Year 10 Geography Summer Exam

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Understand the causes and links of child labour

Label the water cycle

How does the water cycle work?

When the precipitation reaches the surface, some falls directly into the sea but other water falls on land:

Define precipitation, evaporation, condensation and flood.

Condensation - A change of state in which gas becomes liquid by cooling.


Evaporation - The process in which a liquid changes state and turns into a gas.


Flood - An overflow of water onto normally dry land. The inundation of a normally dry area caused by rising water in an existing waterway, such as a river, stream, or drainage ditch. Ponding of water at or near the point where the rain fell.


Precipitation - Moisture that falls from the air to the ground. Includes rain, snow, hail, sleet, drizzle, fog and mist.

Explain how the river travels from the source to mouth

The source of a river is often, but not always, in an upland area. Near the source, a river flows over steep slopes with uneven surfaces.

It often flows over a series of waterfalls and rapids.

As a river flows down steep slopes, the water performs vertical erosion. This form of erosion cuts down towards the river bed and carves out steep-sided V-shaped valleys.

As the river flows towards the mouth, the gradient of the slope becomes less steep.

Eventually the river will flow over flat land as it approaches the sea.

As the river moves from the source to the mouth – both the depth of the river and the width of the river will both increase.

The load of a river will also change as it is transported and eroded along the river's profile.

As a result, the size and shape of stones will become smaller and more rounded as they journey through the river profile.

The discharge will increase as the river approaches the sea.

The discharge is usually calculated as the cross sectional area (depth x width) multiplied by the velocity or speed of the water.

Describe the processes of a river; erosion, transportation and deposition

Erosion

As a river travels downstream, it erodes the landscape. Erosion is when land is worn away by another material. It's a natural process that's been going on for millions of years and it continues to shape our planet's landscape today. 


Water is a very powerful force when you come to think of it. Although seemingly harmless, it wears away the landscape and sculpts some of the most beautiful spots around us.

There are four main types of water erosion:



The rate of erosion depends upon the force of the water and the durability of the material that’s being worn away. For example, limestone dissolves quicker in a fast-running river than a light drizzle in someone’s backyard and it dissolves at a faster rate than basalt because it is less durable. In rivers, faster currents will erode the riverbank and riverbed at a faster rate as the water moves along compared to small streams. However, that’s not to say that the gentle, slow flow of a stream will not have an impact over time.

River erosion caused by fast currents often creates a V-shaped valley. The river channel is where a river flows. Other streams and rivers will join it and it will become deeper and wider. Inevitably, a river will reach a large body of water, such as a sea, ocean or lake, that point of entry is called the mouth of the river.

Similar to erosion, weathering can also cause the breaking down of materials in the atmosphere. There are three main types of weathering: chemical, physical and biological.


Transportation and deposition

As the river flows through its courses, it picks up the small bits of the eroded rock and carries them downstream in different ways. The small bits of eroded rock are called sediment and the process of it being carried by the river downstream is called transportation.


There are four different types of transportation: Traction, Saltation, Suspension and Solution.



Deposition occurs in places where the water does not have enough energy to carry its rock load and as a result it is dropped. As we will see with the Curly Burn river, slower areas of the river, especially when it meanders and turns, can create a slip-off slope on one side of the channel because all the energy is directed on the other side. At such points along the river, the lack of energy will deposit an uneven slope, thereby creating an uneven, unbalanced shape of the riverbed.


The Curly Burn runs between Coleraine and Limavady in the North West of Northern Ireland. It is an 11 kilometre stretch of water and is easily accessible through many sites. The source of the Curly Burn can be located on Binevanagh Mountain, which has panoramic views over Lough Foyle, the Roe Valley, Inishowen and, on a clear day, to the west coast of Scotland. It is a perfect place to conduct fieldwork or look closely at how rivers function in this part of the world.

Draw and label a diagram of a waterfall

State human and physical causes of flooding

A variety of factors can increase the likelihood of flooding.

Physical causes of flooding:



Human factors increasing flood risk:


Explain methods of flood protection

Case study: Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a developing country in Asia and it is frequently affected by flooding. For example, in 2007 flooding made 9 million people homeless and approximately 1,000 people died from drowning and from waterborne diseases

Causes of flooding in Bangladesh

What has Bangladesh done to cope with flooding?

Bangladesh is a very poor country and so has less money to spend on flood defences than richer countries. Most people in Bangladesh do not earn enough to pay for insurance against flooding, so when there are floods they risk losing everything.


Short-term responses to flooding


Long-term responses


Unfortunately, many of these long-term responses are difficult to pay for and maintain. They are not always successful and don't always help enough people.