OCR GCSE (9-1) Geography B: Geography for Enquiring Minds (J384) · Spec 3.1a, 3.1b, 3.2a and 3.2b
Distinctive Landscapes
Read the notes, then try the questions. Each one is marked the moment you press Check, and shows the right answer and why.
Key ideas
- A landscape can be natural or built. A built landscape has human structures such as roads, houses and factories as its main features.
- The UK has upland, lowland and glaciated landscapes. Glaciated uplands, such as the Lake District, were shaped by ice in the last ice age.
- Waves erode the coast by hydraulic action (air and water forced into cracks), abrasion (rocks scrape the cliff) and attrition (stones knock together and get smaller and rounder).
- A stack forms in order: a crack in a headland widens to a cave, the cave is cut through to an arch, and the arch roof collapses, leaving a stack.
- On a river meander, the fastest flow causes erosion on the outside bend and slow flow causes deposition on the inside bend.
- An ox-bow lake: erosion narrows the neck of a meander, a flood breaks through, then deposition seals off the old loop.
- A waterfall forms where hard rock lies over soft rock. Flood management can be hard engineering (embankments, river straightening) or soft engineering (floodplain zoning, planting trees).
- You need two UK case studies: one coast and one river basin.
Key terms
- Built landscape
- A landscape whose main features are human structures.
- Hydraulic action
- Waves force air and water into cracks and break the rock apart.
- Abrasion
- Rocks carried by waves or a river scrape and wear away the cliff or bed.
- Attrition
- Stones knock together and become smaller and rounder.
- Levee
- A raised bank beside a river, built up from the coarse material dropped first in a flood.
- Managed retreat
- Letting low-value land flood in a planned way.
- Soft engineering
- Working with nature to reduce flooding or erosion, such as planting trees or zoning the floodplain.
Common mistakes
- Saying caves, arches and stacks form in soft rock because it wears away fast. They form in resistant rock that has weaknesses such as cracks.
- Saying chalk is a soft rock. On the coast it is fairly resistant, so it forms headlands.
- Explaining a levee in the same way as a waterfall or an ox-bow lake. Each landform has its own sequence of processes.
- Listing 'cave, arch, stack' and stopping. To explain, say what process makes each stage.
- Naming a coast or river without place detail. The top level needs facts about your actual case study.
Exam tip
A landform question is usually a levels-marked 6 or the topic's 8. Write the stages in order and name the process at each stage. Then add place detail from your case study, such as the rock type and the real landform names.
Free practice questions
7 questions, 11 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.
- Question 1 · Matching[3 marks]
Match each erosion process to what happens.
- Question 2 · Fill the gaps[1 mark]
A crack becomes a cave, then an arch. When the arch roof collapses, a ___ is left.
Word bank: bar · spit · stack
- Question 3 · Put in order[1 mark]
Put the stages of stack formation in the correct order, starting with the crack.
Use the arrows to put these in the right order, first at the top.
- 1The crack is enlarged into a cave
- 2The arch roof collapses, leaving a stack
- 3A crack in the headland is attacked by waves
- 4The cave is cut through to form an arch
- Question 4 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which sequence forms an ox-bow lake?
- Question 5 · Fill the gaps[2 marks]
On a meander the fastest flow causes ___ on the outside bend and slow flow causes ___ on the inside bend.
Word bank: erosion · deposition · attrition
- Question 6 · Choose more than one[2 marks]
Which TWO are soft engineering methods for river flooding?
Choose 2.
- Question 7 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which of these is the best description of a built landscape?