chapter 4 section 1. north america clip (5 minutes)

North America:North America:PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHYPHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Chapter 4Section 1

North America Clip (5 minutes)

North America at Night

Large Bodies of Water:

North America is surrounded by 3 oceans:

PACIFIC

ARCTIC

ATLANTIC

Other Major Bodies of Water

• Hudson Bay

•Gulf of Mexico

•Caribbean Sea

Lakes in North America The United States and Canada share the Great Lakes—Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

These are the world’s largest freshwater lakes, and they were formed by melting glaciers, huge, slow-moving ice sheets.

The Great Lakes from Space

Major Rivers in AmericaThe major American

river is the Mississippi.

The smaller Ohio and

Missouri rivers flow into the

Mississippi and are called

tributaries.

St. Lawrence River• In Canada, the St.

Lawrence River connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.

• The St. Lawrence is an important transportation corridor, because itenables ships to travel all the way from the Atlantic to the heart of the United States and Canada.

• North America has several major mountain ranges.

• The Rocky Mountains are in the west and run from Canada to Mexico in the south.

In the West are the Rocky Mountains,

which extend through the United States and

most of Canada.

In the East are the Appalachian Mountains

In between these mountain chains are the Great Plains, good areas for farming.

The Coastal Plains in the southeast has good arable land for farming, but is prone to hurricanes.

The Great Plains are America’s breadbasket.

Plateau

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/willow/geography-of-mexico0.gif

Central Plateau of Mexico is where most people of Mexico live.

PeninsulasA peninsula is surrounded by water on at

least three sides.•Yucatan Peninsula - famous tourist spot

•Baja California

•Florida

Other Physical Features

http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/encyclopedia/images/CanadianShield.jpg

Canadian Shield

–too cold and

rocky

Other Physical Features• Caribbean Islands-$$

from tourism

Other Physical Features

Panama Canal- man-made shortcut for ships

COLD

HOT

Climate• The United States has

more types of climates than any other continent.

• Alaska is far north and very cold.

• Hawaii and Florida are near the tropics, the area between 23°N and 23°S latitudes; their climate is hot.

The Southwestern part of the United States & Central Mexico includes deserts.