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Geography GCSE > Theme 1: Landscapes and Physical Processes > Flashcards

Theme 1: Landscapes and Physical Processes Flashcards

A*

1
Q

What 4 features explain what a landscape is like?

A

Geology
Land use
Vegetation
People

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2
Q

What is river discharge?

A

The quantity of water passing through a river channel at a given point at a given period of time.

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3
Q

What are the 4 stages of V-shaped valleys being created?

A
  1. vertical erosion - low discharge in upper course = only erode downwards
  2. weathering - valley sides slowly broken down
  3. loose material - weathered material rolls into river, steepening valley sides
  4. Now a typical v-shaped valley, a typical trait created by upland rivers
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4
Q

What are interlocking spurs?

A

Areas of dense and resistant rock, river must weave around.

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5
Q

What does vertical erosion do?

A

River erodes its river bed.

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6
Q

What does lateral erosion do?

A

river erodes it’s bank.

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7
Q

What is hydraulic action?

A

The sheer force of water against the rock trapping air in cracks, cracks get bigger, material washed away.

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8
Q

What is attrition?

A

Stones carried by the river collide together, broken down, smoother + smaller.

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9
Q

What is abrasion?

A

Small stones grate against the rock face like sandpaper

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10
Q

What is solution? (erosion)

A

Slightly acidic water dissolved chalk + limestone over time.

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11
Q

What are the processes of erosion?

A

hydraulic action
attrition
abrasion
solution

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12
Q

What are the river transport processes?

A

Traction
saltation
suspension
solution

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13
Q

What is traction?

A

Large stones roll along river bed.

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14
Q

What is saltation?

A

Small pebbles bounced along river bed in a ‘leap-frog’ fashion.

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15
Q

What is solution? (transportation)

A

Some materials dissolved in water. (same as erosion)

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16
Q

How do waterfalls retreat? (3 stages)

A
  1. Soft rock eroded quicker by erosion.
  2. Plunge pool + undercutting created.
  3. Hard rock collapses from no support, falls into plunge pool.
    (repeats and retreats towards source over time)
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17
Q

What is a gorge?

A

A steep-sided narrow valley formed by retreating waterfall.

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18
Q

What’s a meander and what does erosion do to them?

A

Turns/bends in a river.

Due to erosion, meanders migrate across the valley floor.

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19
Q

What’s the inner bend?

A

The inside bend, normally shallower with a slower flow.

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20
Q

What’s the outer bend?

A

The outside bend, normally deeper with faster flow.

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21
Q

What’s the undercutting? (meanders)

A

Erosion cuts into the outside bend. Generally happens there as more erosion happens there.

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22
Q

What’s a river cliff?

A

On outer bend, caused by undercutting of the river bank.

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23
Q

What is the slip off slope?

A

A gentle gradient with large areas of deposition. On inside bend, more deposition there.

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24
Q

What are levees?

A

When there is an increase in the volume of water flowing in the river, there is an increase in alluvium. When a river floods, natural walls are created on the sides of the river.

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25
Q

What are floodplains?

A

An area of flat land alongside a river.

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26
Q

What are the 3 stages of levees?

A
  1. During a flood, water flows over the banks and deposits silts.
  2. In between floods, a slow moving river deposits silt in river.
  3. Every flood, levees build up. In between floods, the river bed is built up too.
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27
Q

What is an ox bow lake?

A

A lake formed by a river cutting off a meander and finding a straighter and shorter route.

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28
Q

What is alluvium?

A

Debris, gravel, sand, and smaller materials deposited by flowing water.

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29
Q

What is the process of freeze-thaw (physical) weathering?

A
  1. Water enters crack in rock
  2. Water freezes (at night) and expands, widening gap
  3. Ice melts (in day), water fills widened gap
  4. Process repeats until rock splits.
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30
Q

What is biological weathering?

A

The roots of plants/burrowing animals dig into the soil/rock around the cliffs, which weakens it and it starts to break away.

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31
Q

What is chemical weathering? (carbonation)

A

Rain and salt water is sometimes acidic which can react with the carbonates in the limestone rocks, creaking cracks.

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32
Q

What is mass movement?

A

The downhill movement of cliff material under the influence of gravity. (landslide)

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33
Q

What is rockfall?

A

Weathering processes weaken the cliff, fragments fall away.

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34
Q

What is soil creep?

A

Slow moving landslide.

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35
Q

What is slumping?

A

Quick, large parts of land moving down a cliff.

36
Q

What is longshore drift?

A

The movement of material along a coast by waves which approach at an angle (prevailing wind’s) to the shore but retreat directly away from it.

37
Q

What is swash?

A

Waves hit beach at the angle of the prevailing winds which carries sediment up the beach.

38
Q

What is backwash?

A

Waves are pulled back at right angles to the coast as the waves retreat down the beach. The wave picks up sediment along the way.

39
Q

What way does longshore drift move around the UK.

A

Moves in a clockwise motion around the island.

40
Q

What are concordant coastlines?

A

Coastlines with hard and soft rocks parallel to the coast.

41
Q

What are coves?

