Key term
Edexcel GCSE Geography A 1GA0
Changing Cities
Topic overviewGlobal urbanisation trends and ratesThe UK’s urban population and why urbanisation varies by regionThe chosen UK city: site, situation, connectivity and structureUrbanisation, suburbanisation and migration in the chosen UK cityPopulation change and deindustrialisation in the chosen UK cityInequality and changes in retailing in the chosen UK cityMaking the chosen UK city more sustainableThe chosen developing or emerging city: site, situation and structurePopulation growth and migration in the chosen developing or emerging cityInequality and quality of life in the chosen developing or emerging cityRapid urbanisation: challenges, and bottom-up and top-down responsesGovernment policy and quality of life in the chosen city
Coastal Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Management
Topic overviewThe world’s large-scale ecosystems and what controls their distributionThe biosphere as a resource, and its commercial exploitationUK terrestrial and marine ecosystemsTropical rainforest characteristics and the nutrient cycleRainforest biodiversity and plant and animal adaptationsRainforest goods and services, and the causes of deforestationSustainable management of a named rainforestDeciduous woodland characteristics and the nutrient cycleWoodland biodiversity and plant and animal adaptationsWoodland goods and services, and the causes of deforestationSustainable management of a named deciduous woodland
Energy Resource ManagementResource option
Geographical Investigations – Fieldwork
Topic overviewRiver fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary dataCoastal fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary dataUrban fieldwork: enquiry questions and methodsUrban fieldwork: secondary data sourcesRural fieldwork: enquiry questions and methodsRural fieldwork: secondary data sourcesThe enquiry process: asking questions and choosing methodsThe enquiry process: presenting, analysing and concludingThe enquiry process: evaluating fieldwork
Geographical Investigations − UK Challenges
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewAtlas and map skills: distributions, patterns and sketch mapsDescribing the site, situation and shape of settlementsInterpreting diagrams, sketches and photographsUsing online census sourcesHypotheses, sampling and risk assessmentCollecting, recording and presenting dataWriting about findings and building an argument
Glaciated Upland Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
Topic overviewGlacial processes and the processes at work on relict landscapes todayPast climate and present UK weather in glaciated uplandsGlacial landforms of erosion and depositionCrag and tail, and drumlinsHuman activity and development in glaciated uplandsA named distinctive glaciated upland landscape in the UK
Global Development
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentThe global pattern of development and why it is unevenThe consequences of uneven development for quality of lifeStrategies to reduce uneven development: aid, top-down and bottom-upThe chosen country: location, context and internal unevennessEconomic change, trade, aid and investment in the chosen countryPopulation and social change in the chosen countryGeopolitics and technology in the chosen countryThe impacts of rapid development and how they are managed
Mathematics and Statistics Skills
Topic overviewCartographic skills: contours, transects, scale and distanceUsing GIS and geo-spatial dataChoosing, constructing and interpreting graphs and chartsNumerical skills: number, scale, proportion and ratioDrawing conclusions from numerical dataStatistical skills: averages, spread, percentages and correlationSpotting weaknesses in how data is presented
Resource Management
River Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
The Changing Landscapes of the UK
Water Resource ManagementResource option
Topic overviewThe global distribution of fresh water, and water surplus and deficitChanging water supply and demandHow water use differs between countriesWater supply problems in the UK and in developing countriesStakeholder attitudes to water, and desalinationSustainable management of water resources
Weather Hazards and Climate Change
Topic overviewGlobal atmospheric circulation and the transfer of heatNatural climate change and the evidence for itThe enhanced greenhouse effect and the effects of climate changeThe climate of the UK and how it variesHow tropical cyclones form, and where they occurWhy tropical cyclones are hazardous, and their impactsResponses to tropical cyclonesThe causes of drought and why some places are more vulnerableThe impacts of drought and responses to it
Coastal Landscapes and Processes
- 5 subtopics
- 15 things to know
- Paper 1 section A
- Paper 1 section A, two of the three UK landscapes
What Coastal Landscapes and Processes covers
Coastal Landscapes and Processes is examined in Paper 1, The Physical Environment. It covers coastal processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition, geology, wave type and UK weather at the coast, coastal landforms of erosion and deposition, coastal recession, flooding and coastal defences and a named distinctive coastal landscape in the UK.
Where it is assessed
Paper 1 section A
The Physical Environment: two of the three UK landscapes.
Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗The 5 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Coastal processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and depositionFreeze-thaw, chemical and biological weathering of cliffs, sliding and slumping, hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition and solution, transport by traction, saltation, suspension and solution, longshore drift, and the conditions in which the sea deposits its load.Open →
- Geology, wave type and UK weather at the coastConcordant and discordant coastlines and the plan shapes they give, joints and faults, hard and soft rock cliffs, destructive and constructive waves and winter beaches, prevailing south-westerly winds and fetch, and how storms and heavy rain speed up cliff retreat.Open →
- Coastal landforms of erosion and depositionHow headlands and bays, caves, arches, stacks and stumps form, why cliffs steepen as they retreat, wave-cut platforms, steep shingle beaches, spits and their recurved ends, bars and lagoons, and how headlands, bays, spits, stacks and wave-cut platforms are recognised on OS maps.Open →
- Coastal recession, flooding and coastal defencesHow building, farming and industry alter the coast, coastal recession and flooding and their effects on people and the environment, hard and soft engineering, sea walls, groynes, rip rap, beach nourishment and managed retreat, and how defences reshape the coastline.Open →
- A named distinctive coastal landscape in the UKWhat makes a coast distinctive, telling discordant from concordant, coastlines of deposition and retreat, why location matters, and the physical and human factors and evidence of change in a studied landscape.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Explain how a spit is built out from the coast.
Key term
What evidence would show that a distinctive coastal landscape is still changing today?
Key term
How does freeze-thaw break up rock in a cliff face?
Key term
Give two ways living things weather coastal rock.
Key term
What is a concordant coastline?
Key term
Explain how a stack forms, and what it becomes in time.
Key term
How has building on the coast changed the way coastal landscapes work?
Key term
How does farming close to the coast make cliffs less stable?
Key term
How would you work out whether the coastal landscape you studied is discordant or concordant?
Key term
What happens when a cliff fails by sliding?
Key term
What is a discordant coastline?
Key term
Why does a cliff become steeper as it retreats?
Key term
Give two ways industry alters a coastal landscape.
Key term
What features would tell you that a stretch of coast is a coastline of deposition?
Take Coastal Landscapes and Processes further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Constructive wave vs Destructive wave
Constructive wave: a low, long breaker whose swash is stronger than its backwash, building the beach. Destructive wave: a tall, steep breaker whose backwash is stronger than its swash, dragging material offshore.
Concordant coastline vs Discordant coastline
Concordant coastline: rock bands lying parallel to the shore, giving a straight outline. Discordant coastline: rock bands meeting the shore at right angles, giving headlands and bays.
Hydraulic action vs Abrasion
Hydraulic action: the force of breaking waves compressing air into cracks so rock is blown apart. Abrasion: waves hurling sand and pebbles against the cliff face, scraping it away.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
How does freeze-thaw break up rock in a cliff face?
Model answer
Water collects in a crack, freezes and expands by about a tenth of its volume, and repeated freezing widens the crack until fragments split away.
- 2
What is meant by chemical weathering at the coast?
Model answer
The rock is broken down by a reaction that changes its minerals, such as slightly acidic rainwater dissolving the calcium carbonate in limestone and chalk.
- 3
Give two ways living things weather coastal rock.
Model answer
Plant roots grow into cracks and prise the rock apart, and burrowing animals and shellfish bore into softer rock and weaken it.
- 4
What happens when a cliff fails by sliding?
Model answer
A block of saturated material moves downslope in one piece along a straight surface, keeping roughly its original shape as it goes.
- 5
How is slumping different from a slide?
Model answer
Slumped material rotates as it moves down a curved failure surface, so the slipped block tilts backwards and leaves a scar shaped like a spoon.
- 6
What is hydraulic action, and why is it strongest during a storm?
Model answer
It is the force of breaking waves compressing air into cracks so the rock is blown apart, and storm waves carry far more energy so the compression is greater.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Coastal Landscapes and Processes revision questions
- What does Coastal Landscapes and Processes cover in Edexcel GCSE Geography A?
- 5 subtopics: coastal processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition, geology, wave type and uk weather at the coast, coastal landforms of erosion and deposition, coastal recession, flooding and coastal defences and a named distinctive coastal landscape in the uk. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Coastal Landscapes and Processes organised?
- By the Edexcel 1GA0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Coastal Landscapes and Processes, 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.
Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.