Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696): Topic 8 – Coastal environments – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers from your board or school.

These questions cover Topic 8, Coastal environments (sections 8.1 to 8.4), of the Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026. The topic is assessed in Paper 3, Advanced Physical Geography Options, where you answer on two of the four options; each option has a 10-mark structured question and a choice of two 20-mark essays. All places and data in the questions are fictional unless a question asks you to use your own case study.

Revise first with the study guide and revision notes. For more physical geography practice, try the AS physical geography practice set. Track your progress on the Cambridge A Level Geography hub and checklist.

Questions

1. Define the term “fetch”. [2]

2. Explain the difference between cavitation and hydraulic action. [3]

3. Outline how two different sub-aerial processes contribute to cliff retreat. [4]

4. The table shows cliff-top retreat at five survey posts on the fictional Brenmouth coast, listed from north to south. The cliffs at posts A to D are glacial till; post E is on a sandstone headland. Rock groynes and a revetment were built at post B in 2012. The dominant longshore drift is from north to south.

Post	Distance from cliff top to fixed marker, 2010 (m)	Distance, 2025 (m)
A	42.0	15.0
B	38.0	36.5
C	50.0	8.0
D	45.0	16.5
E	30.0	28.5

(a) Calculate the mean annual rate of cliff retreat at post C between 2010 and 2025. Show your working. [2] (b) Describe the pattern of retreat shown in the table. [3] (c) Suggest reasons for the differences in retreat between the posts. [5]

5. A student measured pebbles at six sites, 1 km apart, along the fictional Carrow Bay beach from west to east. Waves mostly approach from the south-west.

Site	1	2	3	4	5	6
Mean long axis (mm)	62	51	44	37	30	24
Mean roundness (1 = very angular, 6 = very rounded)	2.8	3.1	3.6	4.0	4.4	4.9

(a) Calculate the percentage decrease in mean long axis from site 1 to site 6. [2] (b) Explain the changes in pebble size and roundness along the beach. [4]

6. Explain the formation of a compound spit. You may use a labelled diagram. [5]

7. This question is about the distribution of coral reefs.

(a) Outline four conditions needed for the growth of reef-building corals. [4] (b) Suggest why coral reefs are rare along the western coasts of continents in the tropics. [2]

8. The table shows live coral cover at four sites on the fictional Lirau Reef. All four sites had the same peak sea surface temperature anomaly (+1.6°C) during a marine heatwave in 2022.

Site	Description	Coral cover 2019 (%)	Coral cover 2024 (%)
1	Near a river mouth draining farmland	38	22
2	Tourist boat anchorage	45	30
3	No-take marine reserve	52	47
4	Outer reef, deep water nearby	60	51

(a) Calculate the percentage change in coral cover at site 1 between 2019 and 2024. [2] (b) Suggest why coral loss differed between the sites even though heat stress was the same. [4]

9. Explain how changes in relative sea level can produce rias and raised beaches. [6]

10. “Most coastal landforms are the result of past conditions rather than present-day processes.” How far do you agree? [20]

11. With reference to examples, evaluate the view that global warming is now a greater threat to coral reefs than local human activity. [20]

Answers

1. The distance of open water [1] over which the wind blows to generate waves [1]. [2] Examiner insight: “The length of the sea” does not score; you need the idea of wind blowing across uninterrupted water.

2. Hydraulic action is the force of water, and air compressed by breaking waves, in joints and cracks [1]. Cavitation is the collapse of air bubbles in the water [1], which releases small shock waves that weaken the rock surface [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Many answers describe both as “air in cracks”; the bubble-collapse mechanism is what earns the cavitation marks.

3. Weathering, such as salt crystallisation or wetting and drying, weakens and loosens rock on the cliff face [1], so it is more easily removed [1]. Mass movement, such as rotational slumping in saturated clay, moves material down to the cliff foot [1], where waves can remove it and the cliff top retreats [1]. [4] Examiner insight: “Outline how” needs the effect on retreat for each process, not just a named process.

