Key term
WJEC AS-Level Geography 601-8455-3
Coastal Landscapes
Topic overviewThe coast as an open systemSediment sources and sediment cellsTides and coastal currentsConstructive and destructive wavesHigh energy coasts and erosional landscape systemsLow energy coasts and depositional landscape systemsFetch, wave refraction and wave energyLithology and structural geology at the coastSub-aerial weathering and mass movementMarine processes of erosionErosional landforms of rocky coastsCoastal transport and longshore driftDeposition, flocculation and sediment sortingDepositional landforms of sandy coastsSand dunes and aeolian processesEstuaries, tidal flats and salt marshesCoral reefs and mangrove coastlinesCoastal change over different timescalesCoastal processes and human activityHuman impact on coastal landscape systems
Glaciated Landscapes
Topic overviewThe glacier as an open systemClimate change and the glacier budgetGlacier movementTypes of ice mass and their distributionGlacial weathering and erosion processesMacro-scale erosional landformsGlacial transport and depositional landformsFluvioglacial landformsSuites of landforms in glacial landscapesPeriglacial processes and ground icePeriglacial action of water and windGlacial change over different timescalesGlacial environments and human activity
Tectonic Hazards
Topic overviewThe internal structure of the EarthMechanisms of plate movementDivergent and conservative plate marginsConvergent margins and subductionHot spots and the global distribution of tectonic hazardsThe hazard profile and measuring magnitudeTypes of volcano and styles of eruptionPrimary volcanic hazardsSecondary volcanic hazardsImpacts of volcanic activity at different scalesContrasting volcanic eruptionsEarthquake characteristics and seismic wavesEarthquake hazards and ground behaviourTsunami processes and impactsContrasting earthquake eventsRisk, vulnerability and human factorsMonitoring, prediction and warningMitigation, response and the hazard management cycle
Changing Places
Topic overviewWhat gives a place its characterFlows and connections that shape placesMeaning, perception and attachment to placeHow places are representedEconomic restructuring and the Clark Fisher modelDeindustrialisation and social inequalityThe service economy and its impactsThe knowledge economy and clustersRebranding rural placesManaging change in rural placesRebranding urban placesManaging change in urban placesComparing a home place with a contrasting placeHow place change affects people's lives
Fieldwork and Geographical Skills
Glaciated Landscapes
- 13 subtopics
- 39 things to know
- AS Unit 1
What Glaciated Landscapes covers
Glaciated Landscapes is examined in AS Unit 1, Changing Landscapes. It covers the glacier as an open system, climate change and the glacier budget, glacier movement, types of ice mass and their distribution, glacial weathering and erosion processes, Macro-scale erosional landforms, glacial transport and depositional landforms, fluvioglacial landforms, Suites of landforms in glacial landscapes, periglacial processes and ground ice, periglacial action of water and wind, glacial change over different timescales and glacial environments and human activity.
The 13 subtopics
Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Geography students sit this topic in the first year.
- The glacier as an open systemFour components used to describe a glacier as a system, three outputs from a glacial system and main store within a glacial system.Open →
- Climate change and the glacier budgetQuaternary Ice Age, glacial period and three Milankovitch cycles.Open →
- Glacier movementPressure melting point, internal deformation as a mechanism of glacier movement and basal sliding.Open →
- Types of ice mass and their distributionCirque glacier, valley glacier and highland ice field.Open →
- Glacial weathering and erosion processesFreeze-thaw weathering in a glacial environment, frost shattering and abrasion as a glacial process.Open →
- Macro-scale erosional landformsShape of a cirque, how a cirque forms and formation of a pyramidal peak.Open →
- Glacial transport and depositional landformsLodgement till, ablation till and deformation till.Open →
- Fluvioglacial landformsTerm fluvioglacial, why an esker can run uphill and kame terrace.Open →
- Suites of landforms in glacial landscapesSuite of landforms, why erosion dominates in highlands and deposition in lowlands and knock and lochan landscape.Open →
- Periglacial processes and ground icePeriglacial environment, active layer and ice lens.Open →
- Periglacial action of water and windHow a dry valley forms in a periglacial environment, how a loess plateau forms and region with extensive loess deposits.Open →
- Glacial change over different timescalesGlacial landscape changing within seconds, debris flow and seasonal change in fluvioglacial deposition.Open →
- Glacial environments and human activityGlacial lake outburst flood, why moraine-dammed lakes are unstable and icelandic term for a glacial outburst flood.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
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Explain why ice at the base of a thick glacier can be liquid at below 0°C.
