Dynamic Planet

Revision – Long answer questions

Qu 1) Restless Earth

• Deeper foundations – This gives the building more stability and stops it falling down

• Cross Bracing – Adds strength to building. It stops floors collapsing and falling bricks

• Dampers in roof – This helps stop the building from swaying

Qu 2) Climate and Change

• Difficult to predict• Weather patterns are likely to change in the UK

with more ‘wild weather’. This could lead to more floods such as those in the winter 2013-14

• The North Atlantic Drift (warm ocean current) is likely to shift. This could lead to colder conditions in the South West of England.

• The jet stream (winds bringing warm or cold air) could shift. This could mean more cold air in the winter (from the arctic) and warmer air (from the Tropics) in the summer. i.e. more extreme climate)

• If global temperatures rise, and the ocean around the UK gets warmer. There will be more rainfall as evaporation and moist air over the UK increases.

Qu 3) Battle for the Biosphere

• National Parks – protecting areas from development . This helps protect the biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest

• Eco-tourism – Tourism based on the protection of the environment. Tourist numbers are low and do not negatively impact on wildlife and habitats.

• Sustainable industries – e.g. logging industries replanting trees, or vines being used to make baskets. E.g. no lasting damage to the rainforests

• International Agreements – CITES (Convention on International trade in endangered species) prevents trade in endangered animal goods and helps protect animal species

Qu 4) Water World

• Aswan Dam, EgyptNegatives• Nubian people – 12,000 forced to leave their

homes because the land was flooded for Lake Nasser.

• No more silt is deposited on the land (making it fertile). Farmers no have to pay for fertilisers (these are expensive and cause pollution)

• Water snails are no longer washed out to sea. They spread Bilharzia disease

Positives• Water can be used to irrigate land all year• Villages are safe from flooding• The dam produces hydro-electricity (renewable

energy) for villages

Qu 6) River Processes and Pressures

Sheffield Hard Engineering on the River Don• Concrete lined channels

• Positive: Sped up the flow of water and meant flood waters were taken quickly from the city

• Negative: The flood waters were taken elsewhere so increased flooding downstream

• Embankments (around Meadow Hall)• Negative: They are expensive and in this case

could not cope with the high flood levels• Positive: They are generally effective in built up

areas as they increase the height of the river banks meaning a greater discharge can be held.

• Flood storage reservoirs• Positive: They prevented flood waters from

reaching parts of the city by storing water in old quarries on the city outskirts

• Negative: Large areas of land need to be available to flood

Qu 7) Oceans on the Edge

Positives• Ban Don Bay, Thailand – Humans have created conservation areas. The coral reef has been

‘zoned’. This means activities are restricted to certain areas. This allows areas of the coral reef to recover, it also protects the fish and habitats

• Ban Don Bay, Thailand – Dynamite fishing is banned in order to protect the biodiversity of the reef and habitats of marine species

• North Sea – Fishing quotas have been imposed in order to avoid overfishing and allow fish stocks (of cod) to recover

• Global Ocean – Banning whaling has allowed the numbers of endangered Whales to increase again

Negatives• Ban Don Bay and North Sea – Overfishing (where too many fish are caught, especially juvenile

fish which are too young to breed) this means that the number of fish declines and has impacts on the food chain and eco-system.

• Ban Don Bay, Thailand – Tourism has negative impacts when people break the reef as souvenirs and tourists boats damage the reef with their anchors

• Ban Don Bay, Thailand – The increase in hotels has lead to increased pollution and sewage in the ocean. This damages the habitats of marine species.

• Global – Events like the BP oil spill lead to pollution in oceans (Gulf of Mexico) and kill marine life.