gcse geography paper 1 - ullswater community college

GCSE GeographyPaper 1

Section A:

Tectonic Hazards

Weather Hazards

Climate Change

Section B:

Ecosystems

Tropical Rainforests

Cold Environments (not hot deserts)

Section C:

Coasts

Rivers

One Last Time…

Natural Hazards

Definition – a natural event (earthquake, volcanic eruption, tropical storm etc) that poses harm to people and property.

Types of natural hazards – atmospheric (tropical storms), geomorphological (earthquakes, landslides), flooding

Factors that increase hazard risk – urbanisation, agriculture, poverty, climate change.

Tectonic Hazards

Plate tectonic theory – earths crust split into several tectonic plates.

Distribution of EQ – found in belts along all plate margins. Some found away from margins due to human activity such as fracking.

Distribution of V – found in belts along constructive and destructive plate margins (Ring of Fire), hotspots (Hawaii).

Processes at Destructive margins – move towards each other, subduction, ocean trench, composite volcanoes, fold mountains, earthquakes, slab pull, convection currents.

Processes at Constructive margins – move away from each other, ridge push, convection currents, shield volcanoes, earthquakes.

Processes at Conservative margins – move past each other side by side, earthquakes.

Tectonic Hazards

Tectonic Hazards (examples)

Gorka, Nepal (2015) → M7.9 GDP: $21bn Maule, Chile (2010) → M8.8 GDP: $247bn

Primary Effects Primary Effects

• 9000 dead, 20 000 injured• 7000 schools collapses, 500 000 homes destroyed• Communication lines broken• 1.4mn needed food, water, shelter

• 500 dead, 12 000 injured• 4500 schools damaged, 220 000 homes destroyed• Power lost• Ports and airport damaged

Secondary Effects Secondary Effects

• 3mn homeless• Landslides and avalanches on Everest• 250 missing from avalanche• Evacuation due to Gandaki River being blocked

(risk of flooding)

• Estimates 1.5mn homeless• Tsunamis devastated coastal towns• Remote communities cut off by landslides• Fire at a chemical plant near Santiago

Tectonic Hazards (examples)

Gorka, Nepal (2015) → M7.9 GDP: $21bn Maule, Chile (2010) → M8.8 GDP: $247bn

Immediate Responses Immediate Responses

• International help requested.• Search & rescue, water and medical supplies from

UK, India and China• Field hospitals set up• 500 000 tents provided

• Emergency services acted quickly. • Field hospitals set up• Satellite phones used and floating bridges• Power and water restored to 90% of homes• Repairs made to route 5 north-south highway

within 24 hrs

Long-term Responses Long-term Responses

• Roads repaired and landslides cleared• Blocked lakes/rivers cleared• Stricter laws on building codes• New trekking routes opened on Everest and visas

extended

• Reconstruction plan launched to help nearly 200 000 homes affected

• Copper exports helped restore the economy• Up to four years to recover

Tectonic Hazards

Why people live near tectonic hazards – poverty, low frequency of events, geothermal energy, agriculture.

Reducing the effects

Monitoring – ground deformation, water pressure changes, satellite imagery,

Predicting – past events, smaller earthquakes

Planning – seismic maps, planning restrictions, building regulations, earthquake kits, evacuation plans, drills

Protecting – earthquake resistant buildings, drills, tsunami walls

Weather Hazards

General atmospheric circulation – low pressure belts at 0 and 60 degrees north and south of the equator, cumulonimbus clouds and rainfall. High pressure belts at 30 and 90 degrees north and south of the equator, calm clear skies. Surface winds move air around the world, warm air rises and cold air sinks.

Distribution of tropical storms – between 5 and 30 degrees north and south of the equator, usually between the tropic of cancer and Capricorn where oceans are warmest.

Weather Hazards

Causes of tropical storms – warm oceans (over 27 degrees Celsius), Coriolis effect (earth’s spin), low air pressure (warm air rises to take evaporated water with it), condensation, clouds, wind.

Features of a tropical storm – eye (cold air sinks, weather is calmest, no rain), eyewall (winds are strong and rain is heavy).

Climate change will increase the intensity and frequency of tropical storms. Tropical storms may occur more north and south of the equator as oceans become warmer.

