The Changing Landscapes of the UK

What The Changing Landscapes of the UK covers

The Changing Landscapes of the UK is examined in Paper 1, The Physical Environment. It covers the UK’s rock types and geology and how the UK’s upland and lowland landscapes were formed.

The 2 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The UK’s rock types and geologyHow sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks form, where chalk, sandstone, granite, basalt, schist and slate occur, why uplands stand high and the south and east are gentle, the Tees–Exe line, past plate collisions and volcanic activity, and reading geological cross sections.Open →
• How the UK’s upland and lowland landscapes were formedWhat ice did to the mountains, corries, U-shaped valleys and till, freeze-thaw and chemical weathering, climate differences between west and east, rivers and slope processes since, and how farming, forestry and building altered the land.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take The Changing Landscapes of the UK further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Igneous rock vs Metamorphic rock

  Igneous rock: one formed when molten magma or lava cools and crystallises. Metamorphic rock: an existing one altered by heat and pressure without melting.

• Granite vs Basalt

  Granite: coarse-crystalled igneous stone that cooled slowly deep underground. Basalt: fine-crystalled igneous stone that cooled quickly as lava at the surface.

• Chalk vs Sandstone

  Chalk: a soft permeable stone built from the shells of tiny sea creatures. Sandstone: grains of sand cemented together, porous but fairly tough.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   How does a sedimentary rock come into being?

   Model answer

   Layers of sediment or the remains of dead organisms settle, then are compacted and cemented together over millions of years.

2. 2

   What is chalk made from, and what sort of scenery does it produce?

   Model answer

   It is a soft, permeable rock built from the shells of tiny sea creatures, and it weathers into rolling hills and steep escarpments such as the North Downs, South Downs and Chilterns.

3. 3

   Describe the make-up of sandstone and say where in Britain it is widespread.

   Model answer

   It is grains of sand cemented together, porous but fairly tough, and it forms the ridges and moorland edges of the Pennines and much of northern and central England.

4. 4

   What has to happen for an igneous rock to form?

   Model answer

   Molten magma or lava cools and crystallises, producing a hard, interlocking crystal structure with few lines of weakness.

5. 5

   Why does granite have large crystals while basalt has tiny ones?

   Model answer

   Granite cooled slowly deep underground, giving crystals time to grow, whereas basalt cooled quickly as lava at the surface.

6. 6

   Name two upland areas of Britain that sit on granite, and one place where basalt dominates.

   Model answer

   Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor in the south-west sit on granite, and the Antrim plateau in Northern Ireland is basalt.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

The Changing Landscapes of the UK revision questions

What does The Changing Landscapes of the UK cover in Edexcel GCSE Geography A?

2 subtopics: the uk’s rock types and geology and how the uk’s upland and lowland landscapes were formed. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is The Changing Landscapes of the UK organised?

By the Edexcel 1GA0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.