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← Unit 2: Physical Geography of Canada

CGC1W · Unit 2 test review

Physical Geography of Canada: Test Review

Everything for the Unit 2 test on one page: the key facts from all 8 lessons, the mistakes that cost the most marks, and a practice test that points you back to the lessons you need.

Key facts

Canada's Landform Regions

  • A landform region is a large area with similar landforms, rock and origin; regions are told apart by relief, elevation, rock type, origin, drainage and soils.
  • The Canadian Shield is ancient igneous and metamorphic rock covering about half of Canada: thin soils and many lakes, but rich in minerals and hydro power.
  • Lowlands (Interior Plains, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, Arctic Lowlands) are flat layers of sedimentary rock.
  • Highlands: the young, rugged Western Cordillera and Innuitian Mountains versus the old, worn-down Appalachians.
  • Ontario has three regions: Canadian Shield, Hudson Bay Lowlands and Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands.

Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation

  • Igneous rock forms from cooling magma or lava; sedimentary from compacted, cemented layers of sediment; metamorphic from rock changed by heat and pressure.
  • Plate boundaries: convergent (toward; subduction off BC), divergent (apart; Mid-Atlantic Ridge), transform (sliding past; Queen Charlotte Fault).
  • Canada's largest known earthquake: Cascadia, January 26, 1700 (about M9); largest recorded: Haida Gwaii, 1949 (M8.1). The Ottawa–Montréal area also has earthquakes (Val-des-Bois, 2010, M5.0).
  • Glaciers erode (scrape, pluck, carve basins) and deposit (moraines, drumlins, eskers, erratics); they shaped the Great Lakes and stripped the Shield's soil.
  • Weathering breaks rock down in place; erosion moves the pieces away.

Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs

  • Weather is the atmosphere's condition now; climate is the long-term pattern, measured with 30-year normals (currently 1991–2020).
  • LOWERN: Latitude, Ocean currents, Wind and air masses, Elevation, Relief, Nearness to water.
  • Annual temperature range = warmest month − coldest month; mean annual temperature = sum of 12 months ÷ 12; total precipitation = sum of 12 months.
  • Continental climates have large ranges and less precipitation; maritime climates have small ranges and more precipitation.
  • Air cools about 6.5 °C per 1000 m of elevation; the leeward side of mountains lies in a dry rain shadow.

Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife

  • An ecozone is a large area where climate, landforms, soil, vegetation, wildlife and human activity fit together; Canada has 15 terrestrial ecozones.
  • Vegetation regions from north to south in central Canada: tundra, boreal forest, mixed forest, deciduous (Carolinian) forest; grassland on the dry Prairies; temperate rainforest on the BC coast.
  • Chernozems (Prairies) are fertile and black; podzols (boreal) are acidic and leached; cryosols (Arctic) are frozen.
  • Permafrost: ground at or below 0 °C for at least two years; about half of Canada is in the permafrost region. The treeline marks the northern limit of trees.
  • Ontario's ecozones: Mixedwood Plains, Boreal Shield and Hudson Plains.

Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents

  • A drainage basin (watershed) is all the land drained by a river and its tributaries; divides separate basins.
  • Canada's five ocean drainage areas: Hudson Bay (largest), Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.
  • The Mackenzie is Canada's longest river (about 4240 km); the Great Lakes hold about 21% of the world's surface fresh water.
  • Warm currents (North Pacific, Gulf Stream) warm coasts; the cold Labrador Current chills Atlantic Canada; fog forms over the Grand Banks where they meet.
  • El Niño (warm tropical Pacific) often brings milder Canadian winters; La Niña (cool) often brings colder western winters.

Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada

  • A natural hazard is a natural event that could cause harm; a disaster is a hazard that seriously disrupts a community.
  • Risk = hazard × vulnerability: risk falls if either the hazard or people's vulnerability is reduced.
  • Key Canadian events: 1998 ice storm (January 5–10), Hurricane Hazel (October 15, 1954), BC heat dome and Lytton's 49.6 °C (June 2021), Hurricane Fiona (September 24, 2022), the record 2023 wildfire season.
  • Emergency management stages: mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery.
  • Some hazards are increasing in severity with a warming climate and more people in harm's way, but better detection also raises reported counts.

Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation

  • Canada's Changing Climate Report 2026: Canada warmed about 2.0 °C from 1948 to 2023, about 65% faster than the global average (almost twice as fast since 1970); northern Canada warmed about 2.6 °C, more than twice the global rate.
  • The ice–albedo feedback speeds up warming in the North: melting ice exposes darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight.
  • Mitigation reduces greenhouse gas emissions (the cause); adaptation reduces harm from the effects.
  • Consequences can be analysed through environmental, economic, social and political perspectives.
  • Toronto's 2009 green roof bylaw was the first in North America to require green roofs on new large buildings; it helps with flooding, heat and energy use.

