Physical geography

Traps in Physical geography

• Picks a closely related feature or term
  Learn related features as contrasting pairs: how each forms and what it looks like.
• Uses an everyday idea instead of the geography
  Test the intuition against the physical process; geography terms and causes often differ from their everyday sense.
• Chooses a true but irrelevant statement
  Test each option against the exact term or feature in the stem.
• Confuses rock types
  Igneous: cooled magma (granite, basalt). Sedimentary: layered deposits (sandstone, limestone, shale). Metamorphic: altered by heat/pressure (marble from limestone, slate from shale, quartzite from sandstone).
• Confuses wind-formed and other desert landforms
  Wind erosion (abrasion is strongest within about 1 m of the ground): mushroom rocks, zeugen (horizontal hard over soft rock), yardangs (vertical bands parallel to the wind), deflation hollows. Wind deposition: barchan (crescent, horns downwind), seif (long ridge parallel to the wind). Water in deserts: wadi (dry channel), playa (dry lake bed), bajada (merged alluvial fans), oasis (groundwater at surface).
• Volcano and earthquake errors
  Focus (hypocentre): point of origin underground; epicentre: point on the surface directly above. Richter/moment magnitude scale measures energy; seismograph records waves. Basic (basaltic) lava is runny → shield volcanoes; acid lava is viscous → steep cones.
• Confuses glacial and desert landforms
  Glacial erosion: cirque/corrie, arête, pyramidal peak, U-shaped valley, hanging valley. Glacial deposition: moraine, drumlin, esker, erratic. Desert (wind): barchan, seif, yardang, zeuge; desert (water): wadi, playa, bajada, inselberg.
• Coastal landform errors
  Erosional: cliffs, caves, arches, stacks, wave-cut platforms. Depositional: beaches, spits, bars, tombolos, lagoons.
• River profile errors
  Upper course: V-shaped valleys, waterfalls, rapids, interlocking spurs. Middle: meanders, wider valley. Lower: floodplains, levees, ox-bow lakes, deltas.
• Earth's structure and tectonics errors
  Crust (sial over sima) → mantle → outer core (liquid) → inner core (solid). Divergent boundaries: rift valleys, mid-ocean ridges. Convergent: fold mountains, trenches, volcanoes.
• Misattributes landform processes
  River: V-shaped valleys, meanders, ox-bow lakes, deltas. Wind: mushroom rocks, barchans, zeugen, yardangs. Glacial: U-shaped valleys, cirques, moraines.
• Confuses weathering, erosion and mass wasting
  Weathering breaks rock IN PLACE. Mechanical: exfoliation, frost action. Chemical: carbonation (limestone), oxidation, hydrolysis. Erosion involves transport by agents.
• Credits a landform to the wrong agent
  Link each landform to its agent and process: ox-bow lake – river meanders; mushroom rock – wind abrasion; U-shaped valley – glacier; Lake Volta – a dam.
• Gives only part of the answer
  Recall the full definition or list of factors and check the option covers it.
• Reverses the process or effect
  Trace the cause and effect step by step and check the direction at each step.
• Confuses soil types and processes
  Horizon A (topsoil, humus, eluviation), B (subsoil, illuviation), C (weathered parent rock). Podzols: coniferous areas, acidic, leached. Chernozems: temperate grasslands, rich humus. Laterites: hot wet tropics, iron/aluminium oxides.
• Confuses ocean currents and their effects
  Cold currents (Canary, Benguela, Humboldt/Peru, Labrador) cool coasts and contribute to coastal deserts (Namib, Atacama) and fog. Warm currents (Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift, Guinea, Kuroshio) warm coasts. Mixing of warm and cold water favours plankton and fishing grounds.
• Pressure and wind errors
  Winds blow from HIGH to LOW pressure, deflected by the Coriolis force (right in N hemisphere). Trade winds blow toward the ITCZ/doldrums; westerlies blow poleward.
• Confuses weather instruments
  Baro- = pressure; hygro- = humidity; anemo- = wind speed; wind vane = direction; rain gauge = rainfall; Six's thermometer = max/min temperature.
• Picks the wrong place or location
  Learn each resource or feature with its location on a map, and the reason it occurs there.