Interactions

Question 1

Relief → Climate

Answer 1

• When moist air is forced to rise over mountainous areas, it cools, and the water vapour in the air turns into rain or snow
• Deserts are often found on the sheltered side of the large mountain ranges (known as the rain-shadow effect)

Question 2

Relief → Soil

Answer 2

High flat plains means there are less nutrients in the soil

Question 3

Climate → Vegetation

Answer 3

• Most of the dry deserts are 30°N or 30°S of the equator because they have high pressures (result of Hadley cells), therefore affecting vegetation
• Tropical vegetation can be found at the equator because there are low pressures and higher temperatures

Question 4

Climate → Soil

Answer 4

• High temperatures and low rainfall means there are high evapotranspiration rates. When evapotranspiration is greater than precipitation, minerals are carried up through the soil and precipitated close to the surface
• When precipitation is greater than evapotranspiration, soils are leached and have a high iron content. Soluble minerals are washed down through the soil and deposited at depth

Question 5

Vegetation → Climate

Answer 5

• Moisture stored in vegetation moves up in the atmosphere and contributes to clouds.
• Tropical vegetation (Uganda and Rwanda) provides moisture through evapotranspiration that moves up into the atmosphere as the day warms up. This contributes to the formation of cumulonimbus clouds which then precipitate.
• Lack of vegetation (South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt) means there is less moisture to contribute to cloud formation, so there is less rain.
• Solar radiation absorbed by the surface, provides the warmth needed for evaporation to occur
• Rainforest reflects 5%
• Savanna vegetation reflects 15%
• Deserts reflect between 30-40%