Canadian Shield facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Canadian Shield Stratigraphic range: Precambrian 4500–540 mya
Type	Shield
Unit of	North American craton
Sub-units	Laurentian Upland Kazan
Area	8 000 000 km2
Location
Region	North America
Country	Canada  United States
The Canadian Shield is a broad region of Precambrian rock (pictured in shades of red) that encircles Hudson Bay. It spans eastern, northeastern, and east-central Canada and the upper midwestern United States.

The Canadian Shield is also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier canadien (French).

It is a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks (geological shield). It is the ancient geological core of the North American continent (the North American Craton or Laurentia).

A continuation of the shield is in west Greenland, to which it was once connected. In the United States the shield is mostly covered with much younger rocks and sediment.

The Canadian Shield round Hudson Bay is covered with shallow soil. Its main industrial use is for mining.

Images for kids

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  Typical shield landscape in a southern Ontario region with very few old growth trees, due to a history of logging and fires. Black River, Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park.

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  Weathered Precambrian pillow lava in the Temagami Greenstone Belt

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  Folded Precambrian gneiss of the Canadian Shield in Georgian Bay, Ontario

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  Typical Canadian Shield landscape: spruce, lakes, bogs, and rock

See also

In Spanish: Escudo Canadiense para niños