GCSE Case Study Guide – UNIT 1:PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
In the exam remember to:
1. Locate your case study clearly, with a clear place name and where it is in the world.
Maps can help here.
2. Link your case study directly to the question
3. Answer all parts of the question (sometimes there can 3 or 4 sections in one question!)
4. Quote some facts and figures about the place
5. Mention specific locations and place or scheme names to impress the examiner
6. Explain your ideas fully.
Revise these case studies
for your examination
A case study of an Earthquake in an
MEDC – Kobe Earthquake in Japan, 1995
Kobe is located farther than many other cities in Japan from a destructive
margin where 2 oceanic plates the Pacific and Philippine plates, are
pushed under the Eurasian plate.
At 5.46am on January 17th 1995. The Kobe earthquake was powerful
(magnitude 6.9); the epicentre was only 20km southwest of the city and the focus was only about 16kms below the
surface. 10million people live in this area.
IMPACTS
1. More than 5000 people perished and 300, 000 people were made homeless.
2. People were trapped under rubble and traumatised.
3. More than 102,000 buildings were destroyed in Kobe.
4. The local government’s estimate of the cost to restore the basic infrastructure of the city was about £100
billion.
5. The worst affected area was in the central part of Kobe including the main docks and port area. This area is
built on soft and easily moved rocks, especially the port itself which is built on reclaimed ground. Here the ground
actually liquefied and acted likes thick soup, allowing buildings to topple sideways.
6. Emergency aid for the city needed to use damaged roads but many of them were destroyed during the earthquake.
7. Raised motorways collapsed during the shaking. Other roads were affected, limiting rescue attempts.
Most new buildings and roads have, in the last 20 years, been designed to be earthquake proof, schools and
factories have regular earthquake drills, etc. Despite this, many older buildings still collapsed or caught fire. This
led to many blocked roads and massive problems of homelessness.
Initial short term responses
 Telephones and other communication services were put out of action making communication slow and difficult.
 Electricity and water supplies were badly damaged over large areas. This meant no power for heating, lights,
cooking, etc. Clean, fresh water was in short supply until April 1995. The government and city authorities
were criticised for being slow to rescue people and for refusing offers of Aid from other countries.
 Many people had to sleep in cars or tents in cold winter conditions.
 Locals dug through the rubble to help others.
Long term responses
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Water, electricity, gas, telephone services were fully working by July 1995
The railways were back in service by August 1995
A year after the earthquake, 80% of the port was working but the Hanshin Expressway was still closed.
By January 1999, 134,000 housing units had been constructed but some people still had to live in temporary
accommodation.
New laws were passed to make buildings and transport structures even more earthquake proof.
More instruments were installed in the area to monitor earthquake movements.
A case study of a volcanic eruption in an
LEDC – Mount Pinatubo, the
Philippines
Mount Pinatubo is found in the Western Philippines, a country
comprising hundreds of islands. It is very close to this countries capital Manila.
The volcano is found at a destructive plate margin, where the dense oceanic
Pacific plate is being pushed under the lighter Eurasian plate. The volcano
was monitored from the 2nd of April 1991 after steam explosions where noted.
On the 5th of April 40 earthquakes where recorded and later on the 9th of June
pyroclastic flows occurred. The most violent eruption occurred on the 15th of June
producing a 40km high column of ash and pyroclastic flows at over 80 kph.
Effects
Social Effects
Economic Effects
Environmental effects
75,000 people had to be evacuated from a Houses and bridges destroyed and needed
Volcanic ash is blown in all directions over
30km radius of the volcano
replacing and Manila airport had to be hundreds of KMs, smothering fields and buildings.
closed
847 people lost their lives, 300 killed by
collapsing roofs and 100 by lahars.
Heavy rainfall from Typhoon Yunga
causes buildings to collapse.
Fast flowing volcanic mudflows (lahars) cause
sever river bank erosion, undercut bridges etc.