Weather Hazards

Typhoon Haiyan (2013) Phillipines, Classed as C5 tropical storm

Primary Effects

• 50% of houses destroyed• 6190 dead• 75% of farmers and fishermen lost income• Damage to rice crops cost $53mn• Oil barge caused a 800 000 litre spill• 400 mm of rainfall caused flooding

Secondary Effects

• 4.1 mn homeless• Infection and disease spread due to contaminated water• 8 dead in a stampede as survivors fought for rice crops• Power supplies cut off for a month• Schools destroyed• Looting and violence in Tacloban due to lack of food• Flooding caused landslides

Weather Hazards


Immediate Responses

• Government televised a warning for people to evacuate• Over 1200 evacuation centres were set up• Emergency aid arrived 3 days later by plane• 800 000 people evacuated• Curfew imposed 2 days after to reduce looting• Beckhams, X Factor and Coca-cola fundraised • 1mn food packs and 250 000 litres of water distributed

Long-term Responses

• A cash for work programme set up to pay people to clear debris• More cyclone shelters were built• Mangroves (crop) were replanted• A no build zone established where there was risk of flooding• Build back better recovery plan was launched in 2014 – reinforced buildings• Total damage cost - $12 bn

Weather Hazards

Reducing the effects of tropical storms –

Monitoring – satellite imagery to spot cloud formation, planes carrying equipment which feeds data back to supercomputer

Predicting – path of tropical storm can be predicted using satellite imagery

Protection – shutters on windows, storm drains, cyclone shelters, stronger concrete, steel framework on buildings, sea walls

Planning – raise awareness through education, survival packs and action plans to evacuate, hazard maps

Weather Hazards

Weather hazards in the UK – drought in summer, snow, flooding, storms, heavy rainfall, heatwaves

Weather Hazards


Cause: Several low pressure systems moving across Atlantic picked up by Polar jet stream and directed towards the west of the UK.

Social Effects

• More than 600 homes were flooded. • Sixteen farms were evacuated.• Temporary accommodation for residents was needed for several months.• Communities cut off

Economic Effects

• Over 14 000 hectares of agriculture land flooded for weeks.• Railway lines were closed and roads cut off• £10 million damage cost.

Environmental Effects

• Rivers were contaminated with sewage, oils and chemicals.• Debris was deposited across the land.

Weather Hazards

Management Strategies to Reduce Risk

• River banks were raised and strengthened.

• Somerset County Council pledged £20 million on a Flood Action Plan.

• Rivers Tone and Parratt were dredged in March 2014.

• Road levels were raised.

• Flood defences for communities at risk.

• Pumping stations were built.

• By 2024, there is potential for a tidal barrage.

Climate Change

Evidence for climate change – 65% of Arctic ice cap melted since 1970, sea level rise by 10-20cm in last 100 years, temperature increase by 1 degrees Celsius since 1880.

Natural causes of climate change – Milankovitch cycle, volcanic eruptions and sun spot activity.

Human causes of climate change – use of fossil fuels, deforestation and agriculture.

Climate Change

Effects of climate change on people and environment – health, food and water insecurity, drought, desertification, flooding, temperature increase.

Mitigating climate change – alternative energy production (wind and solar power), carbon capture and storage, planting trees (Queens commonwealth canopy), international agreements (Paris Agreement 2015)

Adapting to climate change – change in agriculture systems (greenhouses), managing water supply (1/2 flush and full flush toilets, recycling rainwater), reducing risk from rising sea levels (houses on stilts in Maldives).

Ecosystems

Deciduous woodlands (Epping Forest), producers are green plants produce their own food, primary consumers eat the producer and secondary consumers eat the primary consumer and producers, decomposers break down organic matter (dead plants and animals) and feed nutrients back into the soil to work with the climate and rainfall to allow biodiversity to flourish (interdependence).

Disease and deforestation could cause imbalance between components leading to extinction of biodiversity.

Tropical rainforests found between 5 and 30 degrees north and south of the equator, polar and tundra regions found between 60 and 90 degrees south and north of the equator (Arctic, Antarctica, Russia). Deciduous woodlands in Europe. Deserts in Africa, south east Asia and Australia.


Physical characteristics of a tropical rainforest – forest floor (dark and damp), under canopy, canopy and emergents.

The interdependence of climate, water, soils, plants and animals –equatorial climate (around 27 degrees Celsius) throughout the year and high rainfall – ideal for biodiversity. Water is high due to a distinct wet season, there is excess water on the ground and swelling rivers. Soils are not very fertile, nutrients are in the top soils. Plants and animals flourish in the TR, TR have the highest levels of biodiversity in the world.


