HL Paper 1
Examine the reasons why earthquakes vary in magnitude and frequency between different places.
Examine how different human factors can affect community vulnerability to one or more geophysical hazards.
Examine the relationship between plate margin type and the character of volcanic activity.
Examine how geophysical factors were responsible for the differing impacts of two earthquake hazard events.
The diagram shows mass movement on slopes in the Swiss Alps between 1995 and 2016. Each dot represents one mass movement.
The varying altitudes of the mass movement and the direction each slope faces are shown.
[Source: Kenneth Davis, geovisualist.com, data from WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF.]
Identify the altitude range within which the majority of mass movements occur.
Estimate the number of mass movements occurring above the altitude of 3500m.
Outline one physical factor affecting the speed of a mass movement.
Explain two possible strategies to reduce human vulnerability to rapid mass movement hazards in a mountainous area such as this.
The graph shows the magnitude of selected earthquake events in relation to the number of deaths caused.
Identify the location of the earthquake event with the highest magnitude.
State the number of deaths caused by the earthquake event in the USA.
Outline one reason why high-magnitude earthquake events do not occur very often.
Explain how the risk to a community from earthquake events such as these might be affected by the age structure of its population.
Explain how the risk to a community from earthquake events such as these might be affected by political factors (governance of the country).
The diagram shows possible impacts of an earthquake on a city and its community.
[Source: Grant Agreement No 244061 – Project acronym: SYNER-G]
Briefly outline two long-term impacts of infrastructure damage that could be included in Box A.
Outline how one characteristic of a community’s population structure can affect its vulnerability to earthquakes.
Explain three strategies that could increase the personal resilience of community members to an earthquake event such as the one shown in the diagram.
Examine how social and economic strategies may reduce people’s vulnerability to earthquake hazard events.
Evaluate pre-event strategies and post-event strategies for the management of mass movement hazards.
The map shows Snæfellsjökull in Iceland. The scale of the map is 1:100 000 and the contour interval is 20 metres.
[Source: Based on data from National Land Survey of Iceland.]
Determine the difference in height between the spot heights at A and B.
Estimate the distance in kilometres between A and B on the map.
Outline how one piece of map evidence indicates that this is a volcanic area.
Explain how volcanic hazard vulnerability in an area such as this could be reduced using GPS crater monitoring.
Explain how volcanic hazard vulnerability in an area such as this could be reduced using lava diversions.
The map shows the land use of areas affected by a landslide in a mountainous region of an Asian country with heavy seasonal rainfall.
[Source: Perera, E. N. C., Jayawardana, D. T., Jayasinghe, P., Bandara, R. M. S. and Alahakoon, N., 2018. Direct impacts
of landslides on socio-economic systems: a case study from Aranayake, Sri Lanka. Geoenvironmental Disasters,
5(11), p.3. Source adapted. https://geoenvironmental-disasters.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40677-018-0104-
6#rightslink Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.]
Identify the land use with the largest area.
Estimate the distance, in metres, between A and B of the landslide on the map.
Outline one physical factor that increases the speed of onset in a mass movement event.
Suggest how two pre-event management strategies could reduce the negative impact of mass movement in an area such as this.
The map shows the movements of internally displaced persons (IDPs) out of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following the earthquake of January 2010.
[Source: adapted from Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). www.internal-displacement.org]
Estimate the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) moving to Artibonite.
Estimate the furthest distance, in km, from Port-au-Prince at which very strong earthquake intensity was experienced.
Outline how the distance from the epicentre of an earthquake can determine the severity of two associated secondary hazards.
Explain two reasons why internally displaced persons may have to wait a long time to return home after a major earthquake event such as this.
Examine pre-event management strategies designed to reduce human vulnerability to mass movement hazards.
Examine the relative importance of economic and social factors in the vulnerability of local communities to geophysical hazards.
Examine the severity of the impacts of different types of mass movement on human well-being.
Examine the effectiveness of technology and planning strategies in reducing human vulnerability to volcanic hazards.
Examine how physical processes affect the level of volcanic hazard risk in different places.
Examine why mass movement hazard risk in some places could change in the future.