G3: Distinctive Landscapes

Question 1

What are the 5 ways landscapes can be defined?

Answer 1

○ Physical features
○ Water features
○ Biological features
○ Transitory features
● Light, Seasons, weather etc.
○ Human features

Question 2

How are Upland and Lowland areas in the UK distributed?

Answer 2

○ Upland
● North & West of the UK
● Scotland, Wales & North England
○ Lowland
● South & East of the UK

Question 3

What are some examples of Upland and lowland areas?

Answer 3

● Upland - The Grampians & The Pennines

● Lowland - South Downs & The Cotswolds

Question 4

What is the quaternary period?

Answer 4

A period of time we are on that has lasted 2.5 million years
● It consists of glacial and interglacial periods
↳ During glacial periods, glaciers creep from the poles to cover the land
↳ During interglacial periods, these poles recede

Question 5

Where has there previously been glaciers in the UK?

Answer 5

In the North & West, in a similar distribution to the UK’s upland areas
● This is because glaciers are responsible for forming some features via erosion

Question 6

What are the impacts of Glaciation in Periglacial areas?

Answer 6

○ Formation of valleys
● Permafrost causes the ground to become impermeable
● Rivers form more easily and erode land away, forming valleys
● The climate enters an interglacial era, leaving a dry valley when the river water seeps into the ground

Question 7

What is a geomorphic process?

Answer 7

A process that changes the earth. This can include…
● Weathering
● Erosion

Question 8

What is the UK’s geology distribution?

Answer 8

○ In the North…
● There is primarily impermeable igneous rock, such as granite & Basalt
↳ This rock is older, harder and jagged
↳ This means erosion is slow and rivers and lakes form
○ In the South…
● There is primarily permeable sedimentary rock, such as chalk & limestone
↳ This rock is softer, younger and smoother
↳ Erosion is quick and the rock is permeable, causing few water features to form

Question 9

What is the UK’s Climate distribution?

Answer 9

● It is colder in the North (Altitude etc.)
● It is warmer in the South (Equator etc.)
● It is wetter in the West (Relief rainfall & prevailing ocean winds)
● It is Drier in the East (Rain shadow etc.)

Question 10

What is erosion?

Answer 10

When rock is worn away by water, wind or ice

Question 11

What are the four types of erosion?

Answer 11

CASH
○ Corrasion/Abrasion
● Stones slammed against cliffs by water erode rock away
○ Attrition
● Small pebbles & stones collide in water, wearing one another down
○ Solution
● Chemicals in water dissolve certain rock.
○ Hydraulic action
● Waves force and compress air into cracks, widening them

Question 12

What is Weathering?

Answer 12

The process of rock being worn away without movement.

Question 13

What are the three types of weathering?

Answer 13

● Biological (Plants, wildlife etc.)
● Chemical (Carbonic acid in rain [derived from CO₂ dissolving] makes it acidic, weathering away soft rock)
● Physical (Freeze-thaw weathering)

Question 14

What are the processes of Freeze-Thaw Weathering?

Answer 14

● Water seeps into cracks of rocks
● Water freezes and expands when temperatures fall
● Ice thaws & the cycle repeats
● The rock eventually splits

Question 15

What is mass movement?

Answer 15

Mass movement is when cliffs made of soft rock becomes unstable due to constant erosion and weathering, causing them to collapse

Question 16

What are the four steps of mass movement?

Answer 16

● Saturation: Rock becomes heavy with absorbed water
● Undercutting: Sea & waves erode the cliff’s bottom, destabilising it
● Slumping: The cliff collapses and the rock slides down the cliffside
● Transportation: Slumped material is transported away by water

Question 17

What is transportation?

Answer 17

Transportation is the ways that sediment can be moved by a water source, such as a river

Question 18

What are the four types of Transportation?

Answer 18

● Solution: soluble rocks are dissolved in water and moved
● Suspension: Sediment particles (silt) are held and suspended in water and moved
● Saltation: Small rock particles bounce along the river/sea bed (gravel + sand)
● Traction: Large rocks/particles are rolled along the river/sea bed

Question 19

What is deposition?

Answer 19

Deposition is when sediment is dropped due to a body of water losing velocity

Question 20

How are headlands and bays formed?

Answer 20

● When there are bands of soft and hard rock at a coast, the soft rock erodes faster
● The soft rock recedes, forming a sheltered bay where deposition is encouraged, creating beaches.
● The remaining hard rock forms headlands, which are exposed to the full force of the waves and slowly erodes away

Question 21

How is a Stack formed?