4. (a) 50.0 - 8.0 = 42.0 m over 15 years [1]; 42.0 / 15 = 2.8 m per year [1]. [2] (b) Retreat is greatest at post C (42.0 m) [1]. Posts A and D retreat by similar, large amounts (27.0 m and 28.5 m) [1]. Posts B and E retreat very little (1.5 m each) [1]. [3] (c) Post B is protected, so the groynes and revetment absorb wave energy [1]. Post C lies just south of the groynes, so sediment moving south is trapped and its beach is starved, leaving the cliff foot exposed [1]. Posts A to D are weak glacial till, which slumps and is easily eroded [1], whereas the sandstone at E is more resistant [1]. E may also be a headland where the cliff foot is protected by a rock platform or by debris that is removed more slowly [1]. [5] Examiner insight: Top answers use the data and context together: the groyne location and drift direction explain post C, which is the key anomaly.

5. (a) (62 - 24) / 62 x 100 [1] = 61.3% decrease [1]. [2] (b) Pebbles get smaller and rounder from west to east [1]. Waves from the south-west drive longshore drift eastwards [1], so pebbles further east have travelled further [1]. Attrition during transport knocks off corners and reduces their size [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Link the wave direction given in the stem to the drift direction; a general account of attrition alone caps the answer.

6. Longshore drift moves sediment along the coast [1]. Where the coastline changes direction, for example at an estuary, deposition continues out into open water [1]. Waves refracting round the end, or a change in wind and wave direction, curve the tip into a recurve [1]. As the spit grows, new recurves form and older ones are left along the landward side, giving a compound spit [1]. Sheltered water behind the spit allows mud to settle and saltmarsh to form [1]. [5] Examiner insight: “Compound” must be explained; a description of a simple spit with one hook stops at about three marks.

7. (a) Warm water, typically 23-29°C [1]; shallow water, mostly within roughly the top 30 m, so light reaches the zooxanthellae for photosynthesis [1]; clear water with little sediment [1]; normal sea salinity [1]. Also credit wave action to bring oxygen and food, or only brief exposure to air at low tide, in place of any of these. [4] (b) Cold ocean currents [1] and upwelling of cold deep water lower sea temperatures below what corals need [1]. [2] Examiner insight: For (a), give a value or reason with each condition; a bare list such as “warm, shallow, clear” earns less.

8. (a) (22 - 38) / 38 x 100 [1] = -42.1%, a decrease of about 42% [1]. [2] (b) Site 1 receives sediment that cuts light and nutrients that encourage algae, adding stress to heat-stressed corals [1]. At site 2, anchors and boat traffic break coral physically, so recovery is slower [1]. Site 3 is protected from fishing and damage, so healthy fish populations graze algae and the reef recovers faster [1]. Site 4 may be cooled by deeper water mixing, and is far from land-based pollution [1]. [4] Examiner insight: “Suggest” rewards reasons tied to each site’s description; repeating “global warming” for every site earns nothing, since heat stress was the same.

9. A rise in sea level relative to the land, for example eustatic rise after the last glaciation, floods the lower parts of river valleys [1]. This produces a ria: a drowned river valley with a winding plan and a depth that decreases inland [1]. A raised beach forms where the land rises relative to the sea [1], for example through isostatic rebound after the weight of an ice sheet is removed [1]. The former beach and wave-cut platform are left above the reach of present waves [1], often backed by a relict cliff [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Name the type of sea level change (eustatic or isostatic) for each landform; vague “sea level changed” answers rarely reach full marks.

10. The real exam marks this essay with levels of response, not point by point. The points below are indicative creditworthy content.

Introduction: define past conditions (earlier sea levels, glacial sediment supply) and present processes (waves, tides, drift, sub-aerial processes) [1]. Set out the scale argument: small landforms change fast, large ones reflect long timescales [1].