1.2 million people lost their homes around
Farmland destroyed by falling ash and Global cooling caused by ash in the atmosphere
the volcano and had to migrate to shanty
pumice, unusable for years, the 1991
of 0.5°C
towns in Manila.
harvest was destroyed and 650,000 people
lost their jobs
Prediction, Prevention, Aid and Monitoring
Prediction
What they
actually did
75,000 people were evacuated due to
accurate predictions. There was no
monitoring until the 3rd of April but
seismometers were put into place.
The United States Geological Service
helped to predict the disaster
Prevention
Preparation
75,000 people evacuated up
to a radius of 30km. USA air
force helicopters helped.
Evacuation camps built for refugees.
Alert systems put into place
to warn of eruption.
Warning sign like gas and steam
looked for. Long and short term aid
organized especially from the Red
Cross and the United States
Government Shelters.
What they
could have
done
Set up permanent monitoring points,
divert lava flows with use of dynamite, or
use satellite images to look upon volcano
site for changes in land surface.
Placed strategies for long
term aid and disease control
in evacuations prepared for.
Storage of medical supplies food and
water in preparation for disaster.
Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami in the Indian
Ocean
Why the Tsunami happened
A timeline of destruction
20 minutes before the water arrives Banda Aceh feels the force of the
earthquake and buildings collapse.
10 minutes after the earthquake in Sumatra (Aceh province) the wave is
approaching at 600miles an hour. As the wave neared land the wave grew by
a process of amplification. The front of the wave slows down as it approaches
the shore, but the back of the wave is still going its original speed, so the wave
builds in size.
15minutes after the quake Northern Sumatra becomes the first place to be hit.
It caused utter devastation. Banda Aceh was completely destroyed, with
barely any buildings left standing. The height of the wave here was higher
than the coconut trees. Ships were thrown up onto the land, and the cement
works were destroyed. ¾ of the tsunamis victims died in Sumatra.
Facts
The Tsunami of December 26th 2004 killed over 220,000
people.
650,000 people were seriously injured; schools, hospitals
and roads were completely wiped out.
30 minutes after the quake, 7000 people are killed in the Nicobar Islands
1 hour after the earthquake in Thailand, people still do not know that people
have died in Indonesia. People climbed upon the tops of hotels to survive.
The Geomorphology (shape and orientation) of the coastline determined death
tolls along the coast of Thailand, and this was shown along the West coast of
the Island of Phuket. The exposed bays which faced the wave bore the brunt
of the wave, whereas bays which faced away got of relatively lightly. Surin
Bay and Beach had a steep beach and protecting headland, and was relatively
untouched.
2 hours after the earthquake, the wave reaches Sri Lanka. A train was hit by the wave of water, and split the train up. The second wave arrived
soon after, killing most of the people who had survived the first wave on the train. 1500 people died on the train, 45,000 people died in India and Sri
Lanka.
7 hours after the quake, East Africa is next affected. News is finally getting to communities and in Kenya there was only one fatality as people
were warned. The wave dissipates throughout the whole ocean across the globe.
RESPONSES
Short term responses
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Long term responses
India sent naval ships
The first tasks of the governments and humanitarian aid
agencies were to ensure access to food and clean water, and
medical care for the injured.
The World Health Organization warned that the number of
deaths from preventable diseases such as cholera and typhoid
could rival the death toll from the disaster itself.
Sources of water were spoiled by salt water, broken by the
force of the tsunami, or contaminated with bodies of dead
people or livestock, requiring water purification equipment or
trucking portable water into the affected region.
On Jan 1st The DEC disaster appeal fund stood at £32 million,
up £7 million in one night from the 31st of December.
1.
2.
MEDCs such as the UK sent dog teams, forensic experts and
equipment to help identify bodies and clean up after the Tsunami
Action Aid raised £13million and offered Psychological
counselling, paid for housing, paid for boats with motors for
fishing communities, rebuilt schools and community centres
3.
4.
5.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN trained 140
boat builders and supplied 200 boats.
Country governments helped to rebuild whole community
towns, including in Indonesia in Aceh province
An early warning system for Tsunami has been put in place in
the Indian Ocean
Haiti Earthquake, Caribbean (LEDC)
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, its GDP is only
$1,200 per person, 207th in the world, its HDI is incredibly low at 0.404,
145th in the world, and 80 % of its 9.7 Million people live below the
poverty line.