Answer 21

● Lines of soft rock in headlands erode, creating weaknesses
● Between high & low tide, waves attack these weaknesses at the cliff’s base
● This undercuts the cliff’s base, forming a wave cut notch (crack)
● This notch is enlarged by hydraulic action over time to form a cave
● Waves bend around the headland and hit the other side, forming an opposite cave. Both these erode back and meet, forming an Arch.
● Weathering and erosion cause the roof to collapse under gravity, creating a stack.

Question 22

What is longshore drift?

Answer 22

Longshore drift is when a prevailing wind causes waves to hit the beach at an angle, transporting sediment along the beach.

Question 23

How is a spit formed?

Answer 23

● Longshore drift transports sediment until it reaches a change in The coast (i.e. at the mouth of a river)
● Where the colliding forces of the river and waves are equal, sediment is deposited and a spit forms
● Wind & wave changes causes this spit to curve
● This spit blocks the waves energy and allows a marsh to grow behind it

Question 24

What are the commonly seen features of each river segment?

Answer 24

○ Upper Course
● Waterfalls/Gorges
● V-Shaped Valleys
○ Middle Course
● Meanders
● Ox-Bow Lakes
○ Lower Course
● Floodplains
● Levees

Question 25

What are the characteristics of a river’s upper course?

Answer 25

● Narrow
● Steep
● Shallow
● Slow-moving
● High friction
● low discharge
● Erodes Vertically

Question 26

What are the characteristics of a river’s Lower course?

Answer 26

● Wide
● Gentle 
● Shallow
● Fast-moving
● Low friction
● High discharge
● Erodes laterally

Question 27

How are V-Shaped Valleys formed?

Answer 27

● Water erodes rock vertically (due to gradient)
● Weathering weakens channel walls
● Mass movement forces material into the channel, which is transported away
● A V-shaped valley is left

Question 28

How are waterfalls formed?

Answer 28

● A layer of Hard rock lies over soft rock.
● The soft rock erodes away faster
● H.A. and abrasion undercut the back wall, forming an overhanging ledge of hard rock
● Falling upstream material drills downwards into the soft rock and forms a plunge pool
● The unsupported ledge falls & is eroded away, causing the waterfall to retreat
● Constant retreat leaves a gorge behind

Question 29

CASE STUDY: High force, A waterfall in the River Tees

Answer 29

● Is composed of the hard rock Whinstone (Or dolerite) and the soft rock Limestone
● Marks the rivers drop from 301+ metres of height range to the 61-300 metres of height range

Question 30

What is the difference between the inside and outside of a meander?

Answer 30

○ Inside
● Water flows slowly
● There is more friction
● Water loses its energy & deposits sediment
● A gentle slip-off slope forms
○ Outside
● Water flows quickly
● There is less friction
● More erosion (abrasion) occurs
● A steep river cliff forms
○ This means meanders migrate and expand in the direction of the river cliff over time.

Question 31

How are Ox-Bow lakes formed?

Answer 31

● Because water flows in a Corkscrew fashion, the river bends
● Increased erosion on the outside of bends forms a meander
● The meander expands, and erosion at the neck of the meander slowly narrows it
● During flooding, the river will break through the meander’s neck, forming a straight channel
● Deposition will occur at the meander bends, eventually sealing the meander off and forming an Ox-Bow lake

Question 32

How are floodplains & Levees formed?

Answer 32

● Meanders in the lower course erode laterally at the river cliff, causing them to migrate.
● This migration widens the river valley
● When the valley floods, sediment in the river is deposited at its banks as the river loses energy due to friction
● As the area repeatedly floods, piles of debris and material with steep side form on the edge of the river, called levees. Furthermore, fine alluvium is deposited on the valley floor to build up and create floodplains

Question 33

What is the difference between Soft and Hard engineering?

Answer 33

Soft engineering is a way of maintaining a coastline by working with natural processes, whereas hard engineering works against them

Question 34

What are the four Shoreline management plans

Answer 34

● Hold The Line: The coastline is kept constant
● Advance The Line: The coastline is expanded
● Managed Retreat: The coastline is allowed to retreat at a controlled rate
● No Active Intervention: Take no action

Question 35

CASE STUDY: Overstrand

What landforms exist at Overstrand?

Answer 35

● Sand & Shingle beaches, formed by the eroding of glacial Till
● Blakeney Spit & Marshes, formed by longshore drift
● Steep cliffs, formed by Mass movement

Question 36

CASE STUDY: Overstrand

How are climate and Geology affecting the different Geomorphic processes at Overstrand?