People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship

  • Physical characteristics support particular activities: mining and hydro on the Shield, farming and energy on the Plains, forestry and tourism in the Cordillera, cities and industry in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, fishing on the Atlantic coast.
  • About two-thirds of Canadians live within 100 km of the southern border, where climate, soils and transportation are most favourable.
  • National symbols drawn from the land: the maple leaf (flag, 1965), the loonie (1987), the North, the Rockies (Banff, 1885), the Group of Seven (first exhibition, 1920), the beaver.
  • Stewardship is caring for land and water for the future; Indigenous Guardians monitor and protect their territories; IPCAs are protected areas where Indigenous governments have the primary role.
  • Thaidene Nëné (2019), led by the Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation, protects about 26,000 km² around the East Arm of Great Slave Lake.

Where marks get lost

  • Calling the whole Interior Plains "the Prairies." The Prairie grasslands are only the southern part; the Plains continue north through boreal forest along the Mackenzie River to the Arctic. (Canada's Landform Regions)
  • Thinking the Canadian Shield is good farmland because it is so large. Glaciers stripped its soil; most of Ontario's farms are in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands. (Canada's Landform Regions)
  • Assuming all mountains are the same age. The Appalachians are hundreds of millions of years old and worn down; the Western Cordillera is young and still active. (Canada's Landform Regions)
  • Forgetting that Ontario has three landform regions. Many students leave out the Hudson Bay Lowlands in the far north. (Canada's Landform Regions)
  • Mixing up relief and elevation. A high plateau has high elevation but can have low relief (it is flat on top). (Canada's Landform Regions)
  • Thinking earthquakes only happen at plate boundaries. Ottawa and Montréal sit mid-plate but still have earthquakes along old faults. (Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation)
  • Mixing up weathering and erosion. Weathering breaks rock where it is; erosion moves the broken pieces somewhere else. (Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation)
  • Saying glaciers only erode. They also deposit huge amounts of material: moraines, drumlins, eskers and erratics are all deposits. (Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation)
  • Believing metamorphic rock forms by melting. If rock melts and cools, it becomes igneous; metamorphic rock is changed by heat and pressure while still solid. (Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation)
  • Treating the rock cycle as one fixed loop. Rock can take many paths, such as igneous rock being metamorphosed directly without ever becoming sediment. (Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation)
  • Explaining every climate difference with latitude. Vancouver and Winnipeg are at the same latitude but have very different climates because of water, wind and relief. (Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs)
  • Forgetting that subtracting a negative means adding: the range from −16 °C to 20 °C is 36 °C, not 4 °C. (Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs)
  • Reading the precipitation bars against the temperature axis. Check which axis belongs to the bars (mm) and which to the line (°C). (Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs)
  • Putting the rain shadow on the wrong side. The wet side faces the wind (windward); the dry rain shadow is on the sheltered leeward side. (Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs)
  • Calling one hot week "climate." A single event is weather; climate is a pattern over decades. (Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs)
  • Treating an ecozone as just a vegetation zone. An ecozone combines climate, landforms, soils, water, plants, animals and people. (Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife)
  • Calling the tundra a frozen desert with no life. It has a short but busy summer with flowering plants, insects, caribou herds and millions of nesting birds. (Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife)
  • Assuming the Mixedwood Plains still look natural. Most of the original forest and wetlands were cleared for farms and cities. (Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife)
  • Thinking permafrost means ice on the surface all year. It is frozen ground beneath a surface layer that can thaw each summer. (Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife)
  • Thinking all Canadian rivers flow south. A large share of Canada's water flows north to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. (Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents)
  • Confusing a river's source and mouth. The source is where it begins (upstream); the mouth is where it empties (downstream). (Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents)
  • Believing the Gulf Stream warms the whole Atlantic coast of Canada. The cold Labrador Current hugs Newfoundland and Labrador, which is why their coasts are cold. (Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents)
  • Saying El Niño "causes" every warm winter. It makes milder winters more likely in parts of Canada, but other factors also matter. (Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents)
  • Treating a watershed as only the river itself. It is all the land that drains into the river, including farms, towns and roads. (Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents)
  • Using "hazard" and "disaster" as if they mean the same thing. A hazard becomes a disaster only when it seriously harms a community. (Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada)
  • Ignoring vulnerability. The same storm can be harmless in one place and deadly in another because of who and what is exposed. (Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada)
  • Reading every rise in hazard data as a real increase. Better detection and more buildings in harm's way can raise the numbers too. (Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada)
  • Thinking Ontario has no earthquake or hurricane risk. The Ottawa–Montréal area has earthquakes, and Hurricane Hazel devastated Toronto in 1954. (Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada)
  • Forgetting that people can make hazards worse, for example by paving, draining wetlands or building on floodplains. (Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada)
  • Mixing up mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation cuts emissions (the cause); adaptation reduces harm from the effects. (Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation)
  • Assuming climate change only matters in the Arctic. Heat waves, floods, ticks and wildfire smoke affect southern Ontario too. (Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation)
  • Treating every consequence as purely environmental. Climate change also has economic, social and political consequences. (Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation)
  • Saying Canada is warming at the global rate. Since 1948 Canada has warmed about 1.7 times as fast as the world (almost twice as fast since 1970), and the North more than twice as fast. (Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation)
  • Judging a strategy on one criterion only. Strong assessments weigh effectiveness, cost, fairness and co-benefits. (Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation)
  • Treating symbols as neutral. Every national image chooses what to show and what to leave out. (People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship)
  • Describing Indigenous peoples' relationship with the land only in the past tense. First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities are leading stewardship and conservation today. (People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship)
  • Assuming all members of a group share the same view. First Nations, for example, hold different positions on projects such as the Ring of Fire roads. (People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship)
  • Listing activities without linking them to physical characteristics. Say why: "mining because the Shield's rock is rich in metals." (People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship)

Practice test

24 questions from across the unit. Each one shows the lesson it comes from.

