5+Mixedwood+Plains

**__Mixed Wood Plains__**

__Introduction__
The mixed wood plains (shown in PEACH above) is the __smallest __ ecozones in Canada however it is home to approximately ¼ of Canada's total population. This is because it fits the needs of everyone's lifestyle, from a farmer to a winter sports enthusiast. It has a very desirable climate to live in as well as to meet agricultural needs. It has ideal soil for farming and has many possible job opportunity's and recreational things to do. It truly is one of the __best __ places to live not just in Canada but in the world.

__Landform Regions__
The landform region this ecozone is in: Great Lakes St. Lawrence Lowlands **(PINK)**  The landscape is mostly flat, with rolling hills, deep river valleys and some higher mountains, that can be used for skiing or snowboarding but are not nearly as high of an elevation as the Appalachians or the Rocky's.There are a few lakes and rivers formed by glaciation in the last ice age (started about 100 000 year ago and ended less then 15 000 years ago)

__** How the Great Lakes Lowlands were formed **__  The Great Lakes Lowlands were formed by glaciation. Glaciation is when glaciers move and sculpt and carve away the land beneath them. The glaciers weight, combined by gradual movement, can drastically reshape the landscape. These huge masses of ice ** erode ** the lands surface a nd carries broken rocks and soil debris far from there original places, creating some interesting land forms like the ** Great Lakes **. These lakes were carved out by glaciers then later filled in by the melting of the ice. These glaciers carried huge amounts of soil, sand and gravel from the Canadian shield and dumped them throughout this region. 

**__ How the St. Lawrence Lowlands were formed __** A rift valley was created by faulting. This is when a portion of the land between to faults (cracks in the earth surface) drops down. Again glaciation then carved the St. Lawrence river and it was later filled in with ice melting. This rift valley created the St. Lawrence Lowlands <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="color: #8416bb; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__Rocks and Minerals__
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> This area is made up of ** Precambrian Rocks ** (from the Canadian Shield) **and** ** Ordovician limestone (Sedimentary rock) ** (from subtropical sea deposits). There is also bedrock formed by sedimentary rock in the Paleozoic era. It can be seen from the Niagara escarpment. <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Some of the main minerals mined in this area are: **Gold, Copper, Zinc and Nickel** <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">***Ontario is the second largest Nickle producer in the word** <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">(top from left to right: gold, copper, zinc. Bottom: Nickle)

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8416bb; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__**Climate**__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The climate region this ecozone is in: Southeastern **(PINK)** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">This climate has cold short winters and long hot and humid summers. The amount of precipitation each month stays around the same amount in comparison to other major Canadian cities, however the highest precipitation happens in August and the lowest in February on average. The winters are very cold and can reach the lowest temperature of around -20 degrees C and extremely hot summers reaching the highest temperature of around 29 degrees C. The wind and humidity greatly effect the temperature in this region, that is one of the reason the temperature range feels larger than is actually is.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The southeastern climate region is effected by the **tropical air masses** which can bring heat waves, poor air quality and drought in the summer.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The great lakes also greatly effect the climate in this region because when the air masses pass over them they take on the characteristics of the of the lakes below and bring lots of summer showers and humid weather. However the heat of the great lakes can protect most of the cites in this region from the worst of the winter cold. The great lakes also moderate intense tropical air, which often hit this region. The combination of uniform precipitation amounts throughout the year, short winter and longer summers with with moderate temperatures year-round make this region **one of the most suitable in Canada** for both human settlement and agriculture. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">I choose to created a climate graph of the Capital city, Toronto using Microsoft excel.

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Total precipitation: **765.5mm** <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Temperature range: **27.1ºC** <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The mixed wood plains are in a **Continental climate** because the temperature range is between 25ºC to 50ºC and the precipitation is between 200mm to 1000mm annually.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #8416bb; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__**Vegetation and Soil**__

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Soil region this ecozone is the: Wet-climate soils (**YELLOW**)
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The soil in the wet-climates soil region: The humus from all the diffrent types of trees creates a deep grey-brown top soil rich in menerals. Soils in this region are well suited for farming because all of this humus holds the water and leaching is less of a problem. Leaching is when there is a contiual dowward movement of water through the soil, as the water moves down it dissolves the chemical nutirents in the soil and carries them away. There is lots of farming in this region because the soil is so rich in mineral bacause they don't get washed away through leaching. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Some of the things grown in the mixed wood plains are: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">***The growing season is between 180-260 days**
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Corn, wheat, oats, barley, mixed grains, hay, soybeans, other beans, potatoes
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Apples, peaches, sour cherries, raspberries, strawberries, grapes
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Sweet corn, tomatoes, green peas, grren or waxed bea

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The vegetation region this ecozone is in: The Mixed forest (**GREEN**) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Mixed wood plain falls into, mostly, the mixed forest vegetation region. this mean that there are both **decidous** and **coniferous** trees growing in this region (map,eech, ash, oak and birch are growing the same forest as spruce, fir, pine and hemlock). Both types of trees can survive in this region because they are both suited for warmer summers and cool winters. The regular abundant precipitation in this region is also suitable for both types of trees. The mixed forest region is a **transition** between the boreal and taiga forest (only coniferous trees, yellow on map above) and the decidous forest (only decidous trees, bright red on the map above).

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">** __Natural__ ** **__Vegetation__** mean plants that would grow in an area absence of humus influnce, Some of the types of natural vegetation in the mixed wood plains is:
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">White and red pine
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Oak trees
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Elm trees
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Maple trees
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Birch tree
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Eastern hemlock
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Black Spruce
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Eastern red and white Cedar
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Aspin
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Downy Serviceberry

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Unfortunately little of the trees remain in this ecozone because many have been cut down because of farming urban development, transportation routes and forestry.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__ **Fun Facts** __ <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The mixed wood plains are such a great place to live because it could suit the needs of any type of person. There are rural farming areas, that are very profitable because of the wide variety of crops you could choose to grow, and the great condition of the soil. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">There is also some very urban environments, if you enjoy that fast paced lifestyle. With a large number of jobs available, at all different income and skill levels, for whatever your interest is, anything from a government office job to opening your own business. If you are interested in this type of living you may want to consider moving to an city like Toronto or Ottawa. Both cites are filled with theaters, amusement parks, clubs, restaurants, museums, sports, and other tourist attractions that both the residence and the visitors go to often.

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> To get a feel of all the different cultures and the atmosphere of the urban areas please watch the video below, and notice all the different landmarks and attractions shown in the video. <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">media type="youtube" key="9W6Jl3beOlY" height="353" width="425"

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The urban areas have an extremely high population of people, in fact even through the mixed wood planes is the smallest ecozone in Canada, occupying less the 10% of the province and less then 1.4% of Canada's total area (with a total area of only 107 017 km²) it is home to ** about 50% ** of Canada's total population and **over** ** 57% ** of Ontario's total population. It is so populated because of its excellent soils and warm climate as well as the flat land is ideal for transportation and development of cities.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">** Other Fun Facts ** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">
 * <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">the CN tower (located in Toronto, ON) is one of the largest free-standing structure in the word
 * <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Niagara Falls were made naturally and are one of the 8 natural wonders of the world
 * <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The great lakes contribute to 20% of Canada's clean water
 * <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Is home to the most fresh water beaches in Canada
 * <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Has many natural tourism attractions as well like skiing mountains, national parks, hiking trails, and landmarks.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__ **Trivia** __ <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">1. The landscape in the mixed wood plains was formed by glaciers, explain how glaciers can alter land?

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">2. What type of rock make up most of the mixed wood plains? <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> a) sedimentary <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> b) igneous <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> c) metamorphic

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">3. Why are there not many forested areas left in the mixed wood plains?

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">4.The climate region the mixed wood plains is in is the southeastern <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> a) true <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> b) false

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">5. What types of trees are in the mixed wood plains, coniferous, deciduous or both, explain?

<span style="color: #8416bb; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**__Answers__** <span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">1. As glaciers move they sculpt and carve away the land beneath them. The glaciers weight, combined by gradual movement, can drastically reshape the landscape. These huge masses of ice **erode** the lands surface and carries broken rocks and soil debris far from there original places, creating some interesting land forms

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">2. a) sedimentary rock

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">3. Due to mostly urbanization and forestry not many forested areas are left in the mixed wood plains. This is also because such a large, dense population lives in this area there is not much room for natural forest because most of the space is occupied and developed.

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">4. a) true

<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">5. Both, because the mixed wood plains is in a mixed forested vegetation region, meaning it has both types of trees.

<span style="color: #8416bb; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**__Bibliography:__**

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">[|http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/canada-country-study/intro.html#current]

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<span style="color: #bc59ee; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Making Connections, Canada's Geography text book, Second edition.