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Summary Case study notes - A level Human and Physical Geography

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Module
Unit 1 GEOG1 - Physical and Human Geography

Institution
AQA

Detailed notes of case studies, with facts and figures, for revision and reference in exam essay questions, as well as key facts to learn from throughout the course. Covers the following modules: -Water and Carbon -Changing Places -Population and the environment -Coasts -Hazards -Global gover...

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PHYSICAL

Water and carbon
1 Carbon strategies - Kyoto, Keeling curve, COP26 etc
-Methane gas is over 20 times more potent than co2 as a greenhouse gas.
Natural causes of climate change include Milankovitch cycles - astronomical variations which change how solar insolation heats
the earth, and leads to glacials and interglacials (according to the theory)
Variations in the sun’s energy, volcanic eruptions and tectonic movements can all also alter the climate, with tectonic factors
causing more localised changes - alteration of oceans, etc.

The issue is that the current rate of change is much greater than at any other point in geological history due to anthropogenic
change - greenhouse gas emissions.

-The Keeling Curve is a key graph which shows the measurements of atmospheric carbon, taken from Mauna Loa in Hawaii. It
records from 1958, and is one of the earliest gas measurements - showing a consistent and alarmingly steep co2 increase
when compared to ice core carbon measurements.

Causes of greenhouse gas increases:
-Burning of fossil fuels in industry, transport, energy etc
-Agriculture (methane)
-Rise in consumerism and consumption - population growth (maybe less important and blame shifting, however)
-Deforestation
etc

Impacts/ evidence
-Glacier melting and permafrost loss - permafrost loss can trigger a feedback loop, because it causes the release of
greenhouse gases. (on the other hand, it could be argued that the higher temps are also causing a negative feedback by
allowing more plant growth season and thus more absorption of carbon)
-Oceanic warming - which is also a feedback loop, as warm water holds less co2
-Record breaking heat waves such as France 15k people dying in 2003 (link)
-Use of ice cores - air bubbles are analysed, with oxygen isotopes (o16 and 018) providing evidence of the temperature, and
extracted air reflecting concentrations of key gases such as co2 and methane. Ice core samples agree globally from different
sources. Antarctic (Vostok) is the most reliable for the oldest samples.
-Changed rain patterns and more extreme weather - which leads to less groundwater recharge with more runoff
-Changed albedo (positive feedback)

Consequences on humans:

-Conflict (eg ‘water wars’)
-Displaced people
-Flooding
-Impacted agriculture
-Water supply eg saltwater intrusion (not incursion)

Strategies

Mitigation aims to reduce the original issue, while adaptation aims to reduce its impacts.
-More efficient energy use (insulation)
-Less meat farming/ consumption
-Reduced deforestation / afforestation

-Kyoto protocol (2005) and later Paris Agreement (2015) both aimed to reduce greenhouse emissions, with the paris
agreement targeting below 1.5” C as the crucial target. However, the strategy is advisory and therefore contributions are
voluntary, meaning not much progress has been made, and the 1.5 goal is highly unlikely to be achieved any longer. COP26
summit made more progress, but the goal of banning all coal was crucially omitted under pressure from Indian and Chinese
governments. Highlights a multitude of issues - countries at different economic types have different attitudes and more or less
to lose by abiding by climate change goals, so it is impossible for an international legislation to be effective without heavy
compromises which undermine the agreements.

,COP26 outcomes:
-Renewal of goal to be below 1.5
-Goal to hit net-zero by 2050
-’phase-out’ of coal
-encouragement of electric vehicles and renewable energy
-at least 100bn dollars to be contributed to climate finance / year (still a goal and not binding)

Barriers to climate solutions

-Individualistic, self focused consumerist lifestyle - links to tragedy of the commons
-Morally corrupt governments with fingers in fossil fuel money, and/or spreading climate disinformation, especially in the US
-High effort and finance cost of shifting away from fossil fuels, on which economies and society has been built upon since the
industrial revolution.
-Difficulty in agreeing global governance - NEEs deserve to exploit their resources for development like the HICs already have?
or do they? Difficult to justify and to agree anything. LICs shoulder most burden, contribute the least, but have least power to
change things.

2 The Amazon - carbon and water cycles and feedback, ITCZ etc
-Found mostly in Brazil (over 60% within)
-High, constant temperature of between 25 - 27 degrees
-High annual rainfall - over 2500mm / annum
-Often called the lungs of the earth due to its role as a carbon sink

Impacts of cycles and feedback are not always clear cut and can be exemplified by the this key rainforest:
-Increased temperatures can promote more vegetation growth
-However this is likely to lead to high co2 emissions later because there is poor soil mixing and nutrient cycling within the red
latosol and so co2 given off
-The high temperatures could also lead to more forest fires - eg in 2019
-Therefore it is unclear what impact co2 change would have in terms of feedback and on the water cycle of the rainforest -
which also retains most of its water through convectional rainfall. Could become more arid if the water cycle was degraded.

