Distinctive Landscapes Flashcards
Define landscape
All the visible features of an area of land.
Define physical and human landscape
Physical landscape is natural (not manmade) and human landscape is built by humans.
Define upland
A landscape that is hilly or mountainous.
Define lowland
An area of land that is lower than the land around it.
What makes a landscape distinctive?
Combination of features + landforms.
Define visitor pressure
The increased impact on the landscape, resources and services of an increased number of people due to tourism.
Define honeypot sites
A place of special interest that attracts tourists.
Define carrying capacity
The maximum population size that an environment can sustain.
Define environmental challenges
Problems caused by human use of the natural landscape or resources.
Define national park
An area which is protected because of its beautiful countryside, wildlife and cultural heritage.
Define AONB
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - part of the countryside that is designed for conservation due to its natural beauty.
Give a positive impact human activity can have on the natural environment.
Visitors to the countryside bring benefits to rural economies through the money they spend.
Give a negative impact human activity can have on the natural environment.
Visitor pressure may adversely (negatively) affect the landscape and local communities.
What factors make the UK landscape distinct?
Land use
Culture
Geology
Vegetation
Give examples of an upland landscape.
Snowdonia
Scottish Highlands
Give an example of an lowland landscape.
Gwent Levels
Give an examples of river landscapes.
River Conwy, near Betws-y-Coed
River Severn, at Minsterworth, near Gloucester
Give an example of coastal landscapes.
Ynyslas sand dunes
Stair Hole, Dorset
Why is each regional upland landscape slightly different?
Geology
History of settlement and farming that have affected land use.
Natural processes in the past (e.g. erosion by ice during last ice age) + now (e.g. river erosion)
Type of vegetation
What do we mean by complex landscapes?
Every landscape contains many separate features + landforms. It is this combination of these different features that creates a distinctive + unique landscape.
How can honeypot sites protect distinctive landscapes?
Honeypot sites already have a lot of money invested in them, so money can go towards protecting it.
Already protected since they have to be well presented + look good otherwise honeypot wouldn’t get a lot of tourists. E.g. Stone Henge is managed because it has rules where people can’t touch the stones except for special events.
List management of Oxwich National Nature Reserve.
Charge for parking
Information boards in the reserve
To protect wildlife, some areas are visited in groups by special arrangement only.
Wooden bridges and paths so habitats aren’t destroyed
Footpaths signs to encourage people to use it
How is limestone formed?
Millions of years ago, when many sea creatures died, shells + skeletons fallen to seabed. Over years, there were more deposits + were compressed by more layers of sediment - forming limestone.
Describe what limestone landscapes look like.
Loads of hard rock scraped by ice (at the end of the ice age).
Clints and grykes
Cliffs and potholes
What distinctive landscapes are formed in areas of limestone?
The rocks have massive cracks and crevices in them.
Why does limestone get eroded by rainwater?
Limestone dissolves in rainwater - rainwater is slightly acidic so reacts with limestone which is alkaline.
How have swallow holes/sinkholes formed in limestone?
The acidic rainwater has dissolved + widened a joint in the limestone, and the surface streams disappear underground.
Define diversify
Where there is a much wider variety of new business opportunities and jobs are created in a region.
What is the distribution of highland areas in the UK?
Northern UK: Scotland + Northern England, Wales
What is the distribution of lowland areas in the UK?
Southern UK particularly South East
What limestone landscape have you studied?
Yorkshire dales
