geography revison p1 Flashcards
(104 cards)
1
Q
what are waves caused by?
A
Wind blowing over the ocean surface.
2
Q
what is swash and backwash?
A
swash: movement up the beach. Backwash: water running back down the beach.
3
Q
what are constructive waves?
A
waves that add material - stronger swash than backwash.
4
Q
what are destructive waves?
A
waves that remove material (more frequent in winter)- stronger backwash than swash.
5
Q
give 2 examples of hard rock.
A
granite, basalt
6
Q
give an example of soft rock.
A
clay
7
Q
what is weathering?
A
the action of the atmosphere on rock.
8
Q
what is mass movement
A
The downslope of movement of material under the influence of gravity.
9
Q
what hydraulic action?
A
Force of waves hitting cliff face causing bits of rock to break off.
10
Q
What is abrasion?
A
when pebbles grind along a rock platform or cliff base
11
Q
what is attrition?
A
when material such as rocks and stones carried by waves hit and knock against each other wearing them down.
12
Q
what is traction?
A
large, heavy pebbles are rolled along the river bed.
13
Q
what is suspension?
A
lighter sediment is suspended (carried) within the water, most commonly near the mouth of the river.
14
Q
what is saltation?
A
pebbles are bounced along the river bed
15
Q
what is longshore drift?
A
the transportation of sediments along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle incoming wave direction
16
Q
what is depostition?
A
When the river loses energy, it drops any of the material it has been carrying
17
Q
what is a drainage basin?
A
the area of land around the river that is drained by the river and its tributaries.
18
Q
what is watershed?
A
the area of high land forming the edge of a river basin
19
Q
what is the estuary?
A
The open mouth of the river where it meets the sea.
20
Q
what is a floodplain?
A
An area of low-lying land next to a river which is prone to flooding.
21
Q
what is the source?
A
The place where a river starts in its upper course.
22
Q
what is the mouth?
A
where a river meets the sea
23
Q
what is the confluence?
A
where two or more rivers meet.
24
Q
what is the tributary?
A
a small river or stream that joins a larger river
25
what is the channel?
this is where the river flows
26
what is the suspended load?
Material carried in the body of water.
27
what is bedload?
material carried along the channel bed.
28
what does the long profile of a river show?
It shows how the river changes over its course.
29
what is the lower course?
where the river starts (often an upland area)
30
what does a cross-profile show?
It shows a cross-section of a river’s channel and valley at a certain point along the river’s course.
31
What is a waterfall?
a sudden drop along the river course
32
What is an interlocking spur?
A hill that a river meanders around in a V-shaped valley. When viewed from downstream, these spurs appear to be locked together.
33
What is lateral erosion?
The wearing away of the landscape when a river erodes sideways.
34
what is a meander?
A bend in a river.
35
what is a levee?
Raised areas of coarser material beside a river channel, overtime due to flooding the sides are built up because of the deposits of material. (Can also be artificially constructed banks or walls.)
36
what is an oxbow lake?
a curved lake formed from a horseshoe bend in a river where the main stream has cut across the narrow end and no longer flows around the loop of the bend.
37
what is a plunge pool?
The pool of water found at the bottom of a waterfall. It is an erosional feature which has been created by a combination of hydraulic action and the abrasion of the plunging water.
38
what is a river cliff?
Steep bank created on the outside of a river bend by the erosive effect of fast-flowing water undercutting the bank.
39
what is a slip off slope?
Gently sloping bank found on the inside of a river bend because of slow-flowing water, depositing sediment.
40
what is a floodplain?
An area of low-lying land next to a river which is prone to flooding.
41
what is a gorge?
A deep, narrow passage that usually has a river running through it
42
What is discharge?
The volume of water in a river passing a point in a given time. Measured in cumecs (cubic metres per second)
43
what are upper course river features? (5)
steep-sided V-shaped valleys, interlocking spurs, rapids, waterfalls and gorges
44
what are middle course river features?
wider, shallower valleys, meanders, and oxbow lakes.
45
what are lower course features?
wide flat-bottomed valleys, floodplains and deltas.
46
what is interception?
when trees and plants stop water from reaching the surface.
47
what are (5) causes flooding?
1) heavy rainfall
2) prolonged rainfall
3) relief
4) geology (impermeable rocks)
5) vegetation
6) urban land use
48
what is a hydrograph?
A graph to show how a river responds to flooding
49
What is hard engineering management?
Building artificial structures to control rivers
50
What is soft engineering management?
where the natural environment is used to help reduce coastal erosion and river flooding.
51
What is a disadvantage of a dam and reservoir?
