GCSE Case Study Guide – UNIT 1:PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
In the exam remember to:
Locate your case study clearly, with a
clear place name and where it is in the
world. Maps can help here.
Link your case study directly to the
question
Answer all parts of the question
(sometimes there can 3 or 4 sections in
one question!)
Quote some facts and figures about the
place
Locate the case
studies in this
booklet on the
maps of the UK
and the World
Mention specific locations and place or
scheme names to impress the examiner
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. This is a recipe for disaster. More than 5000 people perished and 300,
000 people were made homeless.
People were trapped under rubble and traumatised. More than 102,000 buildings were destroyed in Kobe. The local
government‘s estimate of the cost to restore the basic infrastructure of the city was about £100 billion.
1) 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.
2) Emergency aid for the city needed to use damaged roads but many of them were destroyed during the earthquake.
3) 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






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 Evacuation camps built for refugees.
radius of 30km. USA air force
Warning sign like gas and steam looked
helicopters helped.
for. Long and short term aid organized
Alert systems put into place to especially from the Red Cross and the
warn of eruption.
United States
Government Shelters.
What they could Set up permanent monitoring points, divert Placed strategies for long term
have done
lava flows with use of dynamite, or use
aid and disease control in
satellite images to look upon volcano site
evacuations prepared for.
for changes in land surface.
Storage of medical supplies food and
water in preparation for disaster.
Why the Tsunami happened
Just after dawn on the Sunda trench a
massive earthquake occurred on the
ocean floor. Here 2 plates driven by
convecting heat in the Earth’s interior
are grinding past one another. When the
stresses that build up are released a
massive earthquake occurs. The IndoAustralian plate is being subducted
under the Eurasian plate at the Sunda
Trench. This zone has stick slip
frictional properties, which means that it
drags the upper plate down with it,
deforming the upper plate. Eventually
the stress becomes too much and the
upper plate snaps back – causing the
earthquake. Seismographs in California
showed how the earthquake lasted over 4
minutes and measured 9.0 or the
logarithmic Magnitude scale. The
movement of the sea bed upwards
displaces billions of tonnes of water
above it, some sea floor falls and water
rushes in to replace it. The uplifted
water collapses and rushes out radially
outwards at a thousand km per hour.
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, in the open ocean boats were hardly
affected. 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 colossal,
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.
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
running along the coast from Colombo to Galle. The 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.
3 ¾ hours after the quake, the Maldives are only slightly effected.
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.
Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami
The Tsunami of December 26th 2004
killed over 220,000 people. This was an
enormous disaster of which most people
were completely oblivious to on that
Boxing Day morning.
650,000 people were seriously injured;
schools, hospitals and roads were
completely wiped out.
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.
The fault line is a strike slip fault, the Caribbean Plate south of the fault line was sliding east and the smaller Gonvave Platelet north of the fault was
sliding west. 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;






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
Long term recovery:
Short term responses
Many countries responded to appeals for aid, pledging funds and
dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel.
The EU gave $330 million and the World Bank waived the countries
debt repayments for 5 years.
Communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals,
and electrical networks had been damaged by the earthquake, which
slowed rescue and aid efforts.
6 months after the quake, 98% of the rubble remained un cleared, some
still blocking vital access roads.
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.
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.
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
One year after the earthquake 1 million people remained displaced
As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation became
priorities.
The Dominican Republic which neighbours Haiti offered support and
accepted some refugees.
Delays in aid distribution led to angry appeals from aid workers and
survivors, and looting and sporadic violence were observed.
Medicines San frontiers, a charity, tried to help casualties whilst the
USA took charge of trying to coordinate Aid distribution.
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. 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.
Mining
Hydroelectric power
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.
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.
How the Andes Mountains are used
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 50km 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 45km, and finishes with sunrise at the "Lost City of the
Incas" at Machu Picchu. The trail is strictly controlled, and only 200 trekkers are
allowed to start out on the trail every day.
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. It has the
unenviable reputation as the number one place in Europe for coastal erosion,
and 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 chalk headland has stumps and blowholes.
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. Mapleton 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 will be '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 is estimated at £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.
Keyhaven Salt marshes – management of a vulnerable coastal
ecosystem
Coastal areas are used for many functions, and these often conflict with one another. Think about the Northumberland
coastline, we have farms, industry (such as the Alcan Plant), tourism (e.g. Seahouses), residential areas (Blyth) and
Conservation areas (Seaton Sluice sand dunes and the Farne Islands). Not all of these land uses fit with one another or are
compatible with one another. However, coasts provide valuable habitats for lots of species and despite all of the land uses
there is a recognised need to protect and conserve our vulnerable and precious coastal habitat.
Conservation and management;
A shoreline management plan was put in place in 1996 which added 300,000 cubic metres of shingle to the spit, and
added 550m of rock armour at the western end of the spit. It is hoped that this will stabilise the salt marsh.
The marsh is also a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and part of a National Nature Reserve. This is to protect
the biodiversity and plants of the area and so the area is carefully monitored and managed to help maintain this
biodiversity.
A case study of a coastal habitat - Hurst Castle and Keyhaven salt marshes
How Keyhaven salt marshes have been created;
1.
Keyhaven marshes are located on the south coast of England, in the
western Solent in Southern Hampshire. They have formed behind
Hurst Castle Spit, which has formed because of longshore drift from
the West.
2. This spit provided a sheltered place for sediment accumulation and
for eel grass to accumulate away from the impact of strong winds and
coastal erosion.
3. The pioneer colonising plant, eel grass, helps to stabilise the area
further by trapping more sediment.
4. Gradually, halophytes (salt tolerant plants) such as glass wort and sea
blite colonise the accumulating mudflats.
5. These plants trap more sediment and contribute organic matter when
they die. These processes help the salty marsh to grow.
6. Eventually the salt marsh will grow further and an even more
complex set of plants will colonise the area, until the climax
community of alder and ash trees is reached, with a fully developed
creek system. This is known as vegetation SUCCESSION.
Threats.
Keyhaven salt marshes are under threat from the construction of groynes down current (to the West), which were designed to trap
sediment for some of the South coast beaches. The effect of this has been to starve the spit behind which the salt marsh ecosystem has
formed and relies upon for shelter. This human modification of the coastline had major ramifications for this ecosystem. This has
weakened the spit and at times it has been eroded and breached by erosion. This has led to the die back of Spartina Anglica and
threatens the overall health of the salt marsh.
The marsh is retreating by up to 6m a year, and is threatened by sea level rise and storms. In 1989 a storm in December pushed part
of the shingle onto the top of the salt marsh, exposing up to 80m of slat marsh top the sea. Over the next 3 months lots of erosion of
this section of marsh took place.
Animals also graze on the marsh damaging the marsh, and tourism is becoming increasingly important.
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 £80
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.
Flooding in an MEDC – the Morpeth floods
The flood is currently estimated to have been a 1 in 115 year event. Prolonged rainfall coincided with the flood peak from higher
areas of the catchment which led to a peak water level of 3.99 metres was recorded in the river channel, the biggest flow
ever recorded in the Wansbeck. The Environment Agency recorded 150 millimetres of precipitation falling in the Wansbeck
catchment between Friday 5 September and Saturday 6 September. The River Wansbeck Valley is narrow and steep and as a
consequence has exaggerated amounts of surface runoff. Because the soil was already saturated as a result of the wet summer,
the effect of surface runoff was greatly enhanced. Furthermore, 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
Keyhaven Salt Marshes
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