Paper 1 Case Studies Flashcards
1
Q
Holderness
A
- Tourism brings £20 million in income per year
*. Holderness coast is eroding at 1.7m per year on average - Shoreline Management Plan (SMPs) in Holderness were completed in 1998. “do-nothing” approach in areas which are not currently protected. Hold the line where there are already existing protection works at the main settlements e.g. Mappleton.
- Rock groynes inplace trap sediment and also reduce erosion, creating a larger beach in Mappleton
- Easington’s rock armour toto protect Easington gas terminal
- Tourism on the coast is around the 3 main towns, including Hornsea
- Hornsea has a 1.86km stretch of seawall, rock armour and groynes to protect the town and its resorts.
- Many local residents and businesses want coastal protection to be maintained in order to keep the economy going via e.g. tourism
- Many residents further own the coast would like to see a pull-back on the hard-engineering, as sediment supply to other areas of the coast are reduced e.g. Humber mudflats, putting houses at risk. Erosion rate on the southern stretch of the coast is as high as 10m/yr.
Costs of erosion - 400 caravans and 21 homes will fall into the ocean by 2025
- Relocation costs of residents
- Skipsea Caravan park is losing on average 10 caravan parking sites a year as hard engineering in Bridlington starves it of sediment.
- Jobs will be lost due to skipsea and other caravan sites closing.
Benefits of erosion - Low-priority areas eroding means less of economic cost of building hard engineering there.
Benefits of protection - Caravan park saved
2
Q
Sediment Cells
A
- There are 11 sediment cells across the UK
- Each individual sediment cell has sub-cells, usually representing a source, transfer or sink region
- A source region is where outputs erosional processes wear down the coast to create sediment. They are usually headlands. An example of this is Flamborough, Yorkshire.
- A transfer region is where sediment is transported along shore via transfers such as longshore drift. They are usually drift-aligned coastlines or dunes or salt marshes. An example of this is Holderness, Yorkshire.
- A sink region is where sediment is deposited, considered as output areas. This is where you will find depositional landforms such as spits, bars and tombolos. An example of this is Spurn Head, Yorkshire.
- They can be considered closed systems and therefore have dynamic equilibrium because the sediment is largely contained within the sediment cell.
- However, the dynamic equilibrium is subject to change, being interrupted by coastal flooding and seasonal change. However, they usually return to normal due to negative feedback loops.
3
Q
Transboundary water supply case study and California Drought (Colorado River)
A
- California has been experiencing droughts – California experienced an intense drought of 6 years between 2011 and 2017.
- Drought in 2015 led to the agricultural sector losing $2.7 billion
- California is the most populous state of the USA – almost 40 million people and twice the size of the UK
- California shares the Colorado river - fed by the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, it is shared across 5 states.
- Water taken out of the river is 20% higher than predicted in the 1960s.
- California is an industrial and agricultural powerhouse – this creates conflict as states may feel like water management prioritising California despite having the one of shortest sections of the Colorado river.
- Conflict between local players – Rural ranchers who rely on water for agricultural and animal farming use have been protesting drought and water conservation laws – 2022
- Saltwater encroachment and land subsidence
- California farmers get $60-416 million in subsidies annually.
4
Q
Transboundary water supply case study (Nile)
A
- Ethiopia is energy insecure – 56% of Ethiopia’s population does not have access to electricity.
- Ethiopia is industrialising – electricity is necessary for industrial processes to work in modern society.
- Ethiopia is poor – Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Africa, if not the world. Ethiopia needs electricity for it to overcome poverty.
- Egypt needs the Nile for their water needs – Egypt relies on the Nile for 90% of its water.
- Majority of Egypt’s population lives along the Nile – 95%
Reasons for conflict - Water insecurity due to reduction of discharge – if Ethiopia fills up their dam in 5 years it may reduce river discharge in the Nile by 12-25%
- Water insecurity due to evaporation – 10 billion cubic metres of water is evaporated annually, reducing water volume downstream.
- Food insecurity due to reduction in fertile land – if Ethiopia fills up their dam in 5 years, it may reduce fertile land in Egypt by 50%
- Precedent – The idea that Ethiopia, the source of the Nile, can control the discharge of water downstream to countries that rely on the Nile more than Ethiopia does not sit well with countries like Sudan and Egypt.
Why is this an issue? – Egypt and Ethiopia are both industrialising nations with increasing populations. Egypt has a population of 104 million, and Ethiopia has a population of 117 million. Both nations want to prioritise the development of their own country. As a result, agreements are hard to come by.
What has been agreed upon?
Declaration Of Principles, 2015 – Essentially a declaration from Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt to change their approaches to the River Nile and the GERD to be more cooperative, thoughtful, and positive. Ethiopia accepted to reduce the impacts of the dam downstream and acknowledged that the river Nile is essential to sustaining of Egypt’s livelihood. Sudan and Egypt are given priority over purchasing energy from the GERD as a way for Sudan and Egypt to benefit from the dam.