Dams are very expensive to build.
52
What is river dredging?
Making the river deeper
53
What is a disadvantage of flood warnings?
Some people may not be able to access the warnings.
54
what is a soft engineering method for preventing floods?
Trees or terracing valley sides.
55
where is channel catch from?
Rain that goes directly into the channel.
56
where is overland flow from?
Valley side surfaces.
57
where is groundwater flow from?
rocks below the river.
58
What is the function of groynes?
to interfere with the movement of material from longshore drift.
59
what is reprofilling?
transfer of material up or down the same beach to match the rest of the beach.
60
What is beach nourishment?
adding material to existing beach.
61
What is an ecosystem?
communities of abiotic and biotic components that all function together.
62
What is a food chain?
Something showing simple relationships between different organisms. (what eats what)
63
What is a food web?
Diagram that shows the more complex interrelationships between organisms.
64
What is a biome?
Large scale ecosystem. (eg tropical rainforest)
65
What is a producer?
An organism that converts the suns energy into food.
66
What is a consumer?
Species that eat other species.
67
what are decomposers?
(eg fungi) organisms that break down dead plant and animal litter and return the nutrients to the ecosystem.
68
What is the nutrient cycle?
The movement of nutrients around an ecosystem.
69
What is extreme tourism?
Desire of tourists to experience new, undiscovered and potentially hazardous places.
70
What are two adaptations of buttress roots?
Roots above ground- absorb nutrients directly from decaying leaf litter.
Chunks roots- stability
71
Define irrigation.
Artificial watering of farmland.
72
Define ecotourism.
Tourism using the beauty of the environment at its sole attraction whilst ensuring the protection of the environment.
73
Define desertification.
The process of land becoming desert like.
74
How can desertification be tackled?
- drip irrigation to renew soil
- afforestation to keep soil bound together by tree roots.
75
What is arid land?
Land that receives minimal precipitation (approx 10 inches per year) egs Sahel region Africa.
76
Outline opportunities for development in hot deserts.
Solar energy- Sahara gets 11 hours daily.
Dams- Hoover dam, Neveda USA helps farming, HEP and irrigation.
77
How does deforestation disrupt ecosystems?
Destroys habitats belonging to organisms.
78
Two types of irrigation.
surface
drip.
79
Opportunities in rainforests.
Ecotourism.
80
Example of sustainable management in TR
Selective logging.
ecotourism.
81
What is transpiration.
The loss of water through evaporation.
82
What is salinisation.
increase of salt concentration in soil
83
PLC Slapton Ley.
- fresh water lake
- reed bed ecosystem
- SSSI site due to high biodiversity.
84
What are the 3 types of weathering?
- mechanical
- biological
- chemical
85
How are things eroded chemically?
limestone or chalk dissolves into water making it acidic.
86
What are the causes of mass movement?
Weathering, erosion, gravity.
87
What are the 4 types of mass movement?
Rockfalls, mudflow, rotational slip, landslide.
88
rockfall.
material breaks and crumbles down a slope.
89
Rotational slide.
Saturated soil slumps down a curved surface.
90
Landslide.
Large blocks of rock slide downhill.
91
Mudflow/ slumping.
Saturated soil flows down a slope.
92
What are the four layers in a TR?
shrub layer, understory, canopy, emergent layer.
93
PLC TRs:
Amazon- 500-600 mm monthly.
most plants are evergreen.
Climate consistent all year round.
Largest population of jaguars worldwide.
94
What is the climate of the Amazon?
Hot and wet all year round.
21- 30 C
95
The soil is fertile in TR; T or F?
False! heavy rainfall erodes soil removing nutrients.
96
other disadvantages of deforestation?
- releases CO2
- increases soil eroision.
97
freeze thaw weathering?
Water enters cracks in the rock.
temperatures drop, the water freezes and expands causing the crack to widen.
The ice melts and water makes its way deeper into the cracks.
The process repeats itself until the rock splits entirely.
98
What do rocks need to be for freeze thaw weathering to occur?
porous (contain holes)
or
permeable (allow water to pass through).
99
Explain biological weathering.
Plant roots can get into small cracks in the rock.
As the roots grow, the cracks become larger.
This causes small pieces of rock to break away.
100
Two factors causing deposition.
-waves starting to slow down and lose energy
-shallow water
101
How are cracks in rocks widened?
Processes of hydraulic action and abrasion.
102
Which process cause the formation of different landforms.
Erosion
103
What is a spit?
An extended stretch of sand or shingle jutting out into the sea from the land.
104
River Tees PLC
joins the North Sea.
In the north of the uk.
