GCSE Geography Paper 2
Covers Tectonic Hazards, Weather Hazards, Climate Change and 9 more.
Questions
Question 1 [1 marks]
Development in Extreme Environments
Name one animal adaptation that helps a camel survive in a hot desert environment.
Question 2 [1 marks]
Weather Hazards
Name the ocean where tropical storms affecting the Caribbean typically form.
Question 3 [2 marks]
Urban Growth and Regeneration
State two push factors that might cause someone to migrate from a rural area to a city in a lower-income country.
Question 4 [3 marks]
Tectonic Hazards
State three primary effects of a volcanic eruption.
Question 5 [3 marks]
Ecosystems and Biomes
State three factors that determine which large-scale global biome, such as tropical rainforest or tundra, is found in a particular part of the world.
Question 6 [3 marks]
Coastal Landscapes and Processes
Explain one reason why a headland and bay coastline forms where bands of resistant and less resistant rock meet the sea at right angles to the coast.
Question 7 [4 marks]
Resource Management
A household of 4 people currently uses an average of 165 litres of water per person per day. Fitting water-efficient fixtures is expected to cut this to 110 litres per person per day.
Calculate the household's total daily water saving in litres, then calculate this saving as a percentage of the household's original total daily use.
Question 8 [5 marks]
Development and the Changing Economic World
Country Z received 40 million US dollars in international aid in one year, and also received 260 million US dollars in foreign direct investment (FDI) from transnational corporations in the same year.
Calculate FDI as a percentage of the combined total of aid and FDI, then suggest two reasons why a country might prefer investment from TNCs over international aid.
Question 9 [5 marks]
Glacial Landscapes and Processes
A glacier's snout was 1200m from a fixed marker in 1990. By 2020 it had retreated to 2850m from the same marker.
Calculate the total distance the glacier retreated between 1990 and 2020, then calculate the average annual rate of retreat in metres per year, and suggest one possible cause of this rate of glacial retreat.
Question 10 [5 marks]
Climate Change
Explain how the enhanced greenhouse effect leads to global warming.
Question 11 [5 marks]
River Landscapes and Processes
A meander on the River Wyre has a steep, undercut bank on the outer bend and a gently sloping sandy beach on the inner bend.
Explain how erosion and deposition work together to form this meander.
Question 12 [5 marks]
Resource Management
A region needs 480 million litres of water per day to meet demand. Its current supply provides 360 million litres per day.
Calculate the size of the daily water deficit, and express it as a percentage of demand, then suggest one consequence for the region if the supply is not increased.
Question 13 [6 marks]
Geographical Skills
A student investigating pedestrian footfall used systematic sampling, counting pedestrians at every 5th shop doorway along a high street of 60 shops.
Calculate how many shop doorways the student would have surveyed using this method, then evaluate the effectiveness of using systematic sampling for this investigation.
Question 14 [6 marks]
Development in Extreme Environments
Assess the causes of desertification and evaluate strategies that can be used to reduce its rate.
Question 15 [6 marks]
Coastal Landscapes and Processes
A rock armour scheme protecting 1.2km of coastline cost 4.8 million pounds to install. A cheaper beach nourishment scheme for the same stretch would have cost 1.6 million pounds but would need repeating roughly every 8 years.
Calculate the cost of beach nourishment over a 24-year period, then evaluate which scheme is likely to represent better value over that time.
Model solutions
| Question 1[1 mark] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| a valid adaptation, e.g. fat stored in its hump for energy, or large flat feet to spread its weight on sand | B1 |
| Final answer: Any valid adaptation, e.g. fat stored in its hump for energy, or large flat feet to spread its weight on sand | |
| Question 2[1 mark] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| the (tropical) Atlantic Ocean | B1 |
| Question 3[2 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| one valid push factor, e.g. a lack of jobs or low pay in farming | B1 |
| a second valid push factor, e.g. poor access to services such as healthcare or education, or natural disasters | B1 |
| Final answer: Any two of: lack of rural jobs/low pay, poor access to services, drought or natural disasters, mechanisation of farming reducing labour needs | |
| Question 4[3 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying a valid primary effect, e.g. lava flows destroying buildings and vegetation | B1 |
| identifying a second valid primary effect, e.g. ash fall damaging crops or causing roofs to collapse | B1 |
| identifying a third valid primary effect, e.g. pyroclastic flows destroying property and killing people, or the release of toxic volcanic gases | B1 |
| Final answer: Any three of: lava flows destroying buildings/vegetation, ash fall damaging crops or causing roofs to collapse, pyroclastic flows destroying property and killing people, release of toxic volcanic gases | |
| Question 5[3 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying a valid factor, e.g. latitude | B1 |
| identifying a second valid factor, e.g. average annual temperature | B1 |
| identifying a third valid factor, e.g. average annual rainfall, or distance from the sea | B1 |
| Final answer: Any three of: latitude, average annual temperature, average annual rainfall, distance from the sea (continentality) | |
| Question 6[3 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying that the less resistant rock is eroded more quickly than the resistant rock | B1 |
| developing this, e.g. waves and processes such as hydraulic action wear away the weaker rock faster, leaving it set back as a bay | B1 |
| a valid concluding link, e.g. the resistant rock remains, protruding out into the sea as a headland | B1 |
| Final answer: Less resistant rock is eroded faster than resistant rock by processes such as hydraulic action, so it is worn back into a bay while the resistant rock remains, protruding as a headland | |
| Question 7[4 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| the original total daily use, 165 x 4 = 660 litres | M1 |
