← Geography syllabus

EnglandGeography

Component 1: Physical Systems - Landscape Systems

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How is the coastal landscape an interrelated system, and what processes and landforms develop within it?

The coastal landscape as a system within a sediment cell; sources of energy and sediment; marine and sub-aerial processes; erosional and depositional landforms; the influence of sea-level change; and how human activity and climate change modify coastal landscapes.
An OCR A-Level Geography answer to the Coastal landscapes option in Landscape Systems, covering the coast as a system within a sediment cell, sources of wave, wind, tide and current energy, marine and sub-aerial processes, erosional and depositional landforms, the landforms of sea-level change, and how human activity and climate change alter coastal landscapes.
13 min answer →

How do human activity and management modify landscape systems, and how can risk be managed sustainably?

Human influences on landscape systems and the management of landscape risk; hard and soft engineering and managed realignment; conflicts between players; and the sustainability of management in a changing climate.
An OCR A-Level Geography answer to how human activity and management modify landscape systems, with a coastal focus that also reaches glaciated and dryland environments. Covers human influences on sediment systems, hard and soft engineering and managed realignment, shoreline management planning, the players and conflicts involved, and the sustainability of management as climate change raises risk.
12 min answer →

How do aeolian and fluvial processes shape dryland landscapes, and how does change threaten them?

The dryland landscape as a system shaped by climatic and tectonic controls; aeolian and fluvial (and weathering) processes; the erosional and depositional landforms they create; desertification and landscape change; and the human use and sustainable management of drylands.
An OCR A-Level Geography answer to the Dryland landscapes option in Landscape Systems, covering arid and semi-arid landscapes as systems, climatic and tectonic controls, aeolian and fluvial processes, weathering, the landforms of erosion and deposition (dunes, yardangs, wadis, alluvial fans, mesas), desertification and landscape change, and the human use and sustainable management of drylands.
12 min answer →

How does the glacial system shape upland landscapes through erosion, deposition and periglacial processes?

The glaciated landscape as a system governed by mass balance; glacial, fluvioglacial and periglacial processes; the erosional and depositional landforms they create; the distribution of past and present ice; and the value, threats and management of cold environments.
An OCR A-Level Geography answer to the Glaciated landscapes option, covering the glacial system and mass balance, glacial, fluvioglacial and periglacial processes, erosional landforms (corries, aretes, troughs) and depositional landforms (moraines, drumlins, eskers), and the value, threats and sustainable management of cold environments.
13 min answer →

How can landscapes be viewed as systems, and what makes them change over time?

The landscape as an open system of inputs, stores, flows and outputs in dynamic equilibrium; the operation of weathering, erosion, transport and deposition; and how energy, sediment, climate and human activity drive landscape change at varied scales and timescales.
An OCR A-Level Geography answer to the landscape-systems framework underpinning the coastal, glaciated and dryland options. Covers the landscape as an open system of inputs, stores, flows and outputs, dynamic equilibrium and feedback, the geomorphological process families, and how energy, sediment, climate change and human activity drive landscape change across scales.
12 min answer →