Cambridge International A Level Geography (9696): Topic 9 – Hazardous 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 9, Hazardous environments (sections 9.1-9.4), of the Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026. The syllabus places this option in Paper 3, Advanced Physical Geography Options, where each option has a compulsory 10-mark structured question and a choice of one from two 20-mark essays. All places and data in Questions 4, 5, 6 and 10 are fictional.

Revise first with the study guide for this unit and the revision notes for this unit. The 9696 geography hub and the 9696 checklist show where this option fits. For plate-margin questions from Paper 1, use the Core Physical Geography practice questions.

Questions

1. Define soil liquefaction. [2]

2. State three conditions needed for a tropical cyclone to form. [3]

3. Outline two differences between a lahar and a pyroclastic flow. [4]

4. Mount Orvane is a volcano on the fictional island of Telmar. The table shows monitoring data over five weeks.

Week	Mean earthquakes per day	Sulphur dioxide emission (tonnes per day)	Uplift of north flank since week 1 (mm)
1	4	150	0
2	9	320	12
3	22	870	41
4	37	1,940	96
5	15	450	101

(a) Describe the changes shown in the data. [4] (b) Suggest why scientists might keep the alert level high in week 5. [4]

5. Hollin Vale is a fictional hill town. The table shows 120 days of monsoon rainfall records.

24-hour rainfall (mm)	Number of days	Days with at least one landslide
0-49	64	1
50-99	31	3
100-149	16	6
150 or more	9	7

(a) Calculate the percentage of days with 150 mm or more of rain on which a landslide occurred. Show your working. [2] (b) Using the data, suggest a rainfall threshold for issuing landslide warnings and explain one limitation of it. [4]

6. Velora is a fictional low-lying coastal state. The table shows four tropical cyclones that struck it.

Year	Maximum sustained wind (km/h)	Storm surge (m)	People in shelters	Deaths
1988	225	5.0	40,000	52,000
1999	230	4.8	310,000	9,400
2011	240	5.3	1,150,000	1,100
2022	235	4.9	2,300,000	210

(a) Calculate the percentage decrease in deaths between 1988 and 2022. [2] (b) Using the data, suggest reasons why deaths fell although the cyclones were of similar strength. [4]

7. Explain how a tornado forms. [4]

8. Explain how a tropical cyclone produces a storm surge. [4]

9. Suggest why many people continue to live close to active volcanoes. [6]

10. Read the description of Tarrin, a fictional village.

Tarrin’s houses stand on slopes of about 35° cut into deeply weathered granite. Forest above the village was cleared ten years ago for tea gardens. A new road was cut across the foot of the slