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Geography Revision Guides
A-Level Revise Aid: This resource is designed to support your revision and may contain errors. If you find a discrepancy with your class teaching, your teacher is correct -- please let us know at alevelrevise@scott.scottrix.co.uk.

Physical Geography

Year 1 / ASYear 2 / A-Level All Boards (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC, CCEA) AQA

A-Level Geography revision: Physical Geography. Learning objectives, key points, worked examples and practice questions across AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and CCEA.

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📌 Key Points

Key Fact: Coastal erosion: hydraulic action (air pressure), abrasion (rock hurling), attrition (rock collision), solution (dissolving)
Key Fact: Longshore drift: prevailing wind -> swash angle -> backwash perpendicular -> zigzag transport
Key Fact: Landforms: headland (resistant rock), bay (weak rock), cave -> arch -> stack -> stump
Key Fact: Plate boundaries: constructive (mid-ocean ridges), destructive (subduction, volcanoes), conservative (transform, earthquakes), collision (fold mountains)
Key Fact: River erosion: hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition, solution; vertical (upper), lateral (middle/lower)
Key Fact: River landforms: waterfall (hard/soft rock), meander (erosion outer, deposition inner), oxbow (cut-off), levees (deposition floods), delta (deposition at mouth)
Key Fact: Flood hydrograph: lag time, peak discharge, rising/falling limb; Management: dams, channel straightening, afforestation, floodplain zoning

🎯 Learning Objectives

  • Explain coastal processes: erosion (hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition, solution), transportation (longshore drift), deposition
  • Describe coastal landforms: erosional (headlands, cliffs, caves, arches, stacks, stumps) and depositional (beaches, spits, bars, tombolos)
  • Understand plate tectonics: plate boundaries (constructive, destructive, conservative, collision), associated hazards (earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis)
  • Analyse river processes: erosion (vertical/lateral), transportation (traction, saltation, suspension, solution), deposition
  • Describe river landforms: upper (V-valleys, waterfalls), middle (meanders, oxbow lakes), lower (floodplains, levees, deltas)
  • Explain flooding: causes (physical/human), hydrographs, flood management (hard/soft engineering)

💡 Worked Example

Exam-Style Question

Question: Explain the formation of a waterfall and gorge using geological structure

Model Answer:

River flows over hard rock (cap rock) onto soft rock below. Soft rock erodes faster (hydraulic action, abrasion) creating plunge pool and undercutting. Hard rock collapses -> waterfall retreats upstream -> steep-sided gorge left behind. Cap rock provides resistant layer

❓ Practice Questions

Questions:

  • Describe formation of a spit
  • Compare constructive vs destructive plate margins
  • Explain factors affecting lag time on hydrograph
  • Evaluate hard vs soft engineering for flood management
  • Annotate a river long profile with processes/landforms

🎬 Video Resources

📄 Past Papers & Exam Resources

🔗 Further Reading & Resources