Earth Science 7 - North America 8
North America
Contents
Political
Countries: Canada, United States of America, Mexico
Geography
Latitude and Longitude (Including Islands)
Most Southern Point - 14° N [2] Most Northern Point - 83° N [3] Eastern Most Point - 52° W [4] Western Most Point - 173° E [5]
Topography
Bodies of Water
Pacific Ocean Arctic Ocean Bearing Sea Beaufort Sea Gulf of Alaska Hudson Bay James Bay Great Lakes Atlantic Ocean Gulf of Mexico Caribbean Sea Gulf of California Baffin Bay Labrador Sea [6]
Elevation Levels
Lowest: Death Valley, California: -282 feet / 86 meters below sea level [7]
Highest: Mount McKinley (Denali), Alaska: 20,320 feet / 6194 meters above sea level [8]
===Terrain Features===/ Types of Topography
Sierra Madre Oriental
Appalachian Mountains
Sierra Madre Occidental
Sierra-Cascade Range
Continental Divide
Rocky Mountains
Cordilleran Highlands
Great Plains [9]
Köppen Classification System
H – Highland
Dfc – Subarctic
Aw – Tropical Savannah
BWh – Subtropical-Desert
BWk – mid-latitude desert
BSh – Sub-tropical steppe
BSk – mid-latitude steppe
Cfa – humid subtropical
Dfb – Humid continental
Dfa – Humid continental
Af – tropical wet
Am – tropical monsoonal
Geographical Effects
latitude effect on the climate The farther north it is in North America the colder it is.
elevation effect on the temperature in the united states The farther north it is in North America the colder it is.
Geology
Rock Types
[1],
Alaska
All of central USA
Western Canada
Northern islands of Canada
Florida
All of Texas and surrounding areas
Cuba
Northeast Mexico
Yucatan peninsula
They are there because there was water for the clasts to cement in or their was the correct material in a certain area.
Volcanic (Igneous) [14]
Western Mexico
Southern Central America 
Northern California
Washington
Oregon
Scattered around Alaska
A tiny bit in northern Canada
A sliver near the Carolinas
A bit in Cuba
In the past, there was volcanic activity causing lava to cool quickly on the surface of the Earth. It is extrusive.
Plutonic (Igneous) [15]
West coast of Alaska and British Colombia
Scattered around North to Northeastern Canada
Southern California to Baja California 
East coast/New England
They form when magma rises into the upper crust and cools. The magma cools slowly and doesn’t reach the surface. They magma can come from an old volcano or can just flow from deep in the Earth.
Metamorphic [16]
Rocky Mountains
Northern/Northeastern Canada 
Islands on top of Canada
Appalachian Mountain area
A tiny bit in central Alaska
Scattered in Central America
The metamorphic rocks form in their locations because the location has the correct heat or pressure amount to change the rock. Also, there is the correct parent rock in the location.
Minerals
Mining Resources
In the southern part of Alaska there are two places coal is mined.
Coal is also mined in the Southwestern part of Canada and the South/Middle part of Canada.
Coal is mined in the middle of the United States.
There are a total of 11 places coal is mined in bulk in North America.
Gold is mined in different parts of North America: The Northeastern part of Alaska and in Canada just above the Great Lakes.
Lead and Zinc are mined in the center of Canada. 
Iron is mined in the eastern most part of Canada, in the center of Mexico, and in northeast United States.
Oil is mined in the upper/middle part of Alaska. Oil is also mined in the southwest corner of Canada. In addition, oil is mined in southeast United States and in east and west Texas.
Copper is mined on the western coast of North America and in the center of Canada.
Bauxite is mined in Cuba.
Uranium is mined in the middle of Canada.
Silver is mined in the center of Mexico, in Washington, and in southeast Canada.
Plate Tectonics
North America is made up from the North America Plate, the Cocos Plate, the Juan de Fuca Plate, and the Caribbean plate.
