RI H2 GEO P2 DRQ Answers

1 Paper 2 Suggested Points Geographical Investigation 1 (a) With Reference to Resource 1, suggest a suitable hypothesis for this geographical investigation. [1] The infiltration rates of soil in Bishan-AMK park is higher than soil at junction of Tanglin and Grange roads. (b) Describe three potential risks at Site A shown in Resource 2 and explain how each risk could be minimized. [6] Site A is near Kallang river, may have steep or gentle slopes + grass + flora and fauna – wear proper shoes to avoid falling and proper clothing to protect from insect bites etc Low human traffic esp weekdays as most residents around the area may be working, nearest housing about 400m away and park users may bring pets – go in groups and be aware of strangers, inform teachers and park authority Increment weather – check forecast, bring umbrella, hot so must be properly hydrated (c) Explain how you would minimize the impact of your investigation at Sites A and B differently. [4] A is near walking path/ river / trees / park facilities so avoid unnecessary damage to trees and plants and do not vandalise park facilities and B near construction and offices so do not hinder / get into the way of people who need to work (do not block their way or be in way of construction machines / vehicles) Cannot disturb the people / make unnecessary noise – A – park users who are using the parks , B – residents and construction and office workers from the 200m radius doing their daily activities (d) Suggest two limitations of Resource 3 in representing the findings and draw bar graphs to represent the infiltration rates of Sites A and B. Difficulty in seeing the differences in infiltration rates between sites / days (lack of visual comparison) Extra information / unnecessary info meant for calculation and not for audience [5]

2 (e) Evaluate this investigation to ascer tain the flood risks of Sites A and B, and explain how it could be improved and extended. Strengths Choice of 2 distinct sites. Infiltration provides a sense of how different land uses (park vs construction) impact infiltration rates Construction site has a lower infiltration rates of 2.5 while park 4 to 7. Problems and improvements Lack proper sampling method and limited in the number of samples. Make sure infiltrometer is hammered to 5cm and not gently twist . Must watch the water levels in both rings to ensure the water will not flow sideways. Must twist ring deep enough so that water will not leak out [9] 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Site A Site B Infiltration Rates (mm/min) Day 1 Day 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Day 1 Day 2 Infiltration Rates (mm/min) Site A Site B

3 Theme 1: Tropical Environments Plantations in Pahang Extension More sites/ temporal aspects – effects of wind direction on rain so must use rain gauge etc for pluvial rain esp for Site B + coupled with discharge for Site A. 2 Pahang is a state in Peninsular Malaysia. Two-thirds of Pahang’s land is forested and 12.8% of the total land area is used for plantation agriculture. Resource 4 is a climograph of Pahang. Resource 5 shows the vegetation structure, soil profile and mean biomass of a typical forest in Pahang. Resource 6 is the water budget of entire Pahang. Resource 7 is a photograph of a tea plantation in a forest of Pahang. (a) Identify the climatic zone of Pahang according to Köppen–Geiger climate classification system. Support your answer with data from Resource 4. [4] Af High r/f throughout the year + evidence (lowest 79mm in Sept and highest 97mm in Jan) generally Consistently high temp + low range (2 deg C) + evidence (26-28 deg C) (b) Describe the vegetation structure and mean biomass of a typical forest in Pahang as shown in Resource 5. [3] Tall and dense vegetation structure Presence of emergent and continuous canopies and limited vegetation at the lower level. Mean biomass of 1100 tonnes per hectare (c) With the help of Resources 5 and 6, suggest the possible processes that result in the soil profile of a typical forest in Pahang. [6] O - Thin humus in R5 due to rapid decomposition as seen in high precipitation and temp (implied by rather high potential evapotranspiration) in R6 and organic matter from plants in R5. A/B - R6 – precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration in all months. Laterisation / leaching with repeated wetting and drying by frequent thunderstorms leading to profile with insoluble and high iron content in R5. The high levels of precipitation given in R6 means that soil water movement is predominantly downward creating intense leaching which explains the red colour of the soil and high aluminium content as seen in R5. C/R - Deep weathering of parent material in R5 bec of chemical weathering bec high temp and precipitation in R6. The soils are intensely weathered,

4 3a) more in the East (quote some ‘stats’) None in the West hence the great depth of weathered material (regolith), but they supply relatively few nutrients to the vegetation. (d) With reference to Resource 7, explain how the landscape was changed to develop a plantation. [4] Terracing Construction of roads Land clearance (e) Using Resources 4, 6 and 7, explain why occurrence of mass movements is a major concern of plantation owners in Pahang. Support your response with information from the resources. R4 – Heavy, and occasionally continuous, rainfall throughout the year in Pahang can add weight to slope material (increasing shear stress) and create lubrication (decreasing shear strength) on the slope, leading to landslides. R6 – precipitation is higher than evapotranspiration, therefore vast water surpluses throughout the year and there is no water deficit in Pahang. With the abundance of water, mass movements are easily triggered because of an increase in shear stress or a reduction in shear strength. Water encourages mass movement by simultaneously increasing the former while decreasing the latter. Owners are concerned because mass movements are easily triggered due to the presence of water all year round in Pahang. Outcomes will be loss of crops (ec), properties and machineries (ec) and endangered the lives of the people at the plantation (sc). Owners need to be alert to weather changes and mitigate accordingly. Plentiful rainfall and warm temperatures (R5) are conducive to high levels of vegetation growth in Pahang. If deforestation has taken place (R7), the shear strength of slopes will be reduced because of the removal of the binding properties of the roots, and also exposes the soil to the direct impact of the torrential downpours (R5). However, vegetation in form of crops (tea in R7) may also add weight to slopes, increasing shear stress. Owners are concerned as vegetation can work both ways. They must be aware of the effects of clearing of trees and well as problems of intensive cultivation. R7 – Areas of high relief with steep slopes in R7 may experience flows and landslides most frequently, especially when combined with other contributing factors. [8]

5 Exception is Oil in Matadi b) Yes somewhat. West is the Core with high level of resource extraction East is the periphery with little activities in resource extraction However, Res 8 does not show the economic value of those activities eg. No. of jobs, wages levels, value of production output development includes more than just resource extraction/ mining activities. Others like manufacturing. Usually measured by economic indicators eg GDPpp, average income c) Negative: econ