Nutrient cycling – vast majority of nutrients stored in biomass (mostly trees), soil contains few nutrients, as nutrients are released quickly by decomposers are quickly absorbed by the trees and plants or leached into the soil by heavy rainfall, few nutrients in the litter store, as decomposers in the warm and wet conditions quickly break down the dead leaves and branches.

Change in the ecosystem/issues relating to biodiversity – disease, deforestation and forest degradation (fires) can lead to species becoming extinct.


Plant adaptations – drip tips, buttress roots, long trunks (45m), leaves in the canopy layer, waxy leaves.

Animal adaptations – spider monkeys (long tail to help swing through trees), sloths have camouflage and move slowly, flying frog has webbed hands and feet to help it glide and the toucan has a long beak to help it reach out and cut fruit and nuts from the trees.

Tropical Rainforests (Amazon)

Changing rates of deforestation – decreasing in Brazil due to more TR becoming protecting, increasing in Indonesia and Peru due to economic development.

Causes of deforestation – subsistence and commercial farming. In Brazil, cattle ranching accounts for 80% of deforestation. Logging, road building (Trans-Amazonian Highway in Brazil), Mineral extraction such as gold, bauxite and copper in Brazil, energy development (Belo Monte dam in Brazil) and settlement and population growth.


Impacts of deforestation –

economic development (mining and commercial farming generates employment, HEP, Taxes can be used to improve education and healthcare, loss of biodiversity may reduce tourism).

Soil erosion (major problem, topsoil is washed away due to high rainfall and flooding, less farming).

Climate change (more co2 in the atmosphere increases global temperatures, climate will become drier due to there being less tress so less moisture and evapotranspiration).


Value of tropical rainforests – resources (water, food and wood), medicine (around 25% of cancer drugs), freshwater (around 20% of world’s in Amazon basin), biodiversity (TR contain 50% of world’s plants and animals), energy (HEP), employment and carbon sinks.

Managing tropical rainforests – selective logging and replanting, conservation and education, ecotourism, international hardwood agreements and debt reduction.

Cold Environments

Physical characteristics of a cold environment – climate (below 0 degrees Celsius, lower than -50 in winter), precipitation (snow) is low in polar, higher in tundra. Permafrost is permanently frozen ground making it hard for biodiversity to grow and waterlogging in the summer. Soil formation requires high temperatures and rainfall. Plants and animals are well adapted to the climate.

Cold Environments

Plant adaptations –

Shallow roots enable plants to access the nutrients close to the surface.

Bearberry plant has thick stems to help withstand the wind and hairy stems to retain heat.

Mosses can cope with waterlogged conditions in the summer.

Animal adaptations -

Arctic foxes and arctic hares have thick fur on bodies and feet to retain heat.

Polar bears are white to camouflage in the snow.

Cold Environments

Issues relating to biodiversity – climate change could create longer warmer summers leading to melting permafrost. Biodiversity may decrease. Melting permafrost release carbon in the atmosphere.

Cold Environments (Svalbard)

Development opportunities –

mineral extraction (300 people employed in this, new coal mine near Svea in 2014)

Energy (coal used to power Longyearbyen station which supplies all of Svalbard, extensive reserves of coal and gas in Svalbards coastal waters)

Fishing and tourism (150 species in the waters, Svalbard’s water some of the richest in the world. 70 000 tourists a year, 30 000 cruise liners a year, tourism employs 300 people).

Cold Environments (Svalbard)

Challenges of developing cold environments –

Extreme temperatures (often below freezing, Longyearbyen often below -30).

Inaccessibility (only one run, flights from Norway or Russia, 50km of roads, transport mostly involves snow mobiles)

Buildings and Infrastructure – construction can only happen in the summer months, buildings are well insulated, gravel roads raised above the surface to prevent heat transfer)

Cold Environments

Value of the wilderness – polar and tundra region are fragile environments (a single footprint could last up to 10 years), cold environments provide habitats, scientists conduct research to try and understand global change.

Management strategies - use of technology (raised pipes), role of governments (NOAA monitor waters), international agreements (Antarctic treaty, 1961) and conservation groups (Greenpeace).

Physical Landscapes

Overview of UK highlands and lowlands – highlands in the north and north-west of the UK such as Scotland, Wales, North West of England due to rock being more resistant to erosion, lowlands in the south and south-east due to rocks being sedimentary and easier to erode.

Relief means the shape of the land, height above sea-level and steepness of slopes.

Coasts

Wave types and characteristics – destructive (usually over a metre, 12-14 per minute, plunges onto the beach, causes erosion, strong backwash). Constructive (low frequency 8-10 per minute, under 1 metre in height, strong swash, constructs beaches through transportation and deposition).