Answer 36

○ Climate Change
● Warmer oceans mean stronger storms and rapid erosion
● Coastlines withdraw, beaches starve and cliffs slump
↳ 6m of Blakeney spit was lost in a 2013 storm surge
↳ This has and will lead to the damage of property, such as the Sea marge hotel, which will be lost by 2055
○ Geology
● Area primarily composed of soft rock deposits, underlined by chalk & formatted of Glacial Till/Boulder Clay
↳ Means erosion is rapid & deposition is high

Question 37

CASE STUDY: Overstrand

How effective is the management of Overstrand?

Answer 37

● Management is Hold the line in many areas
↳ In areas of managed retreat, coastal erosion is 1m per year
● Overstrand implements…
↳ 9 Groynes
↳ 900m of Sea wall
↳ Gabions
↳ Revetments
● Current coastal erosion in hold the line areas is 0m per year
● Last building lost was in the 1940s
● In the future, there will be a shift from hold the line to Managed retreat
↳ Under this, 60 buildings, including the Sea marge hotel, will have been lost by 2105

Question 38

CASE STUDY: Overstrand

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Management methods at Overstrand?

Answer 38

○ Sea wall
● Reflect wave energy, long lifespan 
● Expensive, require maintenance, unattractive 
○ Groynes
● Retain beach access 
● unattractive, can become starved of sediment
○ Gabions
● Cheap, efficient
● Unattractive, short lifespan

Question 39

CASE STUDY: 2014 River Thames flood

Case-specific information

Answer 39

● Source is in the cotswold hills, 100m above sea level
● No upper course features
● Primarily runs over oxford clay, an impermeable rock

Question 40

CASE STUDY: 2014 River Thames flood

What were some causes of the flooding?

Answer 40

● There was twice as much rain as expected for 3 months due to storms [CLIMATE]
↳ The ground was saturated, reducing infiltration
↳ Water levels in the Thames were high
● Urbanisation reduced infiltration
● Deforestation reduced water interception
● Ground is impermeable clay [GEOLOGY]
● The creation of the Jubilee river increased water velocity & quantity downstream in Wraysbury & Staines

Question 41

CASE STUDY: 2014 River Thames flood

What were some impacts of the flood?

Answer 41

● Thousands evacuated
● £500 million in repairs required
● 5,000 homes & businesses flooded in Wraysbury & Staines

Question 42

CASE STUDY: 2014 River Thames flood

What were some ways the flood was managed?

Answer 42

● Volunteers & Boat owners assisted in evacuation
● Specialist equipment for damage prevention was lent out by organisations for free
● The Thames Barrier, 520 metres in width, was closed off, preventing water from the sea’s high tide from contributing to the flooding
● In the future, housing built in flood-prone areas will…
↳ Have Water-filled green corridors as a feature
↳ be built on raised land
↳ Have vegetation to reduce water infiltration
↳ Have relief that naturally directs water into creeks

Question 43

FIELD WORK TECHNIQUES: Rivers

Measuring a River’s width

Answer 43

● Impale two stakes into the ground on each bank and stretch a tape measure between them
↳ Stakes must be vertically straight
↳ Tape must be taught
↳ To avoid slant, both tape fixings must be on the same horizontal level

Question 44

FIELD WORK TECHNIQUES: Rivers

Measuring a River’s Depth

Answer 44

● Take measurements using a metre stick at set intervals, either every metre or every eleventh of the river’s total width
↳ Have the metre stick vertically straight
↳ Have the metre stick parallel to the water flow
↳ Avoid large rocks & debris (set intervals highlights anomalies)

Question 45

FIELD WORK TECHNIQUES: Rivers

Measuring a River’s gradient

Answer 45

● Place two equivalent poles 10m apart down a river.
● Use a clinometer at the further down pole and point it at a marking on the further up pole. Measure the angle of the gradient
↳ Avoid large drops in the river bed
↳ Poles must be the same length

Question 46

FIELD WORK TECHNIQUES: Rivers

Measuring a River’s flow velocity

Answer 46

● Method One
↳ Use a flowmeter to take measurements at a 1/4, 1/2 & 3/4 ways across the river’s width
↳ Take 6 measurements at each, holding for 10 seconds each time
↳ Hold the flowmeter stationary to get water velocity alone
↳ Do not make contact with the floor
● Method Two
↳ Place a bright & visible float in the water & measure the time taken for it to flow ten metres downstream

Question 47

FIELD WORK TECHNIQUES: Rivers

Calculating a River’s Discharge

Answer 47

River Discharge = River width x River depth x River Velocity