North America Plate boundary type- Convergent and Transform
Juan de Fuca Plate boundary type- Divergent and Convergent
Cocos Plate boundary type- Convergent
Caribbean Plate boundary type- Transform
North America Plate margin type- Destructive and Conservation
Juan de Fuca Plate margin type- Destructive and Conservation
Cocos Plate margin type- Destructive and Constructive
Caribbean Plate margin type- Destructive and Constructive [18] [19]
Volcanoes
North America has volcanic activity.
Locations of Volcanoes
West Coast
Cascade Mountains
Aleutian Islands
Central Mexico
Pacific Coast of Central America (Heavily populated with volcanoes)
Yellowstone
A few in the Rocky Mountains
Scattered in Arizona and New Mexico
Hawaii
There are no volcanoes in the east.
Types of Volcanoes
There are a lot of cinder cones on the West Coast of North America.
In the Cascade Mountains and the surrounding areas, there are a lot of composite volcanoes.
In Hawaii, Northern California, and Oregon there are a few shield volcanoes. The largest is Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
There are lava domes scattered along the west coast.
Recent Eruptions
Mt. St. Helens – Washington current
Popocatepetl – Mexico 2007
Arenal - Coasta Rica current
Colima - Mexico current
Conception - Nicaragua 2010
Fuego – Guatemala current
Kilahuea - Hawaii current
Akutan - Alaska 1996
Earthquakes
North America commonly has earthquakes.
Locations of Recent Earthquakes
[23]
All of these earthquakes have occurred within the past week. Also, the larger the square, the larger the magnitude of the earthquake.
Major Past Earthquakes
Mexico City Earthquake- September 19, 1985
New England Earthquake- November 18, 1755
New Madrid, Missouri- December 16, 1811
New Madrid, Missouri- February 7, 1812
Tejon Pass Earthquake in California- January 9, 1857
Charleston, South Carolina- August 31, 1896
Hawaiian Earthquake- April 2, 1868
The Great San Francisco Earthquake in California- April 18, 1906
Olympia, Washington Earthquake- April 13, 1949
Hebgen Lake, Montana- August 17, 1959
The Alaska Good Friday Earthquake- March 27, 1964
Seattle, Washington Earthquake- April 29, 1965
Hawaii Earthquake- November 29, 1975
The Landers Earthquake, California- June 28, 1992
[24] http://www.plate-tectonics.org/earthquakes/major-earthquakes-of-north-america.html
Rocks and Their Relation to Plate Tectonics
The rocks of North America are related to plate tectonics because of the tectonic rock cycle.
[25] http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/fichter/Wilson/rkcytst.html
Sources
[26] http://www.apiai.org/tribeDesc.asp?page=tribes&tribe=Attu
[27] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/126944/Cape-Columbia
[28] http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/latitude_and_longitude_finder.htm
[29] http://www.findlatitudeandlongitude.com/?loc=Cape+Spear%2C+Newfoundland
[30] http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/namera.htm
[31] http://geography.about.com/od/learnabouttheearth/a/extremes_2.htm
[32] http://geography.about.com/od/learnabouttheearth/a/extremes.htm
[33] http://www.forestencyclopedia.net/p/p366
[34] http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011700b.htm
[35] http://geography.about.com/gi/o.htmzi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=geography&cdn=education&tm=13&f=00&su=p284.12.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/100/koppen_web/koppen_map.htm
[36] http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/geology/types/types.html
[37] http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/geology/types/sedimentary.html
[38] http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/geology/types/volcanic.html
[39] http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/geology/types/plutonic.html
[40] http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/geology/types/metamorph.html
[41] http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-mineral-map.htm
[42] http://www.google.com/earth/index.html
[43] http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/2007/01/plate-boundaries.html
[44] http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volc/types.html
[45] http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763388.html
[47] http://www.plate-tectonics.org/earthquakes/major-earthquakes-of-north-america.html
[48] http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/fichter/Wilson/rkcytst.html
