OCR A Level Geography Key Terms

Question 1

Adaptation

Answer 1

Responses to environmental change which aim to modify human behaviour and economic systems permanently

Question 2

Causality

Answer 2

Relationships between cause and effect such as torrential rain leads to widespread flooding

Question 3

Equilibrium

Answer 3

The state of stability in a system achieved when a balance exits between inputs and outputs such as glaciers and mass balance

Question 4

Feedback

Answer 4

An automatic internal response to change in systems. negative feedback restores are system to balance, positive amplifies change

Question 5

Globalisation

Answer 5

Multiple connections and languages between nations groups of people, businesses, and individual. Key element is
Integration of human activity

Question 6

Identity

Answer 6

How something is recognised. Identity of an individual or of groups living in a particular town, region or country is shaped by place

Question 7

Inequality

Answer 7

Unequal distribution of resources opportunities, well-being within society. spatial inequalities from intra-urban and regional to global are mai concern

Question 8

Interdependence

Answer 8

Mutual dependence of two or more countries in which there is a reciprocal relationship such as economic interdependence and socio-economic interdependence

Question 9

Mitigation

Answer 9

Actions which is taken to lessen the impact of natural hazards on people, economy and society. Responses of investments, reforestation and development

Question 10

Representation

Answer 10

The ways by which meanings are given to the world, influenced by perceptions, include prose pictures, architecture and landscapes

Question 11

Resilience

Answer 11

The ability of countries, communities, households and environmental systems to resist, absorb and recover from the effects of shocks or stresses, drought or violent conflicts

Question 12

Risk

Answer 12

The probability of a range of possible outcomes resulting from specific events such as economic shock or hazard

Question 13

Sustainability

Answer 13

The use of resources that is environmentally and economically viable in the long term. Achieve balance between supply and demand

Question 14

Systems

Answer 14

Group of related objects, whether physical or human. Ecosystems: organisms and environment, physical: solar energy input and outputs of energy and materials

Question 15

Threshold

Answer 15

Critical ‘tipping points’ in a system which if exceeded result in massive and irreversible change eg global warming beyond 2ºc by 2100 is a tipping point