Agree: raised beaches and relict cliffs formed at earlier, higher relative sea levels and are no longer shaped by waves [1]. Rias and fjords are drowned valleys formed by post-glacial sea-level rise [1]. Many shingle ridges were built from sediment pushed onshore as the sea rose after the last glaciation [1]. That supply has largely ended, so these beaches now lose material [1]. Glacial till cliffs, such as at Holderness, exist because of past glaciation [1].

Disagree: beach profiles change with each storm and calm spell [1]. Swash and backwash rebuild berms in days or weeks [1]. Longshore drift still feeds spits; Spurn Head is built from sediment eroded from Holderness today [1]. Embryo dunes form and change each year as sand blows inland [1]. Cliffs, arches and stacks continue to change through present erosion and mass movement [1]. Saltmarshes and mangroves grow as they trap present-day sediment [1].

Interaction: most landforms are present processes acting on a form inherited from the past [1]. For example, present waves rework older sediment stores [1]. Human activity now changes processes too, as at Mappleton, where groynes have changed sediment supply [1].

Judgement: large-scale forms (rias, fjords, raised beaches, many barrier beaches) are mainly inherited [1]. Small-scale forms (beach profiles, dunes, spit tips) are mainly present-day [1]. The statement is partly true and depends on scale and time [1]. A reasoned final view that weighs both sides [1]. [20] Examiner insight: High-level answers vary their judgement by landform and scale, and use at least one real named example for each side.

11. The real exam marks this essay with levels of response, not point by point. The points below are indicative creditworthy content.

Introduction: define global warming as a global, long-term rise in sea temperature [1], and local human activity as pollution and physical damage at a reef [1].

Global warming as the greater threat: water above the usual summer maximum makes corals expel zooxanthellae, causing bleaching [1]. Mass bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef include those of 1998, 2002, 2016, 2017, 2022 and 2024 [1]. Bleaching affects remote reefs far from any local source of pollution [1]. Ocean acidification from dissolved carbon dioxide slows skeleton growth [1]. Faster sea-level rise may outpace reefs that are already stressed [1]. No local plan can stop a marine heatwave [1].

Local activity as the greater threat: farm runoff adds nutrients that feed algae, and sediment cuts out light [1]. Anchors, trampling and blast fishing physically break corals [1]. Overfishing removes grazers that keep algae in check [1]. These pressures act every day, while heatwaves are intermittent [1].

Interaction: local stress lowers resilience, so polluted or damaged reefs recover more slowly after bleaching [1]. Management such as the 2004 Great Barrier Reef rezoning, which raised no-take zones from 4.6% to 33.3% of the park, reduces local pressure [1]. But bleaching has continued since the rezoning [1], which suggests that local management alone cannot protect reefs [1].

Judgement: at a global scale, warming is the greater threat because it affects every reef [1]. At a local scale, a heavily polluted reef may be lost to runoff first [1]. The two threats combine, so the most effective strategy reduces both [1]. A clear final answer to “how far” [1]. [20] Examiner insight: Evaluation needs specific evidence on both sides and a judgement on scale; a list of threats with no weighing stays in the lower levels.

Where marks are usually lost

• Calculations with no working shown, or with the wrong time period used.
• Describing the pattern in a table without quoting figures.
• Ignoring the context given in a stem, such as drift direction or the position of defences.
• Naming erosion processes with no description of how each works.
• Writing “global warming” as the answer to every coral question.
• Spit and tombolo answers without a sequence of formation.
• Essays that list points without weighing them or reaching a judgement.
• Case study references with no place, date or scheme named.

Next steps

• Check gaps in your knowledge with our free diagnostics.
• Go back to the study guide for any question you found hard.
• Read the exam preparation guide for timing advice.
• Book a free trial class with a Marlbridge geography teacher.

Official syllabus

Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026 (Version 1, published September 2022), topic 8 Coastal environments, sections 8.1-8.4, assessed in Paper 3 Advanced Physical Geography Options.