Coastal processes – weathering; mechanical (freeze-thaw) and chemical (carbonation) and mass movement (rock falls, landslides and slumping).

Coasts

Coastal processes – erosion (hydraulic action, abrasion and attrition)

Coastal processes – transportation (traction, suspension, longshoredrift)

Coastal processes – deposition (waves loose energy as friction increases in shallow waters)

Coasts

How geological structure influences landforms – geology (more resistant rock harder to erode – highlands), fractures (makes it easier to weather) and shape of the coastline (concordant and discordant).

Formation of erosional landforms - headlands and bays, cliffs and wave-cut platforms and caves, arches and stacks.

Formation of depositional landforms – beaches, sand dunes, spits and bars.

Coasts (Dorset)

An example of a section of a UK coastline to show major erosional and depositional landforms.

•Swanage is an example

of a headland and bay

•Old Harry Rocks is an

example of caves, stacks

and stumps

•at Chesil Beach there is

a bar

Coasts Management

Hard engineering (expensive and invasive but long-term) – sea walls, groynes, gabions, rock armour.

Soft engineering (cheaper and less invasive but short-term) – sand dune regeneration, beach nourishment, beach re-profiling

Managed retreat (coastal realignment) – medmerry.

Coasts Management (Medmerry)

An example of a UK coastal management strategy – Medmerry, West Sussex (costs £28 million)

Rivers

The long profile and changing cross profile of a river and its valley –upper course: v-shaped valleys, narrow and shallow channel, steep gradient, middle course: medium gradient, wider and deeper channel and lower course: almost flat gradient, wide and deep channel.

Fluvial processes –

Erosion – hydraulic action, attrition, abrasion and solution. Vertical and lateral erosion.

Transportation – traction, suspension, saltation and solution.

Deposition – low velocity increases deposition.

Rivers

Characteristics and formation of landforms resulting from erosion –interlocking spurs, waterfalls and gorges.

Characteristics and formation of landforms resulting from erosion and deposition – meanders and ox-bow lakes.

Characteristics and formation of landforms resulting from deposition –levées, flood plains and estuaries.

Rivers (River Tees)

An example of a river valley in the UK to identify its major landforms of erosion and deposition. •The upper course has hard impermeable

rocks. Here, vertical erosion has formed a V-

shaped valley.

•High Force, the UK's largest waterfall at 21

metres high is located in the upper course.

•As the River Tees starts to erode sideways (lateral erosion), it forms meanders. These can be identified in the middle course near Barnard Castle.

•Near Yarm, the meanders in the lower course are much larger, and oxbow lakes have formed. In this area there are also levees which have formed when the river has flooded.

Rivers

How physical and human factors affect the flood risk – precipitation (increase discharge and velocity), geology (rain infiltrates permeable rock), relief (rain reaches channel quicker on steeper slope) and land use (urbanisation increases surface run off through tarmac surfaces not being permeable).

The use of hydrographs to show the relationship between precipitation and discharge.

Rivers

Hard engineering (expensive and invasive but long-term) – dams and reservoirs, straightening, embankments, flood relief channels

Soft engineering (cheaper and less invasive but short-term) – flood warnings and preparation, flood plain zoning, planting trees and river restoration.

Rivers (Banbury Flood Management)

An example of a flood management scheme in the UK to show:

• why the scheme was required

Successive floods

social effects - Quality of life is improved as there are new footpaths and green areas

economic effects - (cost £17 million)

Environmental - Around 100,000 tonnes of earth were required to make the embankment. this created a reservoir habitat.

OS Maps (4 figure)

•Start at the left-hand side of the map and go east until you get to the easting crossing through the bottom-left-hand corner of the square you want. Write this number down.

•Move north until you get to the northing crossing the bottom-left-hand corner of the square you want. Look at the number of this grid line and add it to the two-digit number you already have. This is your four-figure grid reference.

•The information centre is in 4733

OS Maps (6 figure)

First, find the four-figure grid reference but leave a space after the first two digits. When you get to the easting at the left-hand side of the grid square you want, keep moving east and estimate or measure how many tenths across your symbol lies. Write this number after the first two digits.

Next, move north from the bottom-left-hand corner of your grid square and estimate how many tenths your symbol is from this point.Put them together to create a six figure grid reference.

•The information centre is in 476334

gcse geography paper 1 - ullswater community college

Documents