| the new total daily use, 110 x 4 = 440 litres | M1 |
| the daily saving, 660 - 440 = 220 litres | A1 |
| the percentage reduction, (220 / 660) x 100, approximately 33.3% (accept 33-33.5%) | A1 |
| Final answer: A saving of 220 litres per day, a reduction of approximately 33.3% | |
| Question 8[5 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| finding the combined total, 40 + 260 = 300 | M1 |
| setting up the percentage calculation, (260 / 300) x 100 | M1 |
| 86.7% (accept 86-87%) | A1 |
| a valid reason, e.g. FDI creates jobs, skills and infrastructure directly, rather than being dependent on a donor country's ongoing goodwill | B1 |
| a second valid reason, e.g. aid can come with political conditions attached, while investment is a more commercial, ongoing relationship | B1 |
| Final answer: 86.7%; a country may prefer FDI because it creates jobs, skills and infrastructure directly and because aid can carry political conditions that investment does not | |
| Question 9[5 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| finding the total retreat, 2850 - 1200 = 1650 | M1 |
| 1650m | A1 |
| dividing by the number of years, 1650 / 30 | M1 |
| 55 metres per year | A1 |
| a valid possible cause, e.g. rising global average temperatures increasing summer melting faster than winter snowfall can replace | B1 |
| Final answer: Total retreat of 1650m; an average rate of 55 metres per year; this is consistent with rising global temperatures increasing summer melting faster than winter snowfall replaces it | |
| Question 10[5 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying that short-wave solar radiation passes through the atmosphere and warms the Earth's surface | B1 |
| identifying that the Earth re-radiates this energy as long-wave (infrared) radiation | B1 |
| explaining that greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit this long-wave radiation rather than letting it escape to space | B1 |
| linking increased greenhouse gas concentrations to more radiation being trapped | B1 |
| concluding that this additional trapped energy raises the average global temperature | B1 |
| Final answer: Solar radiation warms the Earth's surface, which re-radiates long-wave radiation; greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit this instead of letting it escape, and rising greenhouse gas concentrations trap more of it, raising global temperature | |
| Question 11[5 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| identifying that water flows fastest on the outside of the bend | B1 |
| linking this to erosion, e.g. lateral erosion by abrasion and hydraulic action undercuts the outer bank | B1 |
| identifying that water flows slowest on the inside of the bend | B1 |
| linking this to deposition, e.g. the river deposits sediment there, building a gently sloping slip-off slope | B1 |
| naming the resulting landform pair, i.e. a river cliff on the outer bank and a slip-off slope on the inner bank | B1 |
| Final answer: Fast flow on the outer bend causes erosion, forming a river cliff; slow flow on the inner bend causes deposition, forming a slip-off slope | |
| Question 12[5 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| finding the deficit, 480 - 360 = 120 million litres | M1 |
| the deficit, 120 million litres per day | A1 |
| setting up the percentage calculation, (120 / 480) x 100 | M1 |
| 25% of demand | A1 |
| a valid conclusion, e.g. this deficit could lead to water restrictions if the supply is not increased | B1 |
| Final answer: A deficit of 120 million litres per day, which is 25% of demand | |
| Question 13[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| dividing the total number of shops by the sampling interval, 60 / 5 | M1 |
| 12 doorways surveyed | A1 |
| a valid strength of systematic sampling, e.g. it is quick and straightforward to apply consistently along the street | B1 |
| a second valid strength, e.g. it avoids the researcher's own bias in choosing which doorways to survey | B1 |
| a valid limitation, e.g. if footfall follows a regular pattern, such as being higher near every 5th shop because it is a large store, the results could be unrepresentative | B1 |
| a supported overall judgement on how effective systematic sampling was for this particular investigation | B1 |
| Final answer: 12 doorways surveyed; systematic sampling is quick and avoids selection bias, but could give unrepresentative results if footfall varies in a regular pattern matching the sampling interval | |
| Question 14[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| Identifies a climatic cause, e.g. periods of low, unreliable rainfall (1 mark) | 1 |
| Identifies a human cause, e.g. overgrazing by livestock removes vegetation that protects the soil (1 mark) | 1 |
| Identifies a second human cause, e.g. overcultivation of land or removal of trees for fuelwood (1 mark) | 1 |
| Describes a management strategy, e.g. planting a tree shelterbelt to reduce wind erosion (1 mark) | 1 |
| Describes a second strategy, e.g. water and soil management such as drip irrigation or terracing (1 mark) | 1 |
| Reaches a supported judgement on how effective these strategies are at reducing desertification (1 mark) | 1 |
| Final answer: A balanced answer citing climatic and human causes and evaluating strategies such as shelterbelts and drip irrigation | |
| Question 15[6 marks] | |
|---|---|
| Answer or working | Marks |
| finding the number of times nourishment would need repeating over 24 years, 24 / 8 = 3 | M1 |
| finding the total nourishment cost over 24 years, 1,600,000 x 3 | M1 |
| 4,800,000 pounds | A1 |
| correctly noting the two schemes would cost the same, 4.8 million pounds, over exactly 24 years | B1 |
| a valid point about which might still be preferred, e.g. rock armour is a one-off cost with no further disruption, while nourishment needs repeated work but may have less environmental impact | B1 |
| a supported overall judgement on which scheme represents better value, given that their raw costs over 24 years are equal | B1 |
| Final answer: 4.8 million pounds over 24 years, the same as rock armour; with equal costs over this period, the choice would likely come down to other factors, such as rock armour being a one-off scheme with no further disruption, against nourishment's potentially lower environmental impact but repeated construction work | |