River Landscapes in the UK | AQA GCSE Geography (8035)

River Landscapes in the UK

  • 82 questions
  • 5 subtopics
  • Paper 1
  • Paper 1

River Landscapes in the UK is examined in Paper 1, Living with the physical environment.

It covers the long and cross profiles of a river, and fluvial processes, river landforms from source to mouth, Identifying landforms in a UK river valley, flood risk, hydrographs and flood management strategies and A UK flood management scheme and its effects.

Sample questions from River Landscapes in the UK

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

  1. The long and cross profiles of a river, and fluvial processes

    How does hydraulic action wear away the bed and banks of a river?

    Show the answer
    The sheer force of the moving water forces air into cracks in the rock, and the repeated pressure breaks pieces away.
  2. The long and cross profiles of a river, and fluvial processes

    How do traction and saltation move material along a river bed?

    Show the answer
    Traction rolls the largest boulders along the bed, while saltation bounces smaller pebbles and grains of sand along in a series of short hops.
  3. River landforms from source to mouth

    What is a meander, and where in a river's course are meanders common?

    Show the answer
    A meander is a pronounced bend in the channel, most common in the middle and lower course where the river crosses flatter land.
  4. River landforms from source to mouth

    How does a levée form along the side of a river channel?

    Show the answer
    When a river spills over its banks the heaviest sediment is dropped first at the channel edge, and repeated floods build these deposits up into raised natural banks.
  5. Identifying landforms in a UK river valley

    What evidence on a map suggests that a river has reached its lower course?

    Show the answer
    The channel is wide, contours are far apart or absent, and the river swings in large curves across flat land.
  6. Identifying landforms in a UK river valley

    Which landforms of erosion are found in the upper course of the River Tees?

    Show the answer
    Interlocking spurs in its narrow valley, and waterfalls such as High Force with a gorge downstream of them.
  7. Flood risk, hydrographs and flood management strategies

    What is plotted on a hydrograph?

    Show the answer
    The discharge of a river through the hours and days after a storm, drawn alongside the rainfall that caused it.
  8. Flood risk, hydrographs and flood management strategies

    What is a flood relief channel, and what does it cost to provide one?

    Show the answer
    It is an artificial channel that carries surplus water around a settlement and returns it to the river downstream, and it takes up a great deal of land and money.

The 5 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic What it covers Questions
The long and cross profiles of a river, and fluvial processes The long profile and changing cross profile of a river, how width, depth and velocity change downstream, hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition and solution, vertical and lateral erosion, the four ways a river transports its load, and where deposition happens. 13
River landforms from source to mouth The formation of interlocking spurs, waterfalls, plunge pools and gorges, meanders with river cliffs and slip-off slopes, ox-bow lakes, levées, flood plains and estuaries. 15
Identifying landforms in a UK river valley The erosional and depositional landforms of a UK river valley and their map evidence, grid references and flow direction, and the River Tees from Cross Fell and High Force waterfall to the meanders at Yarm and the Teesmouth estuary. 16
Flood risk, hydrographs and flood management strategies How rainfall, geology, relief and land use affect flood risk, reading hydrographs for discharge, lag time and flashy rivers, and the benefits and costs of dams, straightening, embankments, relief channels, warnings, zoning, tree planting and river restoration. 20
A UK flood management scheme and its effects Why a UK flood scheme is needed, weighing its cost, its social, economic and environmental effects, winners and losers, and the Banbury scheme on the River Cherwell with its embankment, flood storage area, raised road and new habitats. 18
River Landscapes in the UK is 82 of the 1,429 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.

  1. Step 1 · Closed book

    Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

Nearby topics

All 20 topics Guide overview

AQA GCSE Geography Active Recall Guide

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