Geography (0460) Notes

I made a document for all my case studies and brief 4/5 marker questions.

Case studies + 4/5 markers

And below are the tips/reminders for myself that I find helpful:

Paper 1

Ideal questions to do:

Population, Rivers, Coasts, Volcanoes, Tourism, Industry (just my personal preference :))

• Case studies: 3 points with development and at least 1 place specific references
• if case studies not familiar but questions are easy, stick with the question and write generic points for case studies to get 5 marks max.
• write it even if the answers are too simple/common-sense to be true
• fill up the lines, give more examples/figures even when the no. points = no. marks

Paper 2

• prevent soil erosion: leave strips of vegetation between plots, plough horizontally across the slope of hillside to prevent runoff, crop rotation to replace soil nutrients, fence the land keep animals away to prevent overgrazing
• causes of soil erosion by water: steep slopes, heavy rain, overgrazing, deforestation, NOT STRONG WINDS
• desert: HIGH air pressure
• air above deserts: sinking and warming
• Ocean currents: cold or hot, western edge of continent = cold ocean current (desert e.g.)
• Settlement patterns: dispersed, nucleated, linear
• Straight roads normally indicate terraced housing
• curved roads often represent suburban/detached/privately owned
• Natural advantages of a settlement: flat land, near water source, on the coast, near farmland, near natural resources, defensive location
• human locational factors: good road links, schools, hospitals, jobs, leisure facilities
• tourism can be promoted by: beaches, sea, mountain, waterfalls, historical buildings, water parks, golf courses, hotels and restaurants
• Describing photos: structure, type of vegetation, geographical features
• Describing graphs: look for trends e.g. positive/negative correlation or data fluctuating
  • look for anomalies
  • mention start and finish figure
  • mention highest and lowest figure
  • use evidence to support your description
• Describing relief: average height of relief and height of highest point
  • mountainous or hilly or part of a plateau
  • state locations (grid reference) of any relief features that stands out
  • slope: concave, convex, uniform, steep
  • The height of the area ranges from below 10 meters near to the coast to 548 meters in grid square 8483. The main relief feature is T Mountain which is in the western part of the area. As the mountain extends to the south-east, it becomes narrower and its height decreases. This part of the mountain has two peaks of heights about 240 meters in grid square 8582 and about 110 meters in grid square 8682. This part of the mountain also has two spurs from grid square 8583 to 8683 extending from south-west to north-east. The contours of T Mountain are very close together in the area west of easting 85. This indicates that the slopes are steep. The spacing of the contours on the eastern side of the mountain is wider. The slopes here are therefore less steep.
• Describing landscape: ridge, plateau (elevated land with flat top and steep sides), scarp, floodplain
  • broad, flat, steep-sided, deeply cut, gently sloping
• Drainage:
  • density of drainage: the greater the number of streams, the higher the density
  • stream patterns: dendritic, trellis or radial
  • area drained – many tributaries joining the main river etc.
  • direction of flow
  • course of river: straight or meandering, braiding, width
  • presence of river features e.g rapids, waterfall