  1. Canada's Landform Regions
    1
    Match each landform region to its best description.
    Canadian Shield
    Western Cordillera
    Interior Plains
    Appalachian Region
    Hudson Bay Lowlands
  2. Canada's Landform Regions
    2
    Why are the Appalachian Mountains much lower and rounder than the Rocky Mountains?
  3. Canada's Landform Regions
    3
    Which Ontario landform region has the most farms and the most people?
  4. Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation
    4
    Put the steps in the order that turns an exposed rock into new sedimentary rock.
    1. 1Erosion carries the pieces away in a river
    2. 2Layers are buried, compacted and cemented into rock
    3. 3The sediment is deposited in layers on a lake or sea floor
    4. 4Weathering breaks the rock into small pieces
  5. Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation
    5
    Which landform is a long, winding ridge of sand and gravel left by a river that flowed under a glacier?
  6. Rock Cycle, Plate Tectonics and Glaciation
    6
    How did glaciers help form the Great Lakes?
  7. Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs
    7
    Iqaluit's coldest month is February, averaging about −27.0 °C, and its warmest month is July, averaging about 8.1 °C. What is its annual temperature range, in °C, to one decimal place?
    °C
  8. Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs
    8
    Using the approximate normals, order these cities from smallest to largest annual temperature range.
    1. 1St. John's (about 21 °C)
    2. 2Winnipeg (about 36 °C)
    3. 3Toronto (about 27 °C)
    4. 4Vancouver (about 14 °C)
  9. Climate and Its Factors; Reading Climate Graphs
    9
    A sudden cold snap in southern Ontario in February is most likely caused by which of these?
  10. Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife
    10
    Match each ecozone to its natural vegetation.
    Southern Arctic
    Prairies
    Pacific Maritime
    Boreal Shield
  11. Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife
    11
    What is the name for ground that stays at or below 0 °C for at least two years in a row?
  12. Ecozones: Vegetation, Soils and Wildlife
    12
    The treeline is moving north in parts of the Arctic. Which interrelationship best explains this?
  13. Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents
    13
    Match each river to the ocean drainage area it belongs to.
    Mackenzie River
    Fraser River
    St. Lawrence River
    Nelson River
    Milk River
  14. Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents
    14
    Why is there so much fog over the Grand Banks?
  15. Water: Drainage Basins, Lakes, Rivers and Ocean Currents
    15
    Order the journey of water from a farm field near Kitchener to the ocean.
    1. 1The Atlantic Ocean
    2. 2The St. Lawrence River
    3. 3Lake Erie
    4. 4A small creek beside the field
    5. 5The Grand River
  16. Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada
    16
    Match each event to the hazard type.
    Lytton, BC, reaches 49.6 °C (2021)
    Elie, Manitoba (2007)
    Frank, Alberta (1903)
    Fiona (2022)
    Haida Gwaii (1949)
  17. Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada
    17
    Put the stages of emergency management in order, starting long before a disaster.
    1. 1Preparedness
    2. 2Recovery
    3. 3Response
    4. 4Mitigation
  18. Natural Hazards and Disasters in Canada
    18
    Which human action most directly increased the flood risk on Sumas Prairie in BC?
  19. Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation
    19
    Which of these is a mitigation strategy?
  20. Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation
    20
    Match each climate impact to the region where it is a major concern.
    Thawing permafrost damaging buildings and runways
    Rising seas and storm surges eroding the coast of PEI
    Less snowpack in the Rockies feeding rivers for farms
    Heavier downpours flooding basements in big cities
  21. Climate Change in Canada: Consequences, Mitigation and Adaptation
    21
    Toronto's green roof bylaw is often described as both adaptation and mitigation. Which benefit is the mitigation part?
  22. People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship
    22
    Match each human activity to the physical characteristic that makes it possible.
    Nickel mining in Sudbury
    Wheat and canola farming in Saskatchewan
    Hydroelectric dams in Quebec and Manitoba
    Skiing in Whistler
  23. People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship
    23
    What is the name of the protected area around the East Arm of Great Slave Lake, established in 2019 and led by the Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation?
  24. People and the Land: Livelihoods, Identity and Stewardship
    24
    Match each national symbol to the part of Canada's physical geography it comes from.
    The loonie
    The maple leaf
    Banff and the Rockies
    "The True North"

Endless drill

Fresh numbers every time, for the calculation questions in this unit.

Endless drillnew numbers every time

Generating a problem…

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