Starter quiz
- Which river process involves the wearing down of the river's bed and banks?
- Transportation
- Erosion ✓
- Deposition
- Infiltration
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- Which landform is created by deposition in a river's lower course?
- Floodplain ✓
- Meander
- Gorge
- Waterfall
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- What does a storm hydrograph show?
- The amount of rainfall over a period of time
- The shape of a river's valley
- How a river changes along its course
- The river's discharge in response to a storm ✓
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- What happens to a river’s velocity as it moves from the upper course to the lower course?
- It decreases
- It increases ✓
- It stays the same
- It fluctuates
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- Which of these river landforms is typically found in the upper course?
- Oxbow lake
- Meander
- Delta
- Waterfall ✓
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- What is the term for the process where materials carried by the river are dropped when the river slows down?
- Deposition ✓
- Erosion
- Transportation
- Hydraulic action
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Exit quiz
- How does urbanisation increase flood risk?
- By increasing vegetation
- By decreasing impermeable surfaces
- By increasing impermeable surfaces ✓
- By reducing river flow
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- How does deforestation contribute to flood risk?
- Fewer trees mean less water is absorbed by the soil. ✓
- Trees absorb more water, reducing the risk of flooding.
- Trees block water flow, causing flooding.
- Deforestation has no impact on flooding.
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- Which human activity can help reduce flood risk?
- Building more dams
- Over-exploiting river resources
- Afforestation and reforestation ✓
- Increasing urbanisation
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- What role does geology and soil type play in flood risk?
- Sandy soils increase flood risk.
- All soil types absorb water equally.
- Clay soils absorb water more slowly, increasing flood risk. ✓
- Rocky soils increase flood risk.
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Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Physical and human factors increase flood risk.
- Increased flood risk is due to several factors including increased storm frequency (and intensity) and land use change.
- Increased river flooding threatens people and the environment.
Common misconception
The only factor affecting flood risk is rainfall.
Whether a river floods in response to heavy rainfall also relates to many other factors, especially how quickly and in what volume rainfall enters the river.
Keywords
Flood risk - the probability of a flood event occurring and its potential impact
Relief - physical shape or features of the land's surface
Urbanisation - the increase in the proportion of people living in cities and towns, often impacting natural land
Climate change - long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, often linked to human activity
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