GEOG 162 Lecture 8: Western Canada
8 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Challenges of interior location: dry continental climate makes farming risky, long distance to markets raises transport costs. Current fortune tied to non-renewable resources; renewable resources present opportunity for sustainable economy. Leads the country in rate of economic/population increase. Interior plains: petroleum, coal, potash, bitumen, key areas, western sedimentary basin, athabasca tar sands, canadian shield, mining (e. g. uranium, production of hydroelectricity, cordillera & hudson bay lowlands, small sections of each. Vegetation and soil vary in roughly north-south zones. Arid conditions, especially in the dry belt (palliser"s triangle) Multiple threats posed by oil sands extraction: release of greenhouse gases, scarred landscape from open-pit mining, resource-and energy-draining separation of oil from bitumen. Drought and other hazards relate to arid climate. Pressure on water resource from climate warming and increased population and industry. Disposal of radioactive waste from abandoned uranium mines before it seeps into lake athabasca and spreads throughout the mackenzie river system.
