GCSE Coasts & Rivers

Question 1

Name the river we studied for the rivers topic

Answer 1

River Dee

Question 2

Where is the source of the River Dee

Answer 2

Snowdonia National Park in N Wales

Question 3

what is the land use in upland Snowdonia?

Answer 3

Farm land, rough grazing for sheep, isolated small villages

Question 4

Name 3 landforms found in the upper course

Answer 4

interlocking spurs, waterfalls, V shaped valleys with steeper slopes

Question 5

Gradient- define

Answer 5

the steepness of the slope

Question 6

Name 4 types of river transport

Answer 6

traction, solution, suspension, saltation

Question 7

Which river transport is when larger boulders are rolled on the river bed?

Answer 7

traction

Question 8

Define deposition

Answer 8

when sediment is left behind by a river eg the sediment is deposited on the slip off slope of a meander

Question 9

Define erosion

Answer 9

wearing away of the rock at the coastline or at the river bank by the water ( friction occurs to create the erosive power)

Question 10

Name 4 landforms in the lower and middle course of a river

Answer 10

meander, ox bow lake, levee, delta, wide floodplain, mouth of the river, estuary

Question 11

Explain the processes that create a levee

Answer 11

deposition of sediment over time, every time there is a flood sediment is deposited next to the river channel on the bank.
This eventually builds up and is higher than the river itself.

Question 12

Explain the processes that create a meander

Answer 12

Erosion on the fast flowing outer bank of the river, this leads to the river cutting through its neck. The slower inner part of the river is less energetic and does less erosion.
In fact deposition happens where the river slows down and creates a slip off slope Rather like a beach at the edge of the water in the channel.

Question 13

Coasts section. define hydraulic action

Answer 13

water enters a crack or gap in a rock layer, pushes in and enlarges the gap.
Air and water create pressure on the rock and dislodges small pieces of the cliff face. The rock falls into the sea and the waves use this to further erode the cliff face

Question 14

list 4 stages in formation of a headland

Answer 14

remember Crack, Cave, Arch, Stack, Stump
1 Hydraulic action erodes away minor weaknesses such as a crack in the rock
2 Over time a cave is created and these change size, slowly enlarging. Marine processes and weathering impacts the top of the cave and the rocks near the waves at high tide
3 The cave can be changed to an arch as the erosion breakthrough the rock. Arches are more unstable over time and powerful erosive waves weaken them overtime
4 Once the top of the arch collapses we are left with a taller stack which then becomes over time a stump ( much shorter an stumpy!)