold winters, warm to hot summers, low precipitation, mostly in summer, large temperature range, lows
of -15C and highs of 20C
Atlantic maritime: cold winters, warm summers, heavy precipitation, mostly in winter, moderate temperature
range, lows of about -3C
Cordilleran: Dramatically varying climate conditions due to elevation and relief
Taiga Boreal: cold and long winter, cool and short summer, low precipitation, mostly in summer, large
temperature range, lows of about -25C
Factors that Affect Climate (LOWERN):
L Latitude: the further away from the equator the cooler it gets because sunlight is less focused and intense,
and places far from equator have distinct seasons
O Ocean Currents: warm currents warm places they move past and cool currents cool places the move past ,
where they meet fog forms
W Winds and Air masses: Prevailing winds lie the Westerlies move air masses around, air masses bring the
condition of the place they formed. Jet streams are fats moving rivers of air in the upper atmosphere that flow
from west to east.
4 air masses:
mP: maritime polar = most and cool
mT: maritime tropical = moist and warm
cA: continental Arctic = dry and very cold
cP: continental Polar = dry and cool
E Elevation: The higher you go the colder it gets
R relief: as air is forced to rise over mountains barriers, it cools, water condenses and eventually falls as
precipitation on the windward side (side facing wind). A rain shadow (dry area) is created as air warms as it
descends on the other side. Relief precipitation is the rain the occurs because of this process.
N Nearness to water: Being near water moderates temperature, so winters are warmers, summers are cooler,
and places near water tend to have more precipitation
Difference between climate change and global warming: global warming is the increase in Earth’s average
temperature, while climate change is the long term changes in climate including average temperature and
precipitation.
Consequences of Climate change: increased CO2 in the atmosphere, meaning more heat trapped by the sun,
so increased temperatures, water levels rising, glaciers melting, ticks and lyme disease on the rise
Actions against it: use less fossil fuels and use more energy efficient products, consume less, waste less
Climate Graphs: dotted line is temperature in each month, bar graph is precipitation, flat line at 6C is growing
season line
Resources
Renewable: can be sued more than once and replaces itself as long as we use it properly
Non-renewable: can be used only once, created very slowly
Flow resource: produced by nature, supply cannot be damaged by human effect, must be used during
particular time and place (wind, sunlight, water)
Primary Industries: extract or produce raw materials (miners, fishers, farmers)
Secondary Industries: manufacture raw materials into something (factory workers, construction workers)
Tertiary Industries: provides services that support primary industries (salesman, bus driver, police officer)
Quaternary Industries: highly skilled service workers (doctors, engineers, IT workers)
Basic Industries: industries that bring their money from elsewhere, bring new money (Universities, mining
companies, Niagara Falls)
Non-Basic Industries: circulates money within a community, provides jobs and services for residents
(restaurants, convenience stores, barbers)
Location Factors for manufacturing:
Proximity of Raw Materials: being near what you’re making, important when materials are heavy, bulky, difficult
to transport or they are perishable
Labour Supply: Being near a supply of people who can do the work, important when you need people with a
specific set of skills or when you a lot of people for cheap
Political factors: locating somewhere because of government incentives like tax breaks, free or cheap land,
important when other factors matter less
Location of Markets: locating near your customers, important when products are perishable or when
transporting finished goods costs more than transporting raw materials
Availability of Fresh Water and Power: being near sources of fresh water for cleaning or cooling, or near
sources of electrical power. Important when manufacturing requires a lot of power/water like refining
aluminum
Circumstance: locating somewhere for other reasons like where company founder lives, important whrn other
factors are less important or have been met
Population
Canadas Population: 35 Million+
Canada’s Urban Population: 83%
Canada’s population is growing slowly, mostly due to immigration and only a little from natural increase
Reason for Population Boom in 1800s: This was during the industrial revolution when, countries were being
industrialized. Death rates started to drop first with life expectancies being higher due to improvements in
health care, wealth, food availability, medicine, vaccines. Birth rates stay the same and more babies survive
until adulthood, and so the population quickly grows. The birth rates then drop as education and opportunities
for women improve and people expect low child mortality rates. Then the population growth starts to slow down
and possibly plateau.
Demographic Transition Model:
Settlement Patterns:
Linear: settlement in a line, (along rivers or coastlines)
Concentrated/clustered: in small clusters (around resources industries like mines)
Dispersed/Scattered: spread out evenly (agricultural areas)
Rates:
Birth rate: how many babies per 1000 people (births/total population x 1000)
Natural Increase Rate: how fast the population is growing or shrinking based on births and deaths (birth rate –
death rate)
Net Migration Rate: how fast the population is growing or shirking based on people leaving or joining the
country (immigration rate – emigration rate)
Population Growth Rate: how fast the population is growing or shrinking (natural increase rate – net migration
rate) as a percent is growth rate/10
Doubling Time: Estimated time for a country’s population to double only works is population growth is positive
(rule of 70: 70/population growth rate as a percent)
Canadas Population over time: Started as a young and growing population, but now its an aging population.
Youth used to outnumber seniors, but now seniors outnumber youth. This is because of the baby boomers
from the 1950 top 60s are now older. Over the next few years the pyramid was start changing from an inverted
pyramid to more of a column. However, Indigenous Canadians have a younger population compared to the
rest of Canadians.
Social Effects of Aging Population: More schools will close down because less kids to serve an education.
Demand for healthcare and housing will increase as baby boomer populations continue to become older and
weaker. More services like retirement homes will be needed. Also, more tax money will be directed to the
elderly to take care of them. More job opportunities will also open up as they retire.
Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous: all the first people of Canada (includes all FNMI)
First Nations: The indigenous peoples whose traditional territories are south of the Arctic
Inuit: the indigenous peoples whose traditional territories are in the Arctic
Metis: people of mixed Indigenous and French ancestry
Treaties: Agreements between First Nations and the government on how to share the land and how its used.
Reserves were created under these treaties in exchange for giving up most of their land (as Europeans saw it)
Issues Faced: Climate change which is causing travel to be much harder by boat and food security because
climate change is destroying habitats and ecosystems. Discrimination as they are often not given jobs because
of stereotypes people associate with their background.
Liveable Communities:
Land Uses:
Residential: where people live (houses, apartments, condos)
Commercial: buying and selling goods and services (retail stores, office towers, malls)
Institutional: public buildings (schools, hospitals, libraries, places of worship)
Industrial: factories, distributions centres, warehouses (Cadbury factory)
Recreational: open space, green space, parks, rec centres, open land (Randy Padmore)
Transportation: roads, parking lots, sidewalks, bike lanes, subway stations
Difference between high and low order goods/services: Low order goods/services are bought frequently by
most people like food (No Frills), pharmacy (Rexall), banks (CIBC). High Order goods are more luxury or
specialty items, and may be bought only on occasion or only by some people they may cost more money like
the apple store or stores that only sell wedding gowns.
Geographic Perspectives
Social: