physical case studies 12 + 13

nepal 2015 earthquake

nepal = LIC, landlocked, on plate margin, poor transport access

- $5b lost (25% of gdp)

- $6b cost to repair which mostly came from foreign aid

- 9k dead hundreds of thousands homeless

- tourism dropped significantly

- roads, bridges, access to water and aid severely impacted

- avalanches on everest, farming plots ruined

japan 2011 earthquake / tsunami

- 0.9 hdi

- off the coast of sendai, caused tsunami bc undersea

- only 700 deaths form earthquake itself

- $235b in damages

- 15k dead 450k homeless from tsunami

- fukushima meltdown that means towns in fukushima are abandoned

- belongings floating in the ocean as debris

- 100k japan self defence force officers sent to the area

- tsunami warning sent three minutes after the earthquake

- people set up in temporary homes

japan vs nepal earthquake protection

japan:

- earthquake resistant infrastructure

- earthquake drills

- large sea walls

- high funding in natural disaster safety

nepal:

- poor disaster planning despite high rate of them

- weak infrastructure

- training residents to deal with earthquakes because aid takes a long time to come

holderness coast managed retreat

- boulder clay coast that easily erodes

- managed retreat is when holding the line ceases to allow sea inundation

- terminal groyne syndrome is increasing erosion further south

- managed retreat around spurn head

- 1.5m of erosion per year around mappleton

impacts of erosion at holderness

- 80km2 of farmland at risk

- 30+ settlements lost since roman times

- low tourism

- eastington gas terminal which supplies 25% of british gas is at risk

- homes are negative equity and are not selling

tuvalu and southwest china coast impacts of sea level change

tuvalu:

- only 2m elevated above sea level

- fish numbers are decreasing due to warmer waters

- saltwater is inundating the land which ruins farm land

southwest china coast:

- flat, low lying villages

- farmers forced inland

- 25% of farmland has been lost

- 75% of coastline is prone to erosion

haiti 2010 earthquake

- 0.5 hdi

- dense and low quality infrastructure

- 220k deaths 200k homeless

- rainfall led to landslides

- 10 years later and debris still hasn't been cleared

- 1b in damage is 9% of gdp

key haven salt marsh

- protects shore from erosion by buffering wave action

- retreating by up to 6mm per year

- behind a low sea wall that is threatened by sea level rise

- marsh tourism is popular which can create pollution

yemen water insecurity

- sana'a is in the highlands so it's harder to access water than from a port city like aden. sana'a dry by 2030.

- only 55% in yemen have access to clean water

- infrastructure in sana'a cannot handle 2 million people and can only dig 600m deep. water table is sinking from over-abstraction.

- 50% of agricultural water is used to grow non-essential narcotic khat

- average rainfall has declined to only 180mm so aquifers are not replenishing quick enough

- aden water now $20 per cubic metre, even in urban areas water is valuable in yemen

- high conflict means infrastructure is getting bombed + displacement of people to even drier areas

colorado river basin

- ends in mexicali but the basin is dry and the water rarely makes it to the gulf of california

- states like california extract more than they are allocated

- water has to be redirected to the cities in mexico which leaves little for agriculture

- 2300km of water

- hoover dam takes a large amount of water and 10% is lost to evaporation

- fish species are leaving mexicali as there is no water to live in

california water crisis

- largest cities are reliant on imported water due to high demand

- global warming has decreased snowpack in the sierra nevada which is a key water source in the summer

- agriculture uses 80% of california's developed water

- often experiences drought like 2020-2023

- groundwater reliance by led to land subsidence in the central valley

- 10k+ jobs are reliant on central valley agriculture

aral sea

- once an inland sea that has dried up into small lakes

- water was diverted away by the soviet union for irrigation

- fishing villages around the sea have collapsed and fishing boats are abandoned on the dry basin

- wind blown salt and dust from the dried out basin are causing health issues

- land subsidence has led to saltwater encroachment in drinking water supplies

murray darling basin

- 75% of australia's water, located in southwest australia

- adelaide gets 40% of drinking water from the river murray

- over abstraction means dredging has been required to keep the murray flowing

- north south pipeline has been proposed to divert water from northern victoria down to melbourne

- grey water is being trialled but is not widespread yet

- leads to issues with agriculture like farming, meat industry, wheat

lotikipi basin aquifer

- 200 billion cubic metre aquifer in kenya that could supply kenya for 70+ years

- civil unrest in kenya has slowed down research about the recharge rate of the aquifer

- increase in water demand due to growing populations, improved living standard and more meat heavy diets

storm desmond

- prolonged 48 hour rainfall

- unusually high caribbean temperatures created more evaporation (atmospheric river)

- steep slopes in the cumbrian fells decreased infiltration and created relief rainfall

- rapid urbanisation + overgrazing sheep trampled land and ate the veg. made the ground less permeable and reduced veg to slow water flow.

- thousands of properties lost power and flooded, engineers restored power overnight

2024 bangladesh floods

- cloudbursts caused prolonged rainfall which increased flow in the rivers

- dumbur dam being opened released a high amount of water into bangladesh

- 350k hectares of crops destroyed

- 7k schools closed

- wetland ecosystems disrupted due to prolonged submersion

- industrial waste mixed with drinking water supplies

mississippi river system

- 4th largest in the world

- tributaries from major rivers in some states input

- snowfall and rain across midwest input

- much of the western portion of the river evaporates due to high temperatures

- 1.6 million tonnes of nitrogen discharged into the gulf of mexico

cullernose point

- headland made of highly resistant dolerite

- cliff made of sedimentary limestone

- prominent anticline fold

- erosion has removed soft rock strata and exposed the limestone and folds in the sediment

durdle door

- limestone arch

- sediment with joints and faults has eroded more rapidly into a sea cave

- marine erosion has deepened the cave until it became an arch

norway vs uk energy

PHYS AVAILABILITY:

- norway heavily reliant on hep (97% of electricity) because of high rainfall and mountainous terrain

- uk historically dependent on domestic coal, shifted to north sea oil and gas since 1970's but supplies are depleting

COST:

- norway hep low operation cost after initial investment, avg £2400 annual energy cost

- uk cost is unstable bc reliance on imports

TECHNOLOGY:

- norway advanced hep tech for widespread generation even to rural areas, also getting into deepwater oil tech

- uk offshore drilling developed in 1970's, fracking has been explored but faced large public backlash

PUBLIC PERCEP:

- norway strong support for hep since 1900's, revenue from fossils is reinvested in sustainability projects

- uk high public concern over cost and environmental damage

ECON DEVELOPMENT:

- norway high gdp per capita ($61k) and high domestic reinvestment

- uk low gdp per capita ($41k), high reliance on imported energy, privatised energy supply industry

canadian tar sands

- mixture of clay, sand, water and bitumen

- mined and injected with steam to make the tar viscous

- 40% of canadas oil output

- very expensive because high energy and requires clearing of taiga

brazilian deepwater oil

- oil and gas found at considerable depths well offshore

- drilled by ocean oil rigs

- 500,000 barrels produced a day

- rigs can only be accessed by boat in rough seas and are damaging the ocean habitat

us shale gas

- new york, pennsylvania

- natural gas trapped in fine grain sedimentary rocks

- fracking by pumping in water and chemicals to force out the gas

- 25% of us gas supply

- fracking leads to mysterious animal deaths and industrial explosions

amazon droughts

- 2005 and 2010 droughts turned rainforest into temp carbon source, some species have low tolerance to drought

- some impacts from the drought lasted years after, like climate change from increased greenhouse gases which continues prolonged drought

sahel rainfall

- 100 - 600mm of rainfall yearly

- regreening efforts convert dry landscape to farmland

future flood frequency and drought risk

- flood increase in central africa, south america and asia

- drought increase in the med, north india, southern africa

helsinki rules 1996

- equitable water use to adequately sustain life

- countries allowed water based on degree of dependency on source, economic needs of the society, impact on downstream availability etc

water conflicts

- only 25% of 2000 international water events led to any conflict, only 1.5% led to serious war

- ethiopia damming (grand ethiopia renaissance dam) nile could reduce flow to egypt by 25% where they are reliant on nile for agriculture and consumption. however ethiopia wants dam bc hep can generate additional electricity for growing population. unsolved = conflict of interest.

- senegal river basin shared by mali, senegal, maritius and guinea. two dams allocate water evenly for agri and consump. the agreements make a platform for discussing conflicts.

- mekong water diverted to north china, away from south china and drier seasian countries. china is superpower and northern states have lot of power. drought in thailand, cambodia, vietnam even during wet seasons. unsolved = power imbalance.

- indus water treaty india and pakistan exists despite conflict like kashmir. india has east 3 rivers pakistan has 3 west, india can do anything to theirs as long as it doesnt reduce flow in pakistan. since 1960s.

brazil wells

- can cost $100k to drill a well so majority of wells are illegal otherwise there would be crop failure etc

- illegal wells are drilled to shallow, so have more bacteria because water isnt being filtered by bedrock

bangladesh salt resistant crops

- adaptation for more frequent flooding due to harsher monsoon season from climate change

- salt resistant rice strains developed for decades

- ground too salty for rice is used for shrimp farming

copenhagen city flooding infrastructure

- adaptation for heavier rain due to climate change

- 1.3 billion euros invested into this plan after heavy rainfall and flooding in 2011

- cloudburst boulevards constructed to funnel rain to drier areas of the city

- city bisected by cloudburst tunnel to stop raining filtering too quickly into already overwhelmed areas

uk carbon capture and storage

- mitigation by stopping carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere by storing and trapping it underground

- some plants also turn the carbon into useful electricity

- costs £1 billion to make a ccs plant and not very many around (HyNet in the north west)

uk carbon taxation

- mitigation to be phased in 2027

- adds a levy on imports of carbon intensive goods to promote greener manufacturing

- discourages companies doing carbon leakage bc they have to pay the levy even if they manufactured in a country with weaker carbon rules, so there is no incentive to move production to a less strict country

paris agreement

- 196 countries wanting to keep global warming below 1.5c

- 110 countries committed to net zero carbon by 2050

- we broke 1.5c in 2024, but if it stays above 1.5c for the next 30 years consistently then paris agreement has been broken

kyoto protocol

- set targets for greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming

- ratifying countries reduced emissions by 7%

- emission rose 44% in the years after the protocol

- us refused to ratify protocol because climate change mitigation doesnt have economic opportunity.

impact of changing precipiation on hydrological processes in drainage basins

- significant in high latidues like arctic bc temp increases thought to be highest here, so more river runoff

- can impact cryosphere like more snow, so more snowmelt in spring

- increased soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and further rain through positive feedback

- low precipitation leads to forest dieback which changes storm hydrograph, feedback of low discharge from less rain

armero volcano, colombia

• large slopes meant lahars flowed easily

• 23k dead

• volcanic activity was detected two months earlier but no evacuation plans were made

plymouth volcano, montserrat

• convergent boundary created massively destructive volcano

• wouldve been less impactful if plymouth was not the largest settlement

sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks

sedimentary - formed from sediment compaction, sandstone, limestone, coal

metamorphic - forms by transformation of other rocks, slate, marble

igneous - interlocking crystalline layers, granite, obsidian

three gorges mega dam

• reduces flooding in cities on yangtze like wuhan + given them room to develop

• allows the yangtze river to be used for transport

• sediment is being trapped upstream

• displaced rural locals and animal habitats