However, the GERD is still a point of contention between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, as the implementation of the GERD still went ahead and was finally completed in 2020. As a result, the problems that affect Egypt still arise and are present.
5
Q
Normal conditions in the Pacific Basin
A
- Trade winds blow from east to west along the equator.
- The air pushes the warm water westwards.
- Thermocline upwelling.
- Warm moist air rises, cools and condenses, forming rain clouds.
6
Q
Conditions during an El Nino event
A
- The trade wind pattern is disrupted – it may slacken or even reverse.
- Air circulation loop is reversed.
- Monsoon rains in India and South-East Asia begin to fail.
- Cold water near Australia and Indonesia, causes drought.
- Warm water around South America’s Pacific coast.
7
Q
Conditions during La Nina
A
- Severe drought across South America and North America.
- Build up of cooler-than-usual subsurface water in the tropical part of the Pacific.
- Very strong air circulation and very warm water moving east-west.
- Essentially amplified normal conditions.
8
Q
2007 summer floods, Tewkesbury, Gloucester
A
- River Severn FLOODED – was 6 times the normal flow
- People died – 13 people lost their lives and hundreds had to evacuate.
- Infrastructure was badly affected – roads were cut off and badly damaged across Tewkesbury which made rescue efforts difficult.
- Water supplies were cut off – by 24th July, 140,000 properties across Gloucestershire had no water supply.
- £6 billion worth of financial costs
- Up to 200mm of rainfall
9
Q
2019-2020 Flooding
A
- Storm Denis and Ciara caused people to die – 25 fatalities in total between the two storms.
- 180mm of rainfall due to ciara.
- 160mm of rainfall due to Dennis
- Financial costs – storm surges and subsequent flooding caused £1.6 billion in damages.
- Disruption – travel to Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham was temporarily closed. Major road routes were cut off and people were stranded in Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield.
- Flood defences – flood defences in Leeds protected more than 3,500 homes and businesses.
10
Q
Three Gorges Dam
A
- Provides electricity – 18,200MW of power generated, providing 10% of China’s energy needs.
- Provides better ship traffic – Cities such as Chongqing, the seventh largest city in China, will have better access across the river.
- Displacement of people – 1.2 million people were displaced.
- Creates poor soil for agriculture – heavily polluted soil creates unfavourable conditions for crops.
- Pollution – reservoir slows down river discharge and creates a reservoir. The reservoir increases the residence times of the body of water, meaning pollution stays there for longer.
- Water is lost – increased water area leads to an increase in evaporation.
- Decreases in drastic floods – floods such as the 1931 flood are no longer present.
- 660km long reservoir.
11
Q
South-North Transfer Project
A
This project refers to the CCP’s aim to channel 44.8 billion cubic metres of fresh water annually from southern China to the North, mostly to its capital Beijing via three canal systems.
* Very expensive – $100 billion project
* Very extensive – 307km central route
* Displacement of people – 300,000 people were displaced to make way for the project.
* Pollution – the project allows pollution to seep into the Han River as it links to highly polluted rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.
* Coincides with the Three Gorges Dam – uses water from the Three Gorges Dam, which is also highly polluted.
12
Q
Singapore Taps
A
- Taps 1 – water is imported from the Johor pipeline, 40% of water comes from Johor in Malaysia.
- Taps 2 – Network of 17 reservoirs capturing water from two-thirds of the country’s land area.
- Taps 3 – Re-usable water which contributes to 40% of national consumption. 38km deep tunnel with sewage treatment and ultra-violet disinfection.
*. Tape 4 - 5 desalination plants - Reduction of water usage – daily water consumption drop from 2003; 165 litres per day to 150.
- In Singapore, the MacRitchie reservoir is bordered by the Central Catchment Reserve, where no urbanisation is allowed to be present. The reservoir has protected over 500 species of primates, insects and birds, which can use the reservoir for water supply.
13
Q
Israel desalination
A
- Water shortages – the worst drought in 900 years in 1998.
- Desalination plants – 5 desalination plants existed in 2015.
- Portable water – provides 20% of portable water in Israel
- Domestic use – produces 55% of Israel’s domestic water
- Carbon emissions – Desalination is dependent heavily on fossil fuels as it is energy intensive.
- Expensive - $400 million for each plant.
14
Q
NIGERIA
A
- 2008, two massive oil spills from Shell oil pipeline spilt at least
- 560,000 barrels of oil into Bodo community.
- 1000 hectares of mangroves were destroyed
- along with the marine life which the Bodo community of 49000 rely on.