A

Bays with narrow entrances (due to hard rock) and expand wider into the soft rock.

42
Q

What are discordant coastlines?

A

Coastlines with hard and soft rocks perpendicular to the coast.

43
Q

What are bays and headlands?

A

Bays - deep depressions in the cliff, wide and open entrances - soft rock
Headlands - either side of bays, stick out - hard rock

44
Q

What is soft rock?

A

Less resistant rock. Erodes quicker and is weak and loose.

45
Q

What is hard rock?

A

More resistant rock. Harder to erode, denser and stronger.

46
Q

What is a wave-cut notch?

A

An undercutting in a cliff formed by sea eroding beneath a cliff.

47
Q

What happens when the overhang of a cliff forms?

A

It will eventually collapse due to lack of support and create a wave-cut platform.

48
Q

What is a wave-cut platform?

A

As the cliff retreats, it leaves a flat surface of rock below the high tide mark. (Made of fallen overhangs).

49
Q

What is the order of the erosion of a headland?

A
  1. Fault
  2. Cave
  3. Arch
  4. Stack
  5. Stump
50
Q

What is the process of a fault formation?

A

Waves attack weaknesses in the rock, mainly by hydraulic action and abrasion.

51
Q

What is the process of a cave formation?

A

Waves continue to erode, weakening the rocks until a cave forms.

52
Q

What is the process of an arch formation?

A

The cave is eroded further until it goes through the headland leaving an arch.

53
Q

What is the process of a stack formation?

A

The waves make the arch bigger. Top of cliff is weathered away until it breaks off.

54
Q

What is the process of a stump formation?

A

The base of the stack is further eroded until it collapses leaving a stump.

55
Q

How are beaches formed?

A

By deposition. Constructive waves bring sand/shingle/stones which builds up and creates a beach.

56
Q

How are spits formed?

A

Formed by longshore drift and deposition. Deposited sediment is moved along the coast by LSD.
When the coast changes direction, the beach material is deposited in the sea which turns into a long strip of land called a spit.

57
Q

How are offshore bars formed?

A

Formed by deposition. In shallow seas where the waves break early, a bar is formed just off the shoreline.

58
Q

How are rock pools formed?

A

Formed by erosion. The erosion of a wave-cut platform forms pools in the platform.

59
Q

What are 4 ways landscapes can be changed?

A

Geology
Climate
Extreme weather events
Human activity

60
Q

What is the source?

A

Where the river begins (small and on high ground).

61
Q

What is a tributary?

A

Smaller river that joins a larger river.

62
Q

What is a confluence?

A

The point at which 2 rivers meet.

63
Q

What is the mouth?

A

Where the river enters the sea.

64
Q

What is a watershed?

A

The edge of the drainage basin.

65
Q

What is interception? (storage)

A

Trees can intercept rainfall.

66
Q

What is surface storage? (storage)

A

Rainfall may collect in puddles on the ground.

67
Q

What is soil moisture? (storage)

A

Water can be stored within the soil.

68
Q

What is groundwater? (storage)

A

Water may make its way through to rock beneath the ground and be stored as groundwater.

69
Q

What is infiltration? (flow)

A

Rainfall flows into the soil.

70
Q

What is throughflow? (flow)

A

Water flows through the soil.

71
Q

What is percolation? (flow)

A

Water flows into rock beneath the ground.

72
Q

What is groundwater flow? (flow)

A

Water flows through the permeable rock.

73
Q

What is output?

A

How water is taken out of the drainage basin by the river, evaporation and transpiration.

74
Q

What is surface runoff?

A

Water flows over the ground and into the river.

75
Q

What are the 4 main causes of river floods?

A

Climate
Geology
Urbanisation
Vegetation

76
Q

Why does geology effect river flooding?

A

If there is impermeable rock in a drainage basin, percolation cannot take place. Then rainfall will enter the river via throughflow and surface runoff, which increases the river’s discharge.

77
Q

Why does climate effect river flooding?

A

Heavy or prolonged rainfall increases a river’s discharge.

78
Q

Why does urbanisation effect river flooding?

A

In urban areas impermeable material such as tarmac are more frequent.
This stops rainfall from infiltrating into the ground, which increases a river’s discharge.

79
Q

Why does vegetation effect river flooding?

A

Trees intercept rainfall and stop rain from reaching the ground. More trees = lower discharge.

80
Q

What is hard engineering?

A

Building artificial structures which try to control flooding.
Expensive and effective.

81
Q

What is soft engineering?

A

Techniques that work with the natural environment to try and control flooding.
Cheaper but less effective (than hard engineering).

82
Q

What are 4 examples of hard engineering?

A

Dam
Embankments
Levees
Flood walls

83
Q

What are 4 examples of soft engineering?

A

Floodplain zoning
Wash lands
Warning systems
Afforestation

84
Q

What does a dam do?

A

It controls a river’s discharge, this can be used to generate hydroelectric power.

85
Q

What do embankments do?

A

They are small concrete barriers/walls that try to reduce flooding.

86
Q

What is floodplain zoning?

A

The marking of zones near rivers to stop structures from being built there.

Geography GCSE (6 decks)

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