Coasts
1 Odisha coast (distant)
-Odisha is a coastal district on the east of India.
-Has a straight and depositional landform rich coastline (6 deltas!) which supports most of the population
-Has many highly ecologically valuable sites along the coast, such as Chilika lake , as well as lots of mangrove forest.
-Resources of the region include:
metal ore deposits for mining
ecological resources, including the Olive Ridley turtle
offshore oil and but also renewable energy opportunities
local fishing is a key industry
tourism, especially for the flora and fauna

-The Odisha SMP / ICZM is key because a holistic approach is needed to satisfy this variety of stakeholders and to ensure that
defences do not have negative knock-on effects down the coast.
-Therefore the ICZM is holistic in approach, recognising the importance of maintaining the environment and biodiversity, and
also the use of resources which can bring wealth.
-A key aspect of the plan is the use of mangrove trees and planting as a flood and erosional defence that doesn’t cause knock-
on terminal groyne type impacts and is also good for the environment, even trapping Co2.
-The SMP examines the varying rates of erosion/ accretion at different points along the coast, with higher erosion in the South
and more accretion in the north - with the erosion partly driven by invasive and problematic hard engineering defences that the
SMP may reconsider.

-The risk of tropical cyclones in this region is a key example of resistance and mitigation -
in 1999, there was a deadly cyclone (5 on the saffir-simpson scale), which killed over 10k people in the region, and caused over
4 billion dollars of estimated damage - through rain, storm surge and high winds of over 150 mph.

, -The government responded during recovery by introducing new mitigation measures such as providing relief aid in advance,
running evacuation drills, improving warning systems. This meant that when another cyclone struck in 2013, the death toll was
less than 50 - a great example of resilience. Plans to build more cyclone shelters.

2 Holderness Coast (local)
-Section of the coast from Flamborough head in the north (chalk) to Spurn head in the south (glacial till)
-Highest erosion rate in Europe
-Many sea defences along the coast cause ‘terminal groyne syndrome’, which can often harm lower value land like agricultural
land or caravan parks, which may cause conflict and difficult compromises.
-High value land is protected along the coast by hard engineering defences, such as at Mappleton, Hornsea (tourist
destinations) or Easington, a gas terminal, which is planned to stop having a ‘hold the line’ ‘ICZM’ plan further into the future,
likely because of the predicted decline and reliance on fossil fuels. (ICZM - integrated coastal zonal management is not to be
confused with ITCZ, which is the inter-tropical convergence zone)
-Although the chalk of Flamborough is more resistant and has no hard engineering associated, it does present a risk because
rockfalls can be quite dangerous.
-Spurn head is an important nature reserve and location for lifeboat workers etc and was historically protected by hard
engineering such as groynes because storms have sometimes broken up the spit in the past. However these defences are no
longer maintained, and the middle section of the spit could be at risk of damage - the end is quite stable due to accumulation.

3 Examples for key landforms

Spit - Spurn Head, Holderness (saltmarsh example is at Parkgate, Dee estuary)
Caves, arches, stacks, stumps - Old Harry Rocks, Dorset
Wave cut platform - Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset
Barrier beach/ bar - Slapton Sands and Slapton Ley (the lagoon)
Tombolo - Great Orme, Llandudno
Emergent features (raised beaches, fossil wave cut platforms, relic cliffs etc) - can be seen on Isle of Arran.
Submergent features (rias, fjords, dalmatian coasts) -
dalmatian coasts are named after their textbook example in Croatia
fjords can be seen in scotland (where they are called lochs)
rias can be seen on the South coast of England, such as at Poole Harbour, Dorset.

4 - Kiribati (pronounced kiribas)
-This small island nation in the Pacific ocean, made up of many coral atolls and very low lying.
-It is highly vulnerable to flooding and climate related sea level rise, with a tasty variety of risks:
lack of potable water due to saltwater intrusion
agriculture failure due to saline soils
literal loss of land to the sea
outmigration and loss of cultural identity

However, potential strategies include:
-Local made makeshift defences using coral
-Mangrove planting
-Move to alternative economic options, such as palm sugar farming.
-Outmigration - clearly the worst case scenario which should be avoided :(

Hazards
1 Tohoku, 2011 - Earthquake and tsunami
-Magnitude 9.0 Earthquake with an epicentre off the North-East coast of Honshu (the largest of the Japanese islands), near to
Sendai.

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