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A-Level Geography Flashcards: Physical Geography

Geography — Physical Geography Flashcards

20 interactive flashcards for A-Level Geography. Press Space to flip, rate 1-4.

What These Flashcards Cover

These flashcards test your understanding of the physical processes that shape the Earth’s surface, the cycles that move energy and matter through the planet, and the hazards that arise from geological and atmospheric processes.

Key areas:

  • The Water Cycle: Evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, percolation, surface runoff, and groundwater flow. Human impacts: deforestation reduces transpiration; urbanisation increases surface runoff; agriculture changes infiltration rates.
  • The Carbon Cycle: Photosynthesis absorbs CO2_{2}. Respiration releases CO2_{2}. Decomposition releases CO2_{2}. Combustion of fossil fuels releases stored carbon. Ocean absorption. Human impacts: burning fossil fuels increases atmospheric CO2_{2}; deforestation reduces carbon uptake; cement production releases CO2_{2}.
  • Coastal Processes: Erosion (hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition, corrosion). Transportation (traction, saltation, suspension, solution). Depposition (when energy decreases). Coastal landforms: cliffs, wave-cut platforms, beaches, spits, bars, tombolos.
  • Coastal Management: Hold the line (hard engineering: sea walls, groynes, revetments). Work with nature (soft engineering: beach nourishment, managed retreat). Retreat (allow the sea to erode). Strategies involve cost-benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment.
  • Glacial Systems: Glacial erosion: plucking and abrasion. Glacial transportation: material carried on, in, or under the ice. Glacial deposition: moraines, drumlins, erratics. Glacial landforms: corries, arêtes, pyramidal peaks, U-shaped valleys.
  • Tectonic Hazards: Plate tectonics: constructive (divergent), destructive (convergent), conservative (transform), and collision boundaries. Earthquakes: focus, epicentre, seismic waves (P, S, surface). Volcanic eruptions: types (effusive, explosive), monitoring, prediction. Human responses: prediction, protection, preparation.
  • Atmospheric Hazards: Tropical storms (hurricanes/cyclones): formation (warm ocean > 26°C, Coriolis effect, low pressure). Structure: eye, eyewall, rain bands. Impacts: wind damage, storm surge, flooding. Management: early warning systems, evacuation, building codes.

Intuition

Physical geography is about systems in balance. The water cycle moves water from ocean to atmosphere to land and back. The carbon cycle moves carbon between atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere. These cycles are normally in equilibrium, but human activities are disrupting them.

Coastal processes are a battle between erosion (destroying the land) and deposition (building it up). The outcome depends on the energy of the waves, the sediment supply, and the geology. Hard engineering tries to tip this balance in our favour; soft engineering works with natural processes.

Tectonic hazards remind us that the Earth’s surface is not static. Plate tectonics is driven by convection currents in the mantle, and the boundary zones are where the action happens — earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building.

Common Pitfalls

  1. Confusing erosion processes. Hydraulic action uses the force of water. Abrasion is the scraping of rocks. Attrition is rocks hitting each other. Corrosion is chemical dissolution. Each has a different mechanism.
  2. Misunderstanding the carbon cycle. Photosynthesis and respiration are opposite processes. Photosynthesis: 6CO2+6H2O→C6H12O6+6O26CO_2 + 6H_2O \rightarrow C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2. Respiration: the reverse. Burning fossil fuels adds carbon that was stored underground back to the atmosphere.
  3. Confusing constructive and destructive plate boundaries. Constructive: plates move apart, new crust is formed (e.g. Mid-Atlantic Ridge). Destructive: plates converge, crust is destroyed (e.g. Pacific Ring of Fire). Conservative: plates slide past each other, no crust is created or destroyed.
  4. Assuming all tropical storms are equally destructive. The destructiveness depends on wind speed, storm surge height, rainfall, and the vulnerability of the affected area. A strong storm hitting an uninhabited area causes less damage than a moderate storm hitting a densely populated coast.

Cross-References