Port Au Prince, the capital, is on a fault line running off the Puerto Rico
Trench, where the North American Plate is sliding under the Caribbean plate.
There were many aftershocks after the main event. The earthquake occurred
on January 12th 2010, the epicentre was centred just 10 miles southwest of
the capital city, Port au Prince and the quake was shallow—only about 10-15
kilometres below the land's surface. The event measured 7.0 on the Richter
Magnitude scale.
There were many impacts including;
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Up to 316,000 people died and more than a million people were made homeless, even in 2011 people remained in make shift temporary
homes. Large parts of this impoverished nation where damage, most importantly the capital Port Au Prince, where shanty towns and even
the presidential palace crumbled to dust. 3 million people in total were affected. Few of the Buildings in Haiti were built with earthquakes
in mind, contributing to their collapse
The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.
The port, other major roads and communications link were damaged beyond repair and needed replacing. The clothing industry, which
accounts for two-thirds of Haiti's exports, reported structural damage at manufacturing facilities. It is estimated the 1 in 5 jobs were lost as
a result of the quake
Rubble from collapsed buildings blocked roads and rail links.
The port was destroyed
Sea levels in local areas changed, with some parts of the land sinking below the sea
The roads were littered with cracks and fault lines
Short term responses
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Many countries responded to appeals for aid, pledging funds
and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and
support personnel.
Communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities,
hospitals, and electrical networks had been damaged by the
earthquake, which slowed rescue and aid efforts.
There was much confusion over who was in charge, air traffic
congestion, and problems with prioritisation of flights further
complicated early relief work.
Port-au-Prince's morgues were quickly overwhelmed with
many tens of thousands of bodies having to be buried in mass
graves.
As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation
became priorities.
Delays in aid distribution led to angry appeals from aid
workers and survivors, and looting and sporadic violence were
observed.
Long term recovery
1.
The EU gave $330 million and the World Bank waived the
countries debt repayments for 5 years.
2.
6 months after the quake, 98% of the rubble remained un
cleared, some still blocking vital access roads.
3.
The number of people in relief camps of tents and tarps since
the quake was 1.6 million, and almost no transitional housing
had been built. Most of the camps had no electricity, running
water, or sewage disposal, and the tents were beginning to fall
apart.
4.
Between 23 major charities, $1.1 billion had been collected for
Haiti for relief efforts, but only two percent of the money had
been released
5.
One year after the earthquake 1 million people remained
displaced
6.
The Dominican Republic which neighbours Haiti offered
support and accepted some refugees.
7.
Medicines San frontiers, a charity, tried to help casualties
whilst the USA took charge of trying to coordinate Aid
distribution.
The Andes Fold Mountains
About the Andes Mountains
The Andes Mountains run the length of the West Coast of South America, rising in the North in Colombia and finishing in Chile and
Argentina in the South. They are world's longest mountain range running for over 7,000km and covering 6 countries.
The mountains have been formed as a result of the convergence of the Nazca plate and the South American plate.
1.
2.
3.
The heavier oceanic crust of the Nazca plate is pushed towards the South American plate, and because it is denser is subducted
underneath.
The South American plate is less dense so sits on top of this subduction zone, but the rocks of the South American plate have been
folded upwards and crumpled into Fold Mountains.
There are also Volcanoes and earthquakes along this destructive plate boundary - earthquakes caused by stresses building up as
the 2 plates try to move past one another, and volcanoes caused by magma working its way up through vents in the Earth's crust.
This has created a sequence of volcanoes and Fold Mountains, rising up to 6962m at Aconcagua. The trench (marking the boundary
between the Nazca and South American plates) to the West of the Andes mountains is called the Peru-Chile Trench, and reaches an
incredible depth of 8066m under the sea level. They are difficult to live in because; The mountians make accessibility differ=cult, the soils are
poor, there are hazards like earthquakes and landslides, altitude affects the temperature and levels of oxygen and the climate can be harsh.
