UK landscapes, weathering and erosion

• Uplands are mostly in the north and west (Scottish Highlands, Lake District, Pennines, Snowdonia). Lowlands are mostly in the south and east.
• Uplands are usually on older, harder rock. Lowlands are often on younger, softer rock such as chalk and clay.
• Uplands are colder and wetter. The lowlands of the south-east are drier, with warmer summers.
• Some uplands, such as the Lake District and Snowdonia, were shaped by ice in past cold periods. The ice has gone, but it left corries, U-shaped valleys and ribbon lakes.
• Weathering breaks rock down where it sits. Erosion wears rock away and carries it off. Weathering can be mechanical (freeze-thaw), chemical (rainwater dissolving limestone) or biological (roots in cracks).
• Mass movement is material sliding or slumping downhill under gravity. Rain makes it more likely because it adds weight and makes the slope slippery.
• Erosion has four processes: hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition and solution. Moving material (transport) is a separate job.

Upland

High land with steep slopes and thin soil, mostly in the north and west of the UK.

Lowland

Low, flatter land, mostly in the south and east of the UK.

Weathering

The breakdown of rock where it sits, with no movement.

Erosion

The wearing away and removal of rock by a moving agent such as water, waves or ice.

Freeze-thaw

Water freezes in a crack, expands and widens it. This is mechanical weathering.

Mass movement

The movement of material downhill under gravity, such as sliding or slumping.

Attrition

Stones knock together and become smaller and rounder.

Abrasion

Rocks carried by water or waves scrape and wear away a surface.

Hydraulic action

The force of water, and air squeezed into cracks, breaks rock apart.

• Mixing up weathering and erosion. Weathering needs no moving agent. Erosion does.
• Treating abrasion and attrition as the same. Abrasion wears away the bed or cliff. Attrition wears down the stones being carried.
• On a describe question about a photograph, writing typical features that you cannot see, or giving reasons. Describe means say what is in the picture.

7 questions, 14 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.