A-Level A-Level Geography 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is meant by 'urban heat island' effect?
- The concentration of industry on the outskirts of cities
- Higher temperatures recorded in urban areas compared to surrounding rural areas (Correct answer)
- The increased flooding risk in built-up urban environments
- The reduction of green space in city centres
Correct answer: Higher temperatures recorded in urban areas compared to surrounding rural areas
The urban heat island effect occurs because built surfaces absorb and retain more heat than natural landscapes, making cities measurably warmer than surrounding rural areas.
Question 2: Which economic sector is described as involving the extraction of raw materials from the natural environment?
- Tertiary sector
- Secondary sector
- Quaternary sector
- Primary sector (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Primary sector
The primary sector involves extracting raw materials directly from the environment, including farming, fishing, forestry, and mining.
Question 3: What is the 'multiplier effect' in economic geography?
- The way in which one economic investment generates further economic activity and jobs (Correct answer)
- A method for calculating GDP growth rates
- The increase in population due to rural-to-urban migration
- The spreading of industrial activity from city centres to suburbs
Correct answer: The way in which one economic investment generates further economic activity and jobs
The multiplier effect describes how an initial investment or job creation generates additional economic activity as money circulates through the local economy, creating further employment and income.
Question 4: Which of the following best defines 'sustainable development'?
- Economic growth that prioritises technological innovation
- Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs (Correct answer)
- The protection of ecosystems at the expense of economic growth
- Industrial development using renewable energy sources only
Correct answer: Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs
This is the widely accepted Brundtland Commission (1987) definition of sustainable development, balancing economic, social, and environmental needs across time.
Question 5: In river management, what is a 'levée'?
- An artificial channel redirecting river flow
- A natural or artificial embankment along a river bank (Correct answer)
- A reservoir created by a dam to control flooding
- A measure of a river's gradient over a given distance
Correct answer: A natural or artificial embankment along a river bank
A levée is a raised embankment, either naturally formed by deposition during floods or artificially constructed, running alongside a river to prevent flooding.
Question 6: What is 'counterurbanisation'?
- The movement of people from rural areas into cities
- The movement of people from urban areas into rural or suburban areas (Correct answer)
- The decline of inner-city areas due to deindustrialisation
- The growth of new towns on the edge of existing cities
Correct answer: The movement of people from urban areas into rural or suburban areas
Counterurbanisation is the process by which people and businesses move out of urban centres into surrounding rural or suburban areas, often enabled by improved transport and remote working.
Question 7: El Niño is associated with which of the following ocean and atmospheric conditions?
- Unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean
- Unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean (Correct answer)
- Increased upwelling of cold water along the South American coast
- Strengthening of the Walker Circulation over the Pacific
Correct answer: Unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean
El Niño is characterised by unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, which disrupts normal atmospheric circulation and weather patterns globally.
A-Level A-Level Geography 2
What is meant by 'urban heat island' effect?