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What is a glacier surge?
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Explain how a cirque forms.
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What is a roche moutonnée, and which side is which?
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Describe the shape and orientation of a drumlin.
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What is a pingo?
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Describe the seasonal change in fluvioglacial deposition.
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Name the four components used to describe a glacier as a system.
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Define a cirque glacier.
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Describe freeze-thaw weathering in a glacial environment.
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What does the term fluvioglacial mean?
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Which erosional landforms characterise a highland glaciated landscape?
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Explain how a dry valley forms in a periglacial environment.
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Give one trigger for a glacial lake outburst flood.
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Give three inputs to a glacial system.
Numbers
What is the Quaternary Ice Age, and roughly when did it begin?
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Define a valley glacier.
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Why is freeze-thaw weathering so effective in glacial environments?
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Distinguish supraglacial, englacial and sub-glacial transport.
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What is an esker?
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Which depositional landforms characterise a lowland glaciated landscape?
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Define permafrost.
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What is loess?
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Give an example of a glacial landscape changing within seconds.
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Why is the risk of outburst floods increasing in the Himalayas and the Andes?
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Name three outputs from a glacial system.
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Define a glacial period.
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Distinguish a cold-based glacier from a warm-based glacier.
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What is a nunatak?
Process
Describe plucking as a glacial process.
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Describe the shape of a cirque.
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How does the position of debris in a glacier affect its shape when deposited?
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How can a kame terrace be distinguished from a lateral moraine in the field?
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Describe how the landscape produced by an ice sheet differs from that produced by valley glaciers.
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What is the active layer?
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Name a region with extensive loess deposits.
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Why are glacial trough walls prone to sudden failure after the ice has gone?
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Give two ways glacial landforms benefit human activity.
Take Glaciated Landscapes further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Abrasion vs Plucking
Abrasion: the scouring of bedrock by debris already held in the base of the moving ice. Plucking: the pulling away of blocks that have frozen onto the base of the moving ice.
Cold-based glacier vs Warm-based glacier
Cold-based glacier: one frozen to the rock beneath, moving only a few metres a year and eroding very little. Warm-based glacier: one with meltwater at its bed, sliding over it at tens of metres a year and eroding rapidly.
Till vs Outwash
Till: material dropped straight from the ice, unsorted and unlayered, holding every size from clay to boulders. Outwash: material laid down by meltwater beyond the snout, sorted by size and showing clear layering.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Name the four components used to describe a glacier as a system.
Model answer
Inputs, outputs, stores and transfers.
- 2
Give three inputs to a glacial system.
Model answer
Snowfall, avalanched snow and ice from the slopes above, and solar energy, with rock debris entering as a material input.
- 3
Name three outputs from a glacial system.
Model answer
Meltwater, water lost by evaporation and sublimation, and ice lost by calving into a lake or the sea.
- 4
What is the main store within a glacial system?
Model answer
The ice itself, together with the snow of the accumulation zone and the debris held within and beneath the ice.
- 5
Define accumulation in a glacial system.
Model answer
Accumulation is the total gain of snow and ice by a glacier over a period.
- 6
Define ablation in a glacial system.
Model answer
Ablation is the total loss of snow and ice by a glacier through melting, sublimation, evaporation and calving.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Glaciated Landscapes revision questions
- Is Glaciated Landscapes examined at AS in WJEC Geography?
- Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does Glaciated Landscapes cover in WJEC AS-Level Geography?
- 13 subtopics: the glacier as an open system, climate change and the glacier budget, glacier movement, types of ice mass and their distribution, glacial weathering and erosion processes, macro-scale erosional landforms, glacial transport and depositional landforms, fluvioglacial landforms, suites of landforms in glacial landscapes, periglacial processes and ground ice, periglacial action of water and wind, glacial change over different timescales and glacial environments and human activity. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Glaciated Landscapes organised?
- By the WJEC 601-8455-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Glaciated Landscapes, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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