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
River Landscapes and Processes
- 5 subtopics
- 15 things to know
- Paper 1 section A
- Paper 1 section A, two of the three UK landscapes
What River Landscapes and Processes covers
River Landscapes and Processes is examined in Paper 1, The Physical Environment. It covers river processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition, the long profile of a river and the effect of UK weather, river landforms from source to mouth, land use, flood risk and river defences and a named distinctive river 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.
- River processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and depositionFreeze-thaw, chemical and biological weathering on a valley side, slides and slumps, abrasion, hydraulic action, attrition and solution, transport by traction, saltation and suspension, and when a river deposits its load.Open →
- The long profile of a river and the effect of UK weatherHow height, valley shape, channel size, gradient, discharge, velocity and sediment change from source to mouth, what storms, dry spells, seasons and the wetter west do to a river's energy, and how geology maps explain the steeper sections of a long profile.Open →
- River landforms from source to mouthInterlocking spurs, waterfalls, plunge pools and gorges, river cliffs, flood plains, levees and point bars, how meanders develop into oxbow lakes and meander scars, and how valleys, meanders, flood plains and waterfalls are recognised on OS maps.Open →
- Land use, flood risk and river defencesHow urban surfaces, farming, deforestation and industry change river flow, the physical and human causes and effects of flooding, dams, reservoirs, channelisation, flood plain zoning and washlands, and drawing and reading storm hydrographs, including lag time and the factors that shape them.Open →
- A named distinctive river landscape in the UKLocating a studied river landscape, telling upland from lowland, the landforms of each, the part played by rock type, glaciation and physical processes, and the human influences and barriers that change it.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
What does a river's long profile show, why is the upper valley V-shaped, and how and why does discharge change downstream?
Key term
Which landforms belong to upland and lowland river landscapes, and how do rock type and past glaciation shape a UK river valley?
Process
How do abrasion and hydraulic action erode a river channel, and which process transports the largest boulders?
Key term
How can storing water behind a barrier change the character of the landscape below it?
Key term
What does the long profile of a river show?
Key term
Explain how a difference in rock hardness produces a waterfall.
Key term
Explain how a waterfall retreats upstream and leaves a gorge behind it.
Key term
How does covering a drainage basin with tarmac and concrete change the way rain reaches the river?
Key term
How can ploughing fields and taking out hedgerows increase flood risk?
Key term
How does repeated freezing and thawing break up rock on the side of a river valley?
Key term
What shape is the valley in the upper course, and why does it take that shape?
Key term
Explain how repeated flooding builds up a flood plain.
Key term
Why does clearing woodland or overgrazing a hillside put more water and sediment into a river?
Key term
What should you be able to explain about where the river landscape you studied is located?
Take River Landscapes and Processes further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Slide vs Slump
Slide: saturated material moving downslope in a straight line, staying largely in one piece. Slump: material rotating along a curved surface so the block tilts backwards.
Traction vs Suspension
Traction: large boulders rolled and dragged along the bed without being lifted. Suspension: silt and clay carried within the moving water, making it cloudy.
River cliff vs Slip-off slope
River cliff: a steep outer bank undercut by the fastest flow. Slip-off slope: a gently shelving inner bank of deposited sediment.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
How does repeated freezing and thawing break up rock on the side of a river valley?
Model answer
Water collects in a crack, freezes and expands, widening the crack a little each time until fragments snap away.
- 2
How does slightly acidic rainwater weather limestone or chalk in a river valley?
Model answer
It reacts with the calcium carbonate in the rock and dissolves it, so the rock is chemically broken down where it stands.
- 3
Give two ways living things weather the rock beside a river.
Model answer
Tree and plant roots grow into cracks and prise them wider, and burrowing animals loosen and expose material.
- 4
What is meant by mass movement on a valley side?
Model answer
The downslope movement of soil, loose rock and mud under gravity, delivering material straight into the channel below.
- 5
What happens to material in a slide?
Model answer
A block of saturated material moves downslope in a straight line along a flat surface, staying largely in one piece.
- 6
How does slumping differ from a slide on a saturated river bank?
Model answer
Slumped material rotates as it moves along a curved surface, so the block tilts backwards and leaves a curved scar in the bank.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
River Landscapes and Processes revision questions
- What does River Landscapes and Processes cover in Edexcel GCSE Geography A?
- 5 subtopics: river processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition, the long profile of a river and the effect of uk weather, river landforms from source to mouth, land use, flood risk and river defences and a named distinctive river landscape in the uk. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is River 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 River 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.
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