Hot Desert Systems and Landscapes | AQA A-Level Geography (7037)

Hot Desert Systems and Landscapes

223 questions
17 subtopics
Component 1 Section B: one landscape system of three
Component 1

Arid landscapes and the wind and water processes that shape them, from thermal fracture and dune movement to wadis and inselbergs, ending with desertification and its human cost.

One of three landscape options in Section B of Component 1.

Sample questions from Hot Desert Systems and Landscapes

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Deserts as Systems: Inputs, Stores, Flows and Feedback

What are stores or components in a physical geography system?

Show the answer
Stores or components are places where energy or matter is held within the system.
The Aridity Index

Calculate the aridity index when mean annual precipitation = 460 mm, mean annual potential evapotranspiration = 2200 mm.

Show the answer
Aridity index = 460 ÷ 2200 = 0.209.
Thermal Fracture and Rock Breakdown

What is exfoliation?

Show the answer
The peeling away of curved sheets of rock from exposed surfaces due to pressure release or thermal stress.
Desert Water Sources and Ephemeral Streams

What does it mean that water action in deserts is episodic?

Show the answer
It occurs infrequently but with high intensity, producing significant geomorphological work in short periods.
Barchan and Seif Dunes

What happens to sand when it reaches the crest of a barchan?

Show the answer
Sand accumulates at the crest.
Playas, Inselbergs and Landscape Development

What type of rock typically forms the core of an inselberg?

Show the answer
A resistant rock core, often granite.
Death Valley hot desert case study

What is Badwater Basin in Death Valley?

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The lowest point in North America at about 86 m below sea level, an endorheic basin whose floor is a salt pan left by evaporation.
Environmental Impacts of Desertification

Describe how desertification causes habitat destruction.

Show the answer
Degradation of vegetation and soil eliminates the physical and biological conditions species require, destroying their habitats.

The 17 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Deserts as Systems: Inputs, Stores, Flows and Feedback	Recall questions on the components of a physical system, its inputs, outputs, energy, stores, flows and feedback, applied to desert systems with examples, on positive and negative feedback, and on the difference between a landform and a landscape.	14
Desert Climate, Soils and Vegetation	Recall questions on the location and causes of mid- and low-latitude deserts, the precipitation thresholds for arid and semi-arid environments, hot desert temperatures, rainfall, evaporation and solar radiation, desert soils and vegetation adaptations, and water balance.	17
The Aridity Index	Recall questions on the formula, what precipitation and potential evapotranspiration contribute to it, and how a value is calculated.	11
Energy, Sediment and Geomorphic Processes in Deserts	Recall questions on insolation, wind and episodic runoff as energy sources in hot deserts, on sediment sources, sediment cells and sediment budgets, and on weathering, mass movement, erosion, transportation and deposition.	16
Thermal Fracture and Rock Breakdown	Recall questions on what heating and nocturnal cooling do to rock surfaces and on how differential stress weakens rock over repeated cycles.	12
Deflation, Abrasion and Aeolian Transport	Recall questions on deflation and wind abrasion, and on suspension, saltation and surface creep as modes of transport.	9
Desert Water Sources and Ephemeral Streams	Recall questions on exogenous water, endoreic drainage and what becomes of water in a closed basin, and on ephemeral streams.	14
Deflation Hollows, Yardangs and Zeugen	Recall questions on how deflation strips fine sediment to form deflation hollows and desert pavements, on ventifacts, and on the differential erosion of softer and harder rock that shapes yardangs and undercuts zeugen beneath their cap rock.	11
Barchan and Seif Dunes	Recall questions on the shape of a barchan dune, why its horns advance faster and how sand moves up, over and down it, and on seif dunes, the two-directional wind regime that forms them and the direction in which they elongate.	9
Wadis, Bahadas and Pediments	Recall questions on wadis and the rainfall and rapid runoff that cut them, on bahadas formed as alluvial fans merge at a mountain front, and on pediments, slope retreat and the transport of debris across them.	15
Playas, Inselbergs and Landscape Development	Recall questions on playas in endorheic basins with their temporary lakes and salts, on inselbergs and parallel slope retreat, and on how weathering, aeolian and fluvial processes, time and relict landforms shape desert landscapes.	18
Observation, Measurement and Mapping in Deserts	Recall questions on observing, measuring and mapping hot desert landscapes, on data handling and statistical analysis of field measurements from aeolian environments, and on the field indicators, variables and geospatial and statistical skills used to study desertification.	12
Death Valley hot desert case study	Death Valley in California's Mojave Desert as a hot desert case study: why it is so arid, its record heat, Badwater Basin, alluvial fans, playas and dunes, the 2022 flash flood, and how extreme conditions are managed for visitors.	11
The Causes and Definition of Desertification	Recall questions on how desert extent has shifted over 10,000 years, the formal definition, and the rainfall changes that drive it.	14
Environmental Impacts of Desertification	Recall questions on how desertification causes biodiversity, vegetation and habitat loss, soil degradation and disrupted nutrient cycles, accelerated erosion, dune migration, topsoil loss and surface crusting, altered drainage, and falling agricultural productivity, food insecurity and water scarcity.	13
Human Impacts and Responses to Desertification	Recall questions on displacement, poverty and resource conflict, the predicted effects of climate change and possible futures, resilience, mitigation through reforestation, soil conservation, grazing and irrigation, and adaptation through drought-resistant crops, water harvesting, diversification and migration.	15
Desertification on the Yatenga plateau, Burkina Faso	Desertification on the Yatenga plateau of Burkina Faso, covering its physical and human causes, the impact on farming families, and how zaï pits, stone lines and farmer-managed regeneration have restored land and built resilience to drought.	12

Hot Desert Systems and Landscapes is 223 of the 3,320 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.