Mining
Farming
The mountain slopes of the Andes are used
for a variety of farming practices. The best
land can be found on the valley floors, but an
ingenious system of terraces dug into the
valley sides and held up by retaining walls
has been used to bring the lands on the valley
sides into food production. The flat terraces
help to hold up water in a region where there
are marked shortages. Most crops are grown
in the lower areas and include soya, maize,
rice and cotton. However, the main staple
crop of the Andes is the potato, and there are
hundreds of different varieties found in the
mountains. Most farming is subsistence, with
the food grown for personal consumption, but
there is some commercial farming.
Llamas have historically been used a lot in
the Andes, as a form of transportation and to
carry goods. Alpaca, a relative of the Llama,
has been used to produce some of the finest
cloth known to man, and is also produced in
the Andes mountains.
Tourism
Tourism is a massive industry for Peru and the country has a lot to offer. In the
East you can take part in Eco-tourism activities in the Amazon Basin, as found
along the Madre De Dios River near to Puerto Maldonado. Peru has some
fantastic coastline as well, but the highlight of Peru is undoubtedly the Inca Trail.
The trail basically covers 43km of old pathways linking together old Inca
settlements in the inhospitable mountains of the Andes. It is South America's best
known trek and is one of only 23 World Heritage Sites (as deemed by UNESCO)
to be classified as important both naturally and culturally. The rail is covered in 4
days and covers around 43km, and finishes with sunrise at the "Lost City of the
Incas" at Machu Picchu. The trail is strictly controlled, and only 500 trekkers are
allowed to start out on the trail every day.
The Andes Mountains contains a rich mix of
minable materials that are both very valuable
and very useful to man. When the Spanish
conquered South America their prime
objective was to prospect for gold. Potosi in
Bolivia was one of Spain's principle mines and
produced lots of silver. There exist large
deposits of Coal, oil and natural gas, iron ore,
gold, silver, tin, copper, phosphates and
nitrates and Bauxite (for aluminium) within
the Andes mountains. The Yanacocha gold
mine in Peru is the largest gold mine in the
world. It is an open cast mine and the rocks
containing the gold are blasted with dynamite.
The rock is then sprayed with toxic cyanide
and the gold extracted from the resulting
solution. This can contaminate water
supplies. The nearby town of Cajamarca has
grown from 30,000 when the mine started to
240,000 people in 2005.
Hydroelectric power
The deep valley and rivers of the Andes give it
huge potential as a region to produce
hydroelectric power. The narrow valleys are
ideal to dam as it cuts costs, and the steep
relief increases water velocities allowing
electricity generation. Snow melt fuels most of
the water provision, but this means that HEP
production can be reduced to small amounts in
winter. The Yuncan dam project dams the
Puacartambo and Huachon rivers in northeast
Peru, while the el Platinal project will begin
construction in 2009.
The Holderness coastline – management of a zone of rapid erosion
The Holderness Coastline is in the North of England and runs between the
Humber Estuary in the south and a headland at Flamborough head. In a stormy
year waves from the North Sea can remove between 7 and 10m of coastline.
It is one of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe as a result of its geology.
The coastline starts with blowholes, stacks and stumps at Flamborough, and
ends with Spurn head, a very large spit that runs across part of Humber
Estuary.
Geology
The geology runs in bands, with a chalk layer at Flamborough in the North,
Boulder clay or till (laid down in the last ice age) south of that and finally river
deposits in the Humber Estuary. Because the clay is an unconsolidated
WEAK mass of clay particles and boulders it erodes more rapidly than the
more resistant rock of chalk in the north. The processes of erosion and
weathering occurring are numerous but include hydraulic action, freeze thaw,
abrasion, solution and carbonation (on the clay)
This has left a bay where the clay is and a headland jutting out to sea at
Flamborough head. Although wave refraction focuses the waves energy on the
layered and faulted rocks of Flamborough head, eroding the calk, the
incredibly weak nature of the clay still means that it erodes faster than the
chalk.
The coastline today is around 4km inland from where it was in Roman
times, and there are many LOST villages of the Holderness coastline that have long disappeared into the sea. Indeed, today, farmland, tourist
sites such as caravan parks and villages remain under threat. The weak clay, stormy nature of the North Sea, and rising sea levels of 4mm per year
mean that the future is bleak for parts of this coastline. In addition to the clay being vulnerable to erosion, it is also prone to slumping. This is
because water enters cracks and pore spaces in the rock, adding weight and making it slump.
