The Central Lowland is a flat-lying region located between the Appalachian Mountains to the east and the Great Plains to the west (Figure 4.5). Today, rivers running through this region, including the Missouri and Red rivers, have contributed significantly to erosion.

Upper Mississippi River

The Central Lowlands, sometimes called the Midland Valley or Central Valley, is a geologically defined area of relatively low-lying land in southern Scotland.

The Interior Lowlands are located west of the Appalachian Mountains and east of the Great Plains. The main geographic characteristics of this region include: rolling flat lands with many rivers, broad river valleys, and grassy hills.

This entire region is generally flat in elevation, but has many stages: hills,cliffs, low mountains , forests, wide river valleys, and sand dunes. As these plains are comprised of different provinces in central Canada, it was hence therefore named the interior plains of Canada.

The Interior Plains have rolling hills, plains and some mountains. Most of the land is flat. This plains has lots of land levels. It is highest in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Interior Lowlands The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers were the transportation arteries for farm and industrial products. They were links to ports and other parts of the world. The Ohio River was the gateway to the west.

In the United States the Great Plains are drained by the Missouri River and its tributaries (the Yellowstone, Platte, and Kansas) and the Red, Rio Grande, and Arkansas rivers, which flow eastward from the Rockies in broad, steep-sided, shallow valleys.

The Hudson Bay Lowlands were formed by eroded parts of the Canadian Shield that were gradually pushed down into rocks. The weight of the glacier dug up the residue and changed the surface. Limestone is found there commonly, along with oil and natural gas.

The Interior Plains are a vast, generally flat region in the central United States. They consist mainly of the Central Lowland of the Midwestern states and the Great Plains province to the west. Also in this region are the Interior Low Plateaus, which dominate central Kentucky and Tennessee.

The Canadian Shield is the ancient core of the North American Continent. It is composed mainly of highly metamorphosed granite, with smaller areas of metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks and some areas of relatively horizontal but still quite ancient sedimentary rocks.

Note: Sedimentary rocks are mainly found in South-Eastern Québec and the crystalline (metamorphic and intrusive) rocks in the Precambrian area in the north-eastern part of the province (modified from the Geological Survey of Canada web site map 2007).

Some of the best examples of the most recent volcanism in Canada can be found in BC: the Mt Garibaldi belt in the south; several centres in Wells Gray Provincial Park in central BC; and Mt Edziza and Level Mt in the north.