This set covers reading plate-boundary diagrams, linking processes to landforms, separating exposure from the physical event, comparing supplied evidence and describing the limits of a classroom model. All data are invented for practice. Questions run from easier to harder.
Write your own answer first. Then open the worked answer and compare the reasoning, not only the result. Record each slip in the mistake log and retest queue.
Questions
Q1. Two plates have arrows pointing away from each other along an ocean ridge. Name the boundary type.
Show answer
The plates move apart, so it is a constructive (divergent) boundary.
Q2. An oceanic plate meets a continental plate. Which one subducts, and why?
Show answer
The oceanic plate subducts because it is denser than the continental plate.
Q3. Name the landform that forms where two continental plates collide, and say how.
Show answer
Fold mountains. Neither plate sinks easily, so the crust and sediments are squeezed and folded upward.
Q4. A boundary has frequent earthquakes but no volcanoes. Which type is it?
Show answer
A conservative (transform) boundary. Plates slide past and slip suddenly, but no magma is formed.
Q5. Two plates move apart at 4 cm per year. How far apart are they after one million years? Give your answer in kilometres.
Show answer
4 × 1,000,000 = 4,000,000 cm. Divide by 100 for metres: 40,000 m. Divide by 1,000: 40 km.
Q6. Two plates move apart at 3 cm per year. How far apart after 5 million years?
Show answer
3 × 5,000,000 = 15,000,000 cm = 150,000 m = 150 km. Check: 3 cm per year is 30 km per million years, and 30 × 5 = 150.
Q7. Explain in three linked steps how an ocean trench forms.
Show answer
The denser oceanic plate moves towards another plate. It is forced to bend and sink in a subduction zone. The bend in the ocean floor forms a deep, narrow ocean trench.
Q8. Two villages feel the same earthquake. Village A has 6,000 people exposed and 12 are injured. Village B has 1,500 exposed and 6 are injured. Calculate the injury rate per 1,000 for each and say which village has the higher rate.
Show answer
A: 12 ÷ 6,000 × 1,000 = 2 per 1,000. B: 6 ÷ 1,500 × 1,000 = 4 per 1,000. Village B has the higher rate, although A has more people injured in total (12 against 6) because more people were exposed.
Q9. Event P: 150,000 people affected, 30 deaths. Event Q: 400,000 affected, 40 deaths. Compare the deaths per 100,000 affected and write one comparing sentence.
Show answer
P: 30 ÷ 150,000 × 100,000 = 20. Q: 40 ÷ 400,000 × 100,000 = 10. Sentence: “Event P had 30 deaths against 40 for Event Q, but a rate of 20 per 100,000 affected, twice Q’s rate of 10.” Check: 20 ÷ 10 = 2.
Q10. A student writes: “The risk index for our town is low, so we do not need to follow emergency plans.” Explain the error.
Show answer
A classroom index is an invented, simplified model. Its scores are chosen by the user, and it leaves out place, timing and people. It cannot replace official local guidance and plans, which a community must follow.
Q11. In a damage survey, 1,200 of 8,000 homes in a town were damaged. What percentage is this?
Show answer
1,200 ÷ 8,000 = 0.15, so 15%. Check: 15% of 8,000 = 1,200.
Q12. Explain why the same earthquake can cause a smaller human impact in one town than another.
Show answer
The physical event is equal, so the difference comes from exposure and vulnerability. A town with fewer people in range, stronger buildings or better warning time will usually have fewer harmed. Support the answer with figures if given.
If you got these wrong
- Q1 to Q4: go back to reading a plate-boundary diagram.
- Q3, Q7: revisit linking a process to a landform.
- Q5, Q6, Q8, Q11, Q12: revisit exposure and the physical event and use the statistics and distribution explorer for rates.
- Q9: work through comparing impacts from case evidence, and log sources in the evidence ledger.
- Q10: reread classroom models and emergency guidance.
Return to the module overview for the full route. If the same errors keep returning, online one-to-one Geography tuition can focus on exactly those steps.