AQA A-Level Geography 7037
Water and Carbon Cycles
Hot Desert Systems and LandscapesLandscape
Coastal Systems and LandscapesLandscape
Glacial Systems and LandscapesLandscape
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Global Systems and Global Governance
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Contemporary Urban EnvironmentsHuman option
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Glacial Systems and Landscapes
Cwm Idwal and the Ogwen valley case study
- 3 things to know
- Component 1
Overview
Cwm Idwal and Nant Ffrancon in Eryri as the local glaciated case study: corrie and trough landforms, geology, Devensian and Loch Lomond Stadial history, till fabric and clast data, and visitor pressure.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What is the glacial history of Cwm Idwal?
What human pressures affect Cwm Idwal today?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Where is Cwm Idwal, and why is it a good local case study of a glaciated environment?
Model answer
It is a corrie in the Glyderau mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) above the Ogwen valley, with a clear set of erosional and depositional landforms close together; it became Wales's first National Nature Reserve in 1954.
- 2
Describe the corrie landforms of Cwm Idwal.
Model answer
A steep backwall split by the cleft of Twll Du (the Devil's Kitchen), a rock basin holding Llyn Idwal, and a lip of rock and moraine at its outlet.
- 3
How does geology influence the landforms of Cwm Idwal?
Model answer
The cwm is cut into Ordovician volcanic and sedimentary rocks folded into a syncline; the Idwal Slabs are a smooth dip slope, and lines of weakness were exploited by plucking to form the backwall and Twll Du.
- 4
Describe the glacial landforms of the Ogwen valley.
Model answer
Nant Ffrancon is a classic U-shaped glacial trough with steep sides and a flat floor, and Cwm Idwal is a hanging valley above it, with Llyn Ogwen in a rock basin and the Ogwen falls where the river drops from the higher level.
- 5
What is the glacial history of Cwm Idwal?
Model answer
The area was buried by the Devensian ice sheet, which reached its maximum about 22,000 years ago; after it melted, a small corrie glacier returned during the Loch Lomond Stadial, about 12,900–11,700 years ago, and left the moraines in the cwm.
- 6
What depositional landforms are found in Cwm Idwal?
Model answer
Hummocky moraines around and below Llyn Idwal, left by the Loch Lomond Stadial glacier, along with erratics and roches moutonnées shaped by moving ice.
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