15
Q
Aswan Dam
A
- Built in 1960s
- Reduces sediment downstream, starving the Nile Delta
- Rosetta branch of Delta jumped from 20m to 200m per year in erosion rates
- River flow is reduced which reduces its energy
- Sediment gets trapped behind the dam
16
Q
Maldives
A
- 400,000 people at risk
- Male, the capital, is very flat. Highest point is only 2.3m higher than the sea level.
- 50cm sea level rice by 2100 would mean Maldives losing 77% of its land area
- Ringed by a 3m tall high sea wall
- Artificial island $32 million is 1m taller than Male.
- Sustainable management such as mangroves are overlooked in favour of protecting urban and tourism development
- Mangroves for the Future working with communities to educate them on the importance of mangrove swamps.
- Japanese funding for mangrove nurseries
- Destruction of resorts with result in a loss of $2 billion to the tourism industry
17
Q
1953 Storm surge
A
- Mid-latitude depression moving south through the north sea and generating a 5m storm surge
- Affected Scotland, England, Netherlands and Belgium.
- Close to 10% of Dutch farmland flooded with 40,000 buildings being damaged
- 1800 deaths
- Deltawerken was put into place, $5 billion of costs
- Flood barriers across river mouths in order to stop coastal flooding into those rivers such as the Rhine
- During a storm surge, embankments can be closed to shut the sea out.
- Costed $5 billion
- 1600km of coastline was damaged
- Advance the Line strategy – Island of Flevopolder, one of the largest islands in the world reclaimed in 1955-1968 to fight against the Zuiderzee.
- 400,000 hectares of land in Netherlands was flooded.
18
Q
UK 2013-14 storm surge
A
- Coastal flooding and other flooding due to a succession of depressions and their storm surges.
- Damage of around £1 billion
- 17 deaths
- 100,000 homes lost their electricity
- Tidal heights of 7.6m at Spurn Head
- minor flooding in Netherlands such as Rotterdam. Deltawerken did it’s thing.
19
Q
Lyme Regis
A
- Tourism is Dorset’s biggest industry
- Dorset coast generates £800 million a year
- 65% of 37500 employed in the tourism sector work near the Dorset coast
- Lyme Regis is built on a layer of limestone, with a layer of slippery muds, clays, and sands which slide over the limestone layer which causes landslides
- Landslips towards the sea, which damages houses and infrastructure as the sea erodes the cliff
- Management plan had 4 phases
- Phase 1 – Built a new sea wall and promenade with rock armour east of the mouth of the river Lim
- Phase 2 – replacing wooden groynes with stone ones. Drainage improvements and rock armour in Cobb Harbour. Beach replenishment from sand dredged from the English Channel and transported from france
- Phase 4 – Slopes were stabilised with a 390m stretch of sea wall
20
Q
Bangladesh
A
- Sea levels expected to rise in Bangladesh by 1.5m
- 40% of the country’s population lives below 10m of LECZ (Low elevation coastal zone)
- Disastrous storms and unusually high tides may increase in frequency to up to 15 times a year in 2100
- Saltwater encroachment making water undrinkable and destroying crops
- Switch to aquaculture creates tension between farmers and farmers willing to change to aquaculture e.g. farming shrimp
- Adapting by using saltwater resistant strains of rice, which aren’t even peer-reviewed.
- Bangladesh is one of the most fertile places on Earth, and agriculture has been used to facilitate their almost 200 million people, a country which has a larger population than Russia but much smaller than it.
- 100,000 people migrating each year due to saltwater flooding already.
- 2004 floods cost Bangladesh $2 billion.
- 2004 floods caused by cyclone season affected 34 million people in Bangladesh.
- 20 million people were homeless, stranded or displaced.
21
Q
Odisha, ICZM
A
- 1999, cyclone hit, killing 10,000 people
- Communities are being trained to plant mangrove nurseries. 200 hectares have been planted
- Local communities are being trained to get jobs as boatmen, guides, and dolphin spotters, with 400,000 people expected to benefit from this
- 3000-plus fishing and tourist boats are being converted into eco-friendly vessels
- Crocodile numbers have increased to 1,600
- 37% of the coastline is rapidly eroding.
- Equilibrium between economic development and sustainable livelihoods.
22
Q
Land Subsidence, Venice
A
- Weight of the city is compacting the ground underneath, making it sink.
- Industrialisation of the city lead to over-abstraction, causing it to sink more.
- Between 1950-1960, Venice sank 5 inches.
- In 2022, Venice is sinking at a rate of 0.04 inches per year.
- Floods above 3 feet are called “Acqua Alta” caused by storm surges, high rains and high tides.
- In the past 20 years, Venice experienced 163 of these floods.
- In the past 100 years before that, it was 166.
- Slightly tilting to the East.
