Water and Carbon Cycles | AQA A-Level Geography (7037)

Water and Carbon Cycles

377 questions
32 subtopics
Component 1 Section A: Water and carbon cycles, compulsory
Component 1

The two great cycles that move water and carbon between land, ocean and atmosphere, studied as systems with stores, flows and feedback.

Everyone sits this as Section A of Component 1, and it carries the quantitative and fieldwork skills the rest of the course leans on.

Sample questions from Water and Carbon Cycles

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

Systems, Stores and Flows

What are flows (or transfers) in a system?

Show the answer
Movements of energy or matter between stores within a system.
Spearman's Rank, Chi-Square and Data Analysis

What is the purpose of the Chi-square test?

Show the answer
To determine whether observed frequencies differ significantly from expected frequencies.
Remote Sensing, GIS and Big Data

What is GIS?

Show the answer
Geographic Information Systems — computer-based systems for collecting, storing, analysing and presenting spatial data.
The Global Water Stores

What forms of water are stored in the atmosphere?

Show the answer
Water vapour, cloud droplets and ice crystals.
Infiltration and Overland Flow

What is infiltration-excess overland flow (Hortonian flow)?

Show the answer
Surface runoff that occurs when rainfall intensity exceeds the infiltration capacity of the soil.
The Global Carbon Stores

Where is carbon stored within the hydrosphere?

Show the answer
Dissolved in oceans, seas, lakes and rivers, with oceans holding the majority.
Feedback Loops and Climate Change

Define a negative feedback loop.

Show the answer
A negative feedback loop counteracts an initial change, returning the system towards equilibrium.
Line Graphs, Bar Graphs and Pie Charts

What is a compound line graph?

Show the answer
A graph in which each line is plotted on top of the one below, so the bands between the lines show each component and the top line shows the total.

