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O-LevelGeographyThe natural environment2217/23 · May/June 2017 · Q730 Marks

Students at a school in south west England did fieldwork on a river which flows from Dartmoor (an upland area). The river and the five fieldwork sites are shown on Fig. 8 (Insert). The students agreed to investigate the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: The river becomes wider and deeper downstream. Hypothesis 2: The bedload becomes more rounded downstream.

  1. (a)Which two river features are labelled A and B on Fig. 8? Choose from the following: confluence delta flood plain source tributary Feature A Feature B[2]
  2. (b)Before they went to do their fieldwork the students did a pilot study at a site on a local stream. Suggest two advantages of doing a pilot study. 1 2[2]
  3. (c)To investigate Hypothesis 1, the students measured the width of the river channel and the depth of the river at points across the channel. Photographs D and E (Insert) show the students doing their fieldwork. Describe how the students made their measurements. width of river channel depth of river[4]
  4. (d)(i)Use these results to complete and shade in the cross section of the river channel at site 3 on Fig. 9 opposite.[2]
  5. (d)(ii)Which site on Fig. 9 shows a meander? Site[1]
  6. (d)(iii)What conclusion would the students make about Hypothesis 1: The river becomes wider and deeper downstream? Support your answer with data from Fig. 9.[3]
  7. (e)(i)Suggest one problem of using the Power's scale to measure roundness.[1]
  8. (e)(ii)Suggest two weaknesses of selecting pebbles at random. 1 2[2]
  9. (e)(iii)The students' results are shown in Table 2 (Insert). Use these results to complete the divided bar graph for site 2 in Fig. 11 below. Students' results of measuring pebble roundness[3]
  10. (e)(iv)One student gave a score to each category in the Power's Scale. He then multiplied this score by the number of pebbles in the category (shown in Table 2, Insert). The results of his work are shown in Table 3 below. Calculate the results for site 4 to complete the table.[1]
  11. (e)(v)The students decided that Hypothesis 2: The bedload becomes more rounded downstream was partly true. Use evidence from Fig. 11 and Tables 2 and 3 to explain why they reached this conclusion.[3]
  12. (e)(vi)Explain why pebbles (bedload) generally become more rounded downstream.[2]
  13. (f)(i)Which one of the following pieces of equipment in the table below could the students use to measure the size of each pebble? Tick (✔) your choice. Equipment Tick (✔) callipers clinometer flowmeter quadrat stopwatch[1]
  14. (f)(ii)Explain how the students would carry out fieldwork to investigate if the size of pebbles varied downstream. Include reference to how the students could make their method reliable.[3]

This question uses a diagram from the original paper, which isn't shown here. Open the full paper from the past papers archive to see it.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2017). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

  1. [1] A: source
  2. [1] B: confluence
  3. [1] Agree methodology on what measurements to take
  4. [1] Find out what doesn't work / change it / avoid mistakes
  5. [1] Practise fieldwork techniques / learn how to do
  6. [1] Test / learn how to use equipment
  7. [1] Experience of working as a team / team organisation
  8. [1] Find out how long to allocate each task
  9. [1] (Width of channel) Stretch tape measure across river / from bank to bank / side to side
  10. [1] (Width of channel) Keep tape measure taut / horizontal / stretched / tight
  11. [1] (Width of channel) Measure perpendicular / at right angles to banks / straight across / directly opposite
  12. [1] (Width of channel) Measure where tape touches the bank
  13. [1] (Depth of river) Rest ruler on river bed / bottom
  14. [1] (Depth of river) Measure vertically / perpendicular to surface
  15. [1] (Depth of river) Measure where water level is / wet part of ruler
  16. [1] (Depth of river) Measure at equal points / 25-30 cm across channel
  17. [1] Completion of cross section and shading (for 0.5 m at 2.9 m)
  18. [1] Completion of cross section and shading (for 0.35 m at 4.2 m)
  19. [1] Site 4
  20. [1] Hypothesis is true / partially true / mainly true / except for – 1 mark reserve (HA)
  21. [1] If true - no credit for anomaly
  22. [1] If partially true – reserve 1 mark for anomaly
  23. [1] Two marks for supporting data – need 2 site numbers and 2 measurements
  24. [1] Wider: 1.2 m at site 1 to 12.4 m at site 5 / increases by 11.2 m (credit any 2 sites)
  25. [1] Deeper: 0.2 m at site 1 to 0.6 m at site 5 / increases by 0.4m (credit any 2 sites)
  26. [1] Anomaly between sites 4 and 5 – depth is 0.9 m at site 4 and 0.6 m at site 5
  27. [1] Classification is subjective / based on student judgement
  28. [1] Classes of pebbles are very similar / hard to distinguish between classes
  29. [1] Pebbles selected may not be typical of the pebbles at that site / bigger than other pebbles / smaller than other pebbles / anomalies / not representative
  30. [1] All pebbles may have been taken from same area of river bed / not across river channel / areas missed out
  31. [1] Not a fair / reliable sample / bias / student preference
  32. [1] (Site 2) Very angular = 9
  33. [1] (Site 2) Angular = 4
  34. [1] (Site 2) Slightly angular = 6
  35. [1] (Site 2) Slightly rounded = 1
  36. [2] (Site 2) 2 marks for dividing lines
  37. [1] (Site 2) 1 mark for shading
  38. [1] (Site 4 values for Table 3) Slightly angular = 12, slightly rounded = 24, rounded = 14, very rounded = 2
  39. [1] Total score decreases from sites 1 / 2 to sites 4/5
  40. [1] Sites 2 / 5 are anomalies – higher score than previous site
  41. [1] Very angular pebbles only found at sites 1 and 2 / not found at sites 3, 4 and 5
  42. [1] Rounded / very rounded pebbles only found at sites 3, 4 and 5 / not found at sites 1 and 2
  43. [1] Credit 2 marks max (not reserve) for paired data based on total scores, e.g. Site 1 = 94 and site 5 = 63 to agree with conclusion
  44. [1] Site 1 = 94 and site 2 = 101 to explain partly true / anomaly
  45. [1] Erosion / pebbles crash into each other / pebbles crash into bed or banks / collide with each other
  46. [1] Attrition
  47. [1] Longer duration of transport / longer time to be eroded / been in river longer / water smooths pebbles as they go downstream
  48. [1] Callipers
  49. [1] Measure long axis / length of pebble
  50. [1] Repeat size measurements to check accuracy / another student checks measuring
  51. [1] Sample / measure several / 2–20 pebbles at each site and calculate average of measurements
  52. [1] Use same sites 1–5 / sites downstream / select new sites / sites equal distance apart
  53. [1] Use systematic sampling / pick pebbles across width of river

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About this question

Topic
The natural environment, O-Level Geography (syllabus 2217). Structured question, 30 marks.
Source
O-Level Geography, May/June 2017 Paper 2 Variant 3, question 7.

Questions and mark schemes are from past examination papers and remain the copyright of the exam board. How Oracle Prep builds its content

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