23
Q
Causes of rapid coastal recession in West Africa
A
- Alluvial method – gravel collection increases the rate of erosion as it is never put back at the extraction site. This is prevalent in Guinea-Bissau which has huge diamond deposits next to coastal areas.
- Sand mining for construction – creates sink holes, loose monitoring, the coastline is stripped of its sand.
- Destruction of Mangroves – loss of mangrove forests is especially visible around Kabrousse in Senegal, used heating homes and building homes.
- Poor coastal management – private owners of hotels and also private housing put in corrective measures and implement defensive measures which have no regard for the coast.
24
Q
Mt Pelee eruption, Martinique, 1902
A
- Mt Pelee was on a destructive plate boundary, leading to the eruption to be more explosive in nature.
- Pyroclastic flows travelled at speeds of 200kph, they were present because the mountain was a stratovolcano.
- Direction of the pyroclastic flow was towards the highly populated city of St Pierre.
- Lack of monitoring and forecasting due to the time period.
- Lack of mitigation due to colonialism as the island was seen as less important than mainland France.
- VEI of 5
- Killed 29,025 people.
- Majority black/mixed indigenous
25
Q
Mt St Helens, USA, 1980
A
- Area was sparsely population, meaning less people were affected.
- VEI of 5, similar to Mt Pelee
- Killed 61 people
- Blast was directed towards the North, which was remote.
- The volcano was thoroughly monitored for months and scientists had extensive historical evidence of past eruptions.
- However, the lateral explosion and the ensuing landslide was unexpected.
- Pyroclastic flow as it was a composite volcano.
26
Q
Soufriere Hills, Montserrat 1997
A
- Highly acidic and viscous lava meant that the volcano was easily evacuated.
- Low death toll of 19 was largely the result of monitoring and massive evacuation programme. Scientists correctly predicted the likely hazards and were bale to suggest which areas were at greatest risk.
- Thousands of people were evacuated including the entire population of the capital Plymouth.
- Population of 10,000 before eruption.
- On destructive plate boundary.
27
Q
Nyirangongo, DRC, 2002
A
- Lava moved at speeds of 40kpb towards the nearby city of Goma. 500,000 people fled the city.
- Only 245 people died
- 12,000 families were left homeless.
- People were aware of the hazards posed as the volcano had erupted multiple times before.
- Constructive plate boundary so lava was very quick, near the African Great Rift Valley.
- Not explosive.
28
Q
Boxing Day Tsunami
A
- Lack of warning systems led to many communities were caught of guard and had no time to evacuate. One British girl was able to see the signs of a tsunami due to her geography lessons, and was able to save 100 people.
- Earthquake of 9.1 Magnitude offshore.
- Offshore earthquake meaning people did not believe the earthquake could cause damage from what they felt onshore.
- Population density on the coastlines of Indonesia and Sri Lanka are extremely high. Sumatra is the 5th most populated island in the world.
- Poor building practices were commonplace in Indonesia, a lower-middle income country. Shanty towns and improper building materials were easily swept away by the tsunami.
- Low lying areas – while Sumatra and Java were mountainous areas, the island nation of Maldives was almost completely flooded – two thirds of the capital was flooded entirely. There is no high ground in the Maldives.
- 225,000 people believed to have died.
- 18 countries were hit.
- $10 billion in costs in total.
- India was too busy doing 5 year plan of boosting literacy and employment equality between genders.
28
Q
Icelandic volcanic ash hazard Eyjafjallakokull, 2010
A
- Volcanic ash cloud created a safety hazard for aircraft as the fine particles in the ash can damage airplane engines and interfere with the electronics. As a result, many Europeans closed their airspace for several days.
- 100,000 flights were cancelled, costing $1.7 billion.
- Trade was severely hindered by the closing of air spaces.
- Somewhat unexpected – hadn’t erupted in 200 years.
- Series of small earthquakes meant it could be forecasted with better precision.
28
Q
Japan 2011 earthquake and Tsunami
A
- Japan has Earthquake Resistant buildings such as the Sendai Mediatheque, a library which survived the Earthquake on video.
- Fukushima plant had a meltdown as power outages occurred.
- 100,000 buildings destroyed.
- City of Ishinomaki was completely flooded and flattened, 3000 people died there.
• Emergency drills on September 1st each year in schools and workplaces meant people were prepared for the natural disasters.
• Japan has one of the most advanced earthquake early warning systems in the world called the EEW. This meant people knew there was an earthquake happening as alerts were sent out to people in areas to be affected.
• Aging population – the aging population meant that a lot of the people who were affected and vulnerable were old people who were fragile and could not evacuate as quickly as young people.
• Competent evacuation strategies – 452000 people were living in evacuation facilities 10 days after the earthquake.
• Japan was able to do all of this because they have a large economy, 3rd largest in the world.
*. 9.1 magnitude like boxing day