The 32 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Systems, Stores and Flows	Recall questions on inputs, outputs, energy, stores and flows, and on how positive and negative feedback affect a system's stability.	16
Mass Balance in Water and Carbon Stores	Recall questions on what mass balance means, what inputs and outputs represent in the equation and how net change in storage is found.	8
Fieldwork and the Rainforest Case Study	Recall questions on presenting data well, using field measurements to study the water cycle and why rainforest makes a good case study.	13
Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion	Recall questions on the mean, mode and median as measures of central tendency, on range, inter-quartile range and standard deviation as measures of dispersion, and on reading, using and the limitations of dispersion diagrams.	12
Spearman's Rank, Chi-Square and Data Analysis	Recall questions on what Spearman's rank measures, its significance and sign, the purpose of the chi-square test with observed and expected frequencies and significance, and on analysing water and carbon cycle field data for patterns and anomalies.	11
Scatter Graphs, Triangular Graphs and Logarithmic Scales	Recall questions on scatter graphs and lines of best fit for showing relationships between variables, on triangular graphs and the three-component data they display, and on when a logarithmic scale is useful and how it differs from a linear one.	8
Atlas, Thematic and Flow-Line Maps	Recall questions on choropleth, isoline and dot maps, on flow, desire and trip lines for showing movement, and on atlas maps, synoptic charts with their pressure systems and proportional symbol maps, with the limitations of each.	14
OS Maps, Sketch Maps and Field Sketches	Recall questions on 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 OS maps, contour lines and six-figure grid references, on sketch maps and field sketches, and on labelling, annotation and overlays.	8
Remote Sensing, GIS and Big Data	Recall questions on remotely sensed data, satellite images, aerial photographs and digital imagery, on using GIS to collect, analyse and present data, and on crowd-sourced data, big data and electronic databases with their advantages and limitations.	13
Qualitative Data, Questionnaires and Interviews	Recall questions on examples of qualitative field data in water cycle studies such as soil colour, how it differs from quantitative data, coding and text analysis, and on questionnaires, interviews and primary data in fieldwork.	10
Sampling, Accuracy and Measurement Error	Recall questions on random, systematic and stratified sampling, point, line and area sampling and sample size, and on accuracy and precision, random and systematic measurement error and the reliability of data.	10
Data Misuse and Research Ethics	Recall questions on how graphs and selective data can mislead, why correlation does not prove causation and why secondary sources should be questioned, and on informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality and representing communities in research.	8
The Global Water Stores	Recall questions on water held in the lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and atmosphere, and on why each store matters.	9
Evaporation, Condensation and Cloud Formation	Recall questions on evaporation and how temperature, humidity, wind speed and surface area affect its rate, and on condensation, condensation nuclei, adiabatic cooling and why air must rise for clouds to form.	11
Precipitation and Cryospheric Processes	Recall questions on frontal, orographic and convectional precipitation, and on accumulation and ablation in the cryosphere.	8
The Drainage Basin as an Open System	Recall questions on why a drainage basin is an open system, its watershed and precipitation input, evaporation, transpiration and runoff as outputs, and interception, surface, soil water, groundwater and channel storage, with stemflow.	12
Infiltration and Overland Flow	Recall questions on infiltration and its capacity, the conditions producing overland flow and the difference between its two forms.	9
The Water Balance Equation	Recall questions on the equation itself, the relationship it expresses and what each of its terms stands for.	8
Flood Hydrographs	Recall questions on what a hydrograph shows and on the rising limb, peak discharge, lag time and recession limb.	17
Human Impacts on the Water Cycle	Recall questions on how ploughing, irrigation, land drainage and deforestation alter interception, infiltration and evapotranspiration.	9
The Global Carbon Stores	Recall questions on the largest carbon store on Earth and on the forms carbon takes in the lithosphere and the hydrosphere.	8
Photosynthesis, Respiration and Carbon Transfer	Recall questions on how plants take up carbon dioxide, what photosynthesis produces and how respiration moves carbon between stores.	20
Farming, Land Use and Carbon Sinks	Recall questions on how ploughing, livestock, paddy fields, fertiliser and deforestation alter the carbon cycle, on land use change and the carbon budget, and on when land acts as a carbon sink or source and why oceans are a major sink.	11
Greenhouse Gases and Links between the Cycles	Recall questions on how CO₂ enhances the greenhouse effect and affects climate, the two principal greenhouse gases and the role of water vapour, and on how the water and carbon cycles support life and are linked through photosynthesis and the oceans.	13
Feedback Loops and Climate Change	Recall questions on positive and negative feedback loops, the ice-albedo, water vapour and permafrost positive feedbacks, enhanced weathering and plant growth as negative feedbacks, and the implications of climate change for life on Earth.	11
Carbon Sequestration and Mitigation	Recall questions on afforestation and reforestation, carbon capture and storage from source to geological store, BECCS and negative emissions, enhanced weathering, ocean fertilisation, soil carbon management, reducing deforestation, wetland restoration and direct air capture.	13
Mass Balance in a Drainage Basin	Recall questions on the inputs and outputs of a drainage basin, how its mass balance is calculated and how the result is read.	11
Unit Conversion and Flux Calculations	Recall questions on converting cubic metres to litres, cumecs, units of mass from gigatonnes to grams, units of time and square kilometres to square metres, and on calculating change in storage in a drainage basin water balance and carbon flux rates.	20
Line Graphs, Bar Graphs and Pie Charts	Recall questions on choosing graphs for discharge, infiltration and other water cycle field data, on comparative, compound and divergent line and bar graphs and when to use each, and on pie charts, proportional divided circles and their limitations.	13
Water and Carbon Cycles in the Tropical Rainforest	Recall questions on rainforest precipitation, canopy interception, stemflow, throughfall, infiltration and evapotranspiration, on carbon uptake, stores, respiration and decomposition, and on how deforestation, logging, farming, mining and urbanisation alter both cycles.	20
Stores within a River Catchment	Recall questions on soil moisture, groundwater and channel storage, and on the part vegetation plays as a store.	8
Transfers and the Controls on Catchment Hydrology	Recall questions on overland and channel flow, and on how rainfall intensity and duration alter stores and transfers.	15

Water and Carbon Cycles is 377 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.