canadian shield

English - English

Definition of canadian shield in English English dictionary

An area of very old bedrock surrounding Hudson Bay, and covering about half the land area of Canada

One of the world's largest geologic continental shields, centred on Hudson Bay and extending for 3 million sq mi (8 million sq km) over Canada from the Great Lakes to the Canadian Arctic and into Greenland, with small extensions into northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York. It is the largest mass of exposed Precambrian rock on earth. The region as a whole is composed of ancient crystalline rocks whose complex structure attests to a long history of uplift and depression, mountain building, and erosion

Hyphenation

Ca·na·di·an shield

Turkish pronunciation

kıneydiın şild

Synonyms

laurentian shield, laurentian plateau, precambrian shield

Pronunciation

/kəˈnādēən ˈsʜēld/ /kəˈneɪdiːən ˈʃiːld/

Etymology

() Canadian + shield.