Geography - Living in the UK Today

Mechanical weathering

physical actions (e.g freeze-thaw weathering)

Chemical weathering

chemical reactions (e.g oxidation, hydrolysis)

Biological weathering

Plants like trees growing roots
Animals like rabbits burrowing into rocks

Mass movement

downward movement of material due to gravity

Slumping

Common on slopes with a permeable layer and then an impermeable layer

Water seeps in and separates them both

Sliding

Prolonged weather or dry weather changing the shape of rocks

Attrition

Rocks hitting each other to become smaller and rounder

Abrasion

Rocks crashing against a surface - smoothing the landform

Solution

Rocks and minerals dissolving into the water

Hydraulic action

When water forces into air-filled cracks and increases the pressure

The cracks then expand

Forms of transportation

Traction - large boulders and rock rolling along the riverbed

Solution - minerals dissolving in the water and carried along water

Saltation - small stones bouncing along the riverbed

Suspension - fine light material carried along water

Upland areas

Wetter due to relief rainfall

Livestock graze here

Lots of mass movement

Lots of freeze-thaw weathering (cold temperatures)

Lowland areas

Softer material (clays and chalk)

Usually drier (rain shadow areas)

Used to grow crops - warmer and better deep soil (silt)

Urban areas - easier to build on flatter ground

River Tees courses

Upper course: Near Cross Fell

High Force Waterfall and gorge

Middle course: Yarm

Meanders
Oxbow lakes (None currently found on River Tees)

Lower course: Stockton and Middlesborough

Channelization

Floodplains

Levees

alluvium

material carried by the river

Levee formation

River floods, depositing heavy material close to the channel and finer material further away

Process repeats

Layers of heavy sediment build up over time to make a levee

Spit formation

Longshore drift moves material along a coastline

Lack of energy causes the material to be deposited where the coastline curves, extending the coastline into the sea as a spit

Spit curves due to wave and wind energy

Made of sand and shingle

Spit example

Spurn Point

Headland/Caves, arches and stacks example

Flamborough Head

Channelization example

Between Stockton and Middlesborough

Meander example

Around Yarm

Longshore drift definition

Example of transportation via prevailing wind

Wind push waves onto the beach at an angle (swash)

Waves are then pulled back by gravity (backwash)

Process transports sand and shingle along the coastline (saltation)

Landscapes of the UK - case studies

Holderness coastline

River Tees

People of the UK - case studies

Salford Quays

Manchester (New Islington)

Major import partners of the UK

The EU (e.g Germany for luxury vehicles) - no tariffs
USA
China - cheap to produce goods there

What does the UK import?

Cars - Germany

Petrol - Norway

Toys - China

Major export partners of the UK

The EU - no tariffs, short geographical distance

Switzerland - important financial haven

USA
China

What does the UK export?

Goods requiring expertise (e.g Boeing aircraft)

Cars from international companies such as Nissan (can be exported into EU tariff-free)

Trade deficit

Importing more than exporting