← Geography syllabus

EnglandGeography

Area of Study 1: Dynamic Landscapes

10 dot points across 10 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do marine processes shape distinctive coastal landforms?

How marine erosion, transport and deposition create distinctive erosional and depositional landforms along the coast.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to how marine processes shape the coast, covering erosion, transport and deposition and the erosional and depositional landforms they create using Old Harry Rocks, Spurn Head and Chesil Beach.
13 min answer →

How are coastal landscapes shaped, why do they change, and how can the resulting risks be managed?

Coasts as systems within sediment cells, the marine and sub-aerial processes that create erosional and depositional landforms, the causes of coastal recession and flooding, and how coastal risk can be managed sustainably.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to coastal landscapes and change, covering the coast as a system within a sediment cell, marine and sub-aerial processes, erosional and depositional landforms, the physical and human causes of coastal recession and flooding, and sustainable coastal management approaches such as holding, advancing or retreating the line.
12 min answer →

How and why are coastlines retreating and changing as sea levels shift?

How coastal recession, sub-aerial processes, eustatic and isostatic sea-level change and storm surges alter coastlines over time.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to why coastlines retreat and change, covering recession rates, sub-aerial processes, eustatic and isostatic sea-level change, emergent and submergent coasts and storm surges using Holderness, Happisburgh and the North Sea.
13 min answer →

How do glacial systems create distinctive landscapes and landforms?

How glacial and periglacial erosion, transport and deposition create erosional, depositional, fluvioglacial and periglacial landforms.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to how glacial systems shape the land, covering erosion, transport and deposition and the erosional, depositional, fluvioglacial and periglacial landforms they create using Cwm Idwal, Helvellyn and Icelandic sandur.
13 min answer →

Why are glaciated landscapes valued, threatened and difficult to manage?

Why glaciated and periglacial landscapes are valued, how they are threatened by physical and human processes, and how their fragility creates management conflict.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to why glaciated landscapes are valued and how they are managed, covering environmental, cultural and economic value, threats, fragility and conflict using Chamonix, Antarctica and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
13 min answer →

How do glacial systems shape landscapes, and why are glaciated environments both valuable and fragile?

Glaciers as systems with a mass balance, the glacial, fluvioglacial and periglacial processes that create landforms, and the value, threats and sustainable management of past and present glaciated landscapes.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to glaciated landscapes and change, covering the glacial system and mass balance, glacial, fluvioglacial and periglacial processes and the landforms they create, the distribution of past and present ice, and the value, threats and sustainable management of fragile glaciated environments.
12 min answer →

How can coastal flooding and erosion be managed sustainably?

How hard and soft engineering, ICZM, Shoreline Management Plans and the views of different players are used to manage coastal flooding and erosion.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to how coastal flooding and erosion are managed, covering hard and soft engineering, ICZM, Shoreline Management Plans and the views of players using Mappleton, Medmerry and the Netherlands Delta Works.
13 min answer →

How can the impacts of tectonic hazards be managed and reduced?

How tectonic hazards are managed using the hazard management cycle, the Park model, prediction and monitoring, mitigation and preparedness at local, national and international scales.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to how tectonic hazards are managed, covering the hazard management cycle, the Park disaster response model, prediction and monitoring, mitigation and preparedness across scales using Japan, Haiti, Iceland and the Indian Ocean.
13 min answer →

Why do some tectonic hazards become disasters while others of similar magnitude do not?

Why disaster occurrence and impact varies, using the risk equation, vulnerability, resilience, the Pressure and Release model, hazard profiles and the distinction between primary, secondary and tertiary impacts.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to why some tectonic hazards become disasters, covering the risk equation, exposure, vulnerability and resilience, the Pressure and Release model, hazard profiles, impact categories and measurement indices using Tohoku, Haiti and Sichuan.
13 min answer →

Why do some tectonic hazards develop into disasters, and how can the risks be managed?

The causes of tectonic hazards, why some develop into disasters, the impact of tectonic processes on people and places, and how risk can be managed through prediction, mitigation and the disaster cycle.
An Edexcel A-Level Geography answer to tectonic processes and hazards, covering plate tectonic theory, the causes of earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, why some hazards become disasters using the hazard, risk and vulnerability framework, and how risk is managed through prediction, the Park model and the Pressure and Release model.
12 min answer →