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EnglandGeographyQuick questions
Component 1: Physical Systems - Landscape Systems
Quick questions on Landscape systems and change: systems thinking, processes and equilibrium - OCR A-Level Geography
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the landscape as an open system?Show answer
Thinking in systems is the unifying skill of the whole option. Inputs are energy (kinetic energy from wind and waves, potential energy from gravity on slopes, thermal energy from the sun, and chemical energy) and matter, chiefly sediment from rivers, cliffs, weathering and longshore drift. Stores are the landforms themselves, beaches, dunes, moraines, alluvial fans, where sediment rests. Transfers are the processes that move sediment between stores, and outputs are sediment lost offshore or downwind and energy dissipated as heat.
What are the four process families?Show answer
All landscape change comes down to four linked process families. Weathering is the in-situ breakdown of rock by mechanical (freeze-thaw, salt crystallisation, pressure release), chemical (carbonation, hydrolysis, oxidation) and biological means; it prepares material for removal. Erosion detaches and wears away rock through processes such as hydraulic action, abrasion and attrition. Transport moves the sediment, by traction, saltation, suspension and solution in water and air, or frozen within ice.
What is q1?Show answer
Define an open system and give one geographical example. [3 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain the difference between positive and negative feedback in a landscape system. [4 marks]
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