geography paper 1

• Hazards

  • Volcanic ash
  • Lava flows
  • Lahars
  • Earth tremors
  • Quakes
• Hazards


  Can affect people via famine due to crop damage
• Causes of changes in global temperatures

  • Changes to the earth's orbit
  • Volcanic activity
  • Variation in sunspot activity
• Evidence of climate change other than changes in global temperatures include shrinking ice sheets and sea level rise
• Factors contributing to global climate change and temperature

  • Increasing use of fossil fuels
  • Changes in agriculture
• Fossil fuels


  Account for over 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions and burning these releases carbon dioxide into the air
• Uses of fossil fuels

  • Transportation
  • Building heating
  • Homes
  • Manufacturing
  • Industry
  • Electricity generation
• Agricultural uses of fossil fuels

  • Production of fertiliser
  • Production of pesticides
  • Transporting food
• Changing forest cover to farmland

  Releases greenhouse gases
• Increase in meat, dairy and rice production

  Creates more methane
• Reason for change in wind speed of tropical storm as it reaches land

  It loses its source of energy - warm water over land
• Effects of tropical storms on people and environment

  • People killed or injured
  • Homes destroyed
  • Transport and communication links not working
  • Infrastructure destroyed
  • Rescue efforts made more difficult
  • Money needed urgently to rebuild shops and businesses
  • Storm flooding
  • Damage to coastal and river defences
  • Sewage leaks
  • Water pollution
• Factors affecting the impact of tropical storms on people and environment include intensity, speed of movement, distance from the sea, and physical geography of the coastal zone and the wealth
• Typhoon Haiyan had winds up to 300 kilometres per hour, 4 million were made homeless, 6000 died, power was interrupted, the airport was badly damaged, and roads were blocked by trees
• 90% of Tacloban was destroyed, there was damage to rice and seed stocks, farmers and fishers lost their income, there was a risk of infection and spread of disease, and looting problems
• Typhoon Haiyan had environmental effects like a 5 metre storm surge along the coast, fish were killed, forests were destroyed, and ecosystems were damaged by leaking sewage and poor sanitation leading to water pollution and loss of forests and widespread flooding
• Reason for distribution of tropical rainforests

  Rainforest areas have high humidity and high rainfall so they are areas with high temperatures all year round
• Economic advantages of development in tropical rainforests

  • Development of land for mining
  • Development of land for farming
  • Development of land for energy
  • Jobs in construction and farming
  • Companies can pay taxes
  • Improved public services like education and water supply
  • Positive multiplier effect
  • Cattle grazing
  • Improved transport
  • Industrial development
  • Tourism
  • Raw materials like oil palm, soya, and rubber
  • Hydroelectric power
  • Commercial logging and papermaking
  • Valuable minerals like gold and cobalt
• Long-term effects of economic development in tropical rainforests

  • Destruction of valuable forest products and ecosystems
  • Plants that could bring medical benefits becoming extinct
  • Land left ruined
  • Water quality affected
  • Water shortages
  • Disruption to water cycle
  • Reduced evaporation
  • Increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide
  • Temperature changes
• How ecotourism can help manage tropical rainforests sustainably

  Ecotourism development appears to be small scale making little impact on the rainforest
• How international hardwood agreements or selective logging can encourage sustainable management of tropical rainforests

  Selective logging involves felling trees only when fully grown and letting younger trees mature, therefore continuing to protect the ground from erosion
• The chosen environment (desert) has had a favourable impact towards opportunities for economic activity including resources, farming, tourism, and energy like solar and wind, leading to a positive multiplier effect
• Development in the desert is limited due to the fragile ecosystem and extreme temperatures, so it is not sustainable
• Formation of a coastline of headlands and bays

  1. Differences in resistance of rocks to erosion

  2. Softer, less resistant rock erodes faster than harder, more resistant rock

  3. Headlands stick out into the sea and bays form where land has been worn back

  4. Wave reflection focuses energy on headlands and spreads it in bays

  5. Wave cut platforms may develop on headlands

  6. Beaches may form in bays
• Coastal management schemes


  • Sea walls
  • Groynes
  • Beach management
• Sea walls


  Absorb and deflect wave energy back to sea, but are expensive to construct and require regular repair, and erosion at the base can undermine foundations
• Groynes


  Wooden or rock structures at right angles to a beach extending into the sea, catching longshore drift sediments and creating calmer inshore water, but require maintenance and repair and speed up erosion down the coast
• Beach management


  Replaces beach or cliff material that has been removed by erosion or longshore drift, is relatively cheap but requires constant maintenance, works with nature rather than against it, and blends in with the environment
• Formation and change of river meanders

  1. Water flows fastest on outer bend where channel is deeper and there is less friction, causing lateral erosion and steep-sided river cliffs

  2. On inner bend where flow is slower, material is deposited on a slip-off slope

  3. Over time, meanders gradually change shape and migrate downstream due to erosion and deposition
• Factors affecting the shape of flood hydrographs

  • Physical factors: Geology, steepness of slopes, precipitation patterns
  • Human factors: Land use, deforestation, drainage systems, house building on floodplains
• Extreme weather


  Weather that is unexpected
• Extreme weather hazards in the UK

  • Storms
  • Flooding
  • Severe thunderstorms
  • Hail storms
  • Strong winds
  • Tornadoes
  • Droughts
  • Extreme heat
  • Extreme cold including blizzards
• Impacts of extreme weather in the UK

  • Transport disruption
  • Pressures on water supplies
  • Risk to lives of frail and elderly
  • Danger of wildfires
  • Disruption to traffic and destruction of farmland
  • Boost to tourism industry
• Conditions for formation of tropical storms

  High sea temperatures above 26 or 27°C, over oceans where water provides moisture and energy
• Continued rise in global temperatures

  Tropical storms may affect areas further from the equator and have a broader distribution
• Ways to reduce the rate of climate change

  • Alternative energy production: Hydroelectric power, solar, wind, tides, nuclear
  • Planting trees
• Role of trees in reducing climate change

  Act as carbon sinks, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, and release moisture into the air producing more cloud and reducing incoming solar radiation
• Both immediate and long-term responses to tectonic hazards are considered essential, although longer-term responses are sometimes given lower priority after initial publicity
• In the case of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, immediate responses helped significantly, but longer-term recovery was slowed by delays in aid distribution, looting, and sporadic violence
• Extinction of foxes


  Possible increase in number of some primary and secondary consumers