Defending the Holderness Coastline
There is a debate about whether or not human beings should attempt to defend coastlines. In the case of the Holderness coastline, its geology (weak
clays) waves (destructive during North Sea storms) and Geomorphology (the shape of the coastline allows the waves to break at the base of the cliffs)
make erosion almost inevitable. However some defences have been attempted. Mappleton is a small village that could become village number
30 lost to the sea. The road running through it, the B1242 links towns along the coastline and would have been lost to coastal erosion if protection
measures were not put into place. It was decided that the cost of coastal defence for a village of only 100 people was less than the cost of building a
new road. So, blocks of granite were brought in and placed along the cliff
base and 2 rock groynes were put into place to trap sediment moving because
of longshore drift.
The basic plan for coastal protection is shown in Figure 6. The structures are
to be built of rock material. The beach that will develop between the two
groynes will help protect the sea wall (or revetment). It was 'seeded' with
waste material from the construction of the access ramp. This ramp will
enable people to get onto the beach
Such undertakings are not cheap – the cost was £17 million. However this
has to be set against the costs of not doing anything in this case, the loss of the
village and the evacuation of its population, plus the loss of good farming
land. Both the economic and psychological damage would be considerable.
Coastal Ecosystems – Seaton Sluice Sand Dunes in Northumberland
Major issues for the dunes
1. Footpath erosion via people and horse riding, these areas can be
prone to causing dune “blowouts”
2. Erosion of the dune complex at Meggie’s Burn via a storm water
outlet pipe
3. Winter storms – these have washed away huge quantities of sand
over recent years
4. Invasive species such as ragwort
Management
Seaton Sluice dunes are managed by the Northumberland Shoreline
Management Plan (SMP). The SMP provides an assessment of the risks
associated with coastal change and gives ideas (policies) to deal with
these risks to people and the developed, historic and natural environment
in a sustainable manner. It runs from Berwick upon Tweed to Newcastle
upon Tyne. The SMP states that;
Meggie’s
1. Along Blyth Links where Seaton Sluice sand dunes are, the
existing promenade (walkway) protects a Scheduled Ancient
Burn
Monument and recent re-development areas and therefore the
policy is to “Hold the Line” over the next 50 years.
2. Management of the weak spot at Meggie’s Burn should be
considered to provide a smoother transition between the harder
management to the north and the management of the dunes to the
south. To assist this, it is recommended that further investigation
of the local erosion and possible management responses around Meggie’s Burn is undertaken, at an expected cost
of £40,000.
3. Dune management is also recommended by the SMP using “soft techniques” to prevent breaching by the sea at an
annual cost of £20,000
Other recent management includes;
1. Local residents can deposit their Christmas trees in nearby car parks for recycling; they are deposited on the dune
crests by the Council workforce and used to help stabilize areas of known blow-outs or trampling damage.
2. Anti-tank blocks are used to locally help defend storm-damaged areas (these blocks are moved around the beach).
3. Sand is recycled from the bottom of South beach to the top of South Beach to help reinforce beach levels and to
prevent the accumulated material from spilling into the navigation channel and then needing dredging.
4. In 2007, an innovative approach of using bio-degradable geotextile ‘sandbags’ (large-scale) to help stabilised
erosion-prone areas has been adopted.
5. Banning of horse riding on the dunes. Riding on beach permitted but access limited. (2006 British Horse Society
& 2012 Blyth Coastal warden)
6. Pulling of ragwort (invasive species) by hand
7. New dune construction at Meggie’s Burn
8. Pathways and cycle paths constructed. (2000 Save Our Dunes Petition)
9. Fences were built through the dunes to help with accumulation of sand by effectively being a wind break,
dissipating the force of the wind and stopping sand from being removed from the dune. This process is called
"Brashing".
10. Groynes have been used to stop LSD (long shore drift) from diminishing the levels of sand on the beach.
11. The area is also a Local nature reserve helping to protect four species of “Orchid” and five species of
“Cranesbills” or wild Geraniums which can be found amongst the numerous wild flowers and grasses growing on
the dunes.
The UK– Impacts of sea level rise on the coastline
Sea levels are rising globally at the present time, but have changed
significantly over millions and millions of years. In the past (up to 13,000
years ago) Britain was actually part of Europe and the North Sea did not
exist! There a re numerous causes for sea level change, and these can be
grouped into Natural and Human causes. Natural causes of sea level rise
are related to changes in temperature or to the adding of weight to the
Earth's crust.
If global temperatures go up ice melts and the oceans expand by thermal
expansion - the sea level will rise.
If global temperatures fall then ice builds up on the land and sea, the oceans
contract in volume due to thermal contraction, and sea level falls.
An example of this is how Britain has responded during and after the last
major ice age. During the last ice age most of Northern Britain was covered
in Ice whereas the Southern edge stayed ice free. the area under ice was
pushed down in to the Earth's mantle slowly over time because of the added
weight, causing local sea levels to rise in some places (although this was
offset by global sea levels falling because of the ice age!). As the ice melted
with warming, the weight was lifted off Northern Britain. This allowed the
land to slowly REBOUND upwards, causing the sea level to FALL relative
to the rising land. The consequence of this is that sea levels are falling in
Northern Scotland and rising in Southern Britain (where population
density is highest).
These natural changes are being made worse by human activity. As human
beings release more and more Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide and Methane
into the atmosphere (in industrial processes etc) we accelerate Global
Warming. This could have massive impacts on sea levels, drowning
coastlines, changing the location of erosion and affected coastal habitats.
The economic, social, environmental and political impact of coastal flooding on the UK.
Over the past 15 years sea levels have risen on average by 3mm a year, but this figure varies widely from place to place. The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts a rise in global sea levels of between 28 and 43cm by the end of the
century.
The area most under threat in the UK is the South East and East of the country, where the land is flat and at very low altitudes.
Unfortunately, this is also where most people live in the UK! The Norfolk Broads are a large tourist destination (they bring in
£5million a year!) and farming area, here, sea level rise would destroy the area and habitats. London is built around a tidal area of the
River Thames and is currently protected by the Thames Barrier, however, engineers predict that this barrier will soon be inadequate
with rising sea levels and will need to be replaced at the coast of over £7 billion! Valuable agricultural land will be lost and coastal
erosion in areas such as Holderness will be increased as seas become stormier and waves reach further up beaches and cliff faces.
Mudflats such as Keyhaven salt marshes will also be under threat.
Settlements such as King’s Lynn will be under threat from sea level rise. Valuable agricultural land such as the Fens is at risk from
flooding. Low lying mudflats in Essex would be under threat.
The 2013-4 storms that hit the UK have shown how vulnerable our coastline is to
FLOODING. Insurance costs will be over £1billion according to insurance experts, the
Somerset levels were flooded for months ruining agriculture and key links like the train
line at Dawlish were damaged.
Flooding in an MEDC – the Morpeth floods
The flood is currently estimated to have been a 1 in 115 year event.
CAUSES:
1.
Prolonged rainfall coincided with the flood peak from higher areas of the
catchment which led to a peak water level of 3.99 metres recorded in the
river channel, the biggest flow ever recorded in the Wansbeck.
2.
The Environment Agency recorded 150 millimetres of precipitation falling in
the Wansbeck catchment between Friday 5 September and Saturday 6
September.
3.
The River Wansbeck Valley is narrow and steep and as a consequence has exaggerated amounts of surface runoff.
4.
The soil was already saturated as a result of the wet summer, so there was lots of surface runoff .
5.
Increased urbanisation since the 1960s in Morpeth meant that most water falling on the town would have drained
directly to the river channel. Other tests investigating the catchment lag time (time lapse between the mid point of
storm rainfall and peak river level) indicate that the Wansbeck has a LAG time of only 8 hours. This means that any
water falling in the catchment area would have been rapidly converted into channel flow by surface runoff and to a
lesser extent by throughflow.
Social Impacts
During 6 September 2008, more than 400 residents were evacuated. Shelter was provided in the Town Hall, King Edward
VI High School and County Hall. An error made by the Environment Agency's warning system meant that 198 properties in the
Middle Greens area of the town did not receive a flood warning. Fire fighters, ambulance crews, the RAF, the RNLI and the
British Red Cross were among the emergency services involved in rescue and recovery operations over the weekend. Many
residents had to be forced from their homes, and lived in caravans or with relatives as rebuilding took place. More than 1,000
houses were affected when the River Wansbeck burst its banks on Saturday, September 6, 2008.
Economic
995 properties in Morpeth town centre were directly affected by the flood water. Early estimates suggest that damages could
be over £10 million. On Sunday 7 September, Morpeth Lions Club and the Red Cross launched the Morpeth Flood Disaster Fund
and by Wednesday 10 September had raised over £20,000.
Environmental
At the peak of the flood, Morpeth High Street (Bridge Street) was under 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) of water. Not since 1963 had
the main street been flooded. The library suffered severe structural damage due to the heavy debris transported by the river.
Such was the extent of the damage that structural engineers were required to test its safety.
Management
Morpeth has a system of flood defences (flood walls and low embankments) in place following the 1963 flood event, but these
were overtopped by the high flood waters. The RAF and other emergency services had to evacuate people by boat and
helicopter, and aid rushed in from around the country and government sources. Insurance companies will foot most of the bill.
There are plans to have in place by 2011 a system of higher flood walls along weak spots in the town, poles to catch debris
upstream, to clear out the culverts that drain water in Morpeth and an upstream reservoir - which would hold over one million
cubic metres - would only allow through a volume of water manageable by the town centre defences.
Flooding in an LEDC – The Bangladesh floods
Bangladesh is a low lying country that is incredibly vulnerable to flooding. It has 3 major rivers flowing through it (the Ganges,
Brahmaputra and Meghna) and is vulnerable to coastal flooding as it is so low lying and flat. The 2004 floods lasted from July to
September and covered 50% of the country at their peak.
At the time of the July 2004 floods 40% of the capital, Dhaka was under water. 600 deaths were reported and 30million people
were homeless. 100,000 people alone in Dhaka suffered from diarrhoea from the flood waters.
Bridges were destroyed, the death toll rose to 750 and the airport and major roads were flooded. This hampered relief efforts. The
damage to schools and hospitals was estimated at $7billion. Rural areas also suffered, the rice crop was devastated as were
important cash crops such as jute and sugar.
Management and aid
Within Bangladesh food supplies, medicines, clothing and blankets were distributed. Local people began to rebuild their homes but
disease from contaminated and often stagnant flood water remained a threat. The United Nations launched an appeal to raise
$74million, but had received only 20% of this by September. Water Aid helped by bringing water purification tablets and
education campaigns.
In the long term a Flood Action Plan is in place in Bangladesh, but the embankments which are supposed to protect against flooding
have not always been successful. Flood warnings and provision of food and shelter has had a more positive impact.
Water supply in the UK – Kielder Water
The UK is highly variable in terms of water
supply and demand. A lot of the rainfall
received by the UK falls in the North and
West, whereas most people live in the South
East. Kielder water is a management scheme
designed to store water for the North East of
England. It is run by Northumbrian Water,
a large company supplying Northumberland,
County Durham and parts of North
Yorkshire and Cumbria.

Population supplied: 2.5m

Daily supply: 729m litres
The main conurbations served by the reservoir
are Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside. The
reservoir is linked to the exit point of the
Derwent Reservoir in County Durham, with a pipeline fed from the North Tyne river below the Kielder dam. The Derwent Reservoir remains the
primary source of water for Tyne and Wear, so water from Kielder can be used to supplement the flow of the River Derwent when the reservoir
above is at low levels, and also to provide water into the Derwent Reservoir's distribution system. The Kielder pipeline cannot be used to supplement
the water supply to the Derwent Reservoir itself.
The decline of traditional heavy industry, together with more water-efficient industrial processes and better control of water supply leakage, served to
undermine the original reasons for the reservoir and many came to criticise the government-funded project as a white elephant.
In recent years, however, Kielder Water has come into its own, with underground springs ensuring that it always remains at high levels, regardless of
the prevailing climate condition. This means that while the south of England is often forced to implement drought strategies and hosepipe bans, north
east England enjoys plentiful water supplies
Positive
Negative
A hydro-electric power station, using the water released by Kielder
reservoir can generate 6MW of power.
Reducing the flow of water from a river changes the landscape of
that river which can affect plants and animals. A dam holds back
sediment, especially the gravel and pebbles. The depletion of
riverbed gravels reduces spawning grounds for fish and
invertebrates.
The scheme includes 8 sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) ,
covering 7,800ha and containing unique plants and animals. Kielder
is one of the last places for red squirrels in England
Clean water released from the dam has the increased potential for
erosion downstream of the dam – this is known as clear water
erosion.
The lake is 11km long and stores nearly 200,000million litres of water
– this helps in times of water shortages
58 families were displaced from their homes by the dam, their houses
disappearing beneath the lake that formed.
Huge volumes of timber are produced at Kielder, the number of
standing trees is 150million and they are replanted once felled.
Kielder forest employs up to 260 employees.
When the dam was completed it flooded an area of scenic natural
beauty.
It can act as a flood prevention measure.
2,700 acres of farmland and habitat was lost as a result of the scheme.
A visitors study showed that £6million is raised through tourism to
Kielder every year.
The forest at Kielder has been criticised for being too much of a
monoculture (only one type of tree) – mainly Sitka Spruce
Complete the table below by writing a summary sentence about the case study and by writing down 5 bits of factual information (location, dates, facts, figures,
distances etc) about the case study that you can remember for the exam.
Bangladesh Floods
Morpeth Floods
Kielder Water
UK and Sea level rise
Seaton Sluice Sand dunes
The Holderness Coastline
The Haiti Earthquake
The Kobe Earthquake
The Andes Mountains
The 2004 Tsunami
Mount Pinatubo
Case study questions – all 8 marks each
The Restless Earth
A) People respond to hazards in different ways. Choose a volcano or an earthquake you have studied in an LEDC.
Describe the measures to predict and to take precautions against your chosen hazard
and
explain the short term responses to your chosen hazard.
B) Choose a volcanic eruption you have studied.
Describe the aid given to people affected by the eruption
and
Explain the long term recovery of the area affected by the volcanic eruption.
C) People respond to Tsunami in different ways. Choose a Tsunami you have studied. Explain how people responded in the short term and the
long term.
D) Choose one earthquake/volcano/tsunami/supervolcano that you have studied.
Describe the short term (immediate) responses made by the people in the area
and
Explain the long term problems for people in the area.
E) Fold mountains are used in different ways. Choose a range of Fold mountains that you have studied.
Describe the variety of landuses that occur in the fold mountains
and
Evaluate the impact of those landuses
The Coastal Zone
A) Sea levels have risen around the world. Choose a stretch of coastline that you have studied that i9s under threat from sea level rise.
Describe the impacts that sea level rise could have on this stretch of coastline
And
Explain the consequences of these impacts.
B) Some coastlines are suffering from erosion and cliff retreat. For a coastline you have studied;
Explain the causes of cliff retreat
and
Outline how the cliff retreat is being managed
C) Coastal environments contain a range of unique ecosystems. For a coastal ecosystem that you have studied:
Describe how the ecosystem functions
and
Explain how it is being managed sustainably against any threats it might face.
Rivers, floods and management
1)Many rivers around the world suffer flooding. For a river that has flooded in an MEDC;
Outline the causes of flooding
and
Explain the economic and social impacts of those floods.
2)Many rivers around the world suffer flooding. For a river that has flooded in an LEDC;
Outline the effects of flooding
and
Explain the management strategies used to try and control damage caused by future flooding.
3) Water supply and demand vary across the British Isles. For a water supply scheme that you have studied:
Describe how the scheme works
and
Assess the positive and negative impacts of that scheme.
4)Compare the impacts of flooding in MEDCs and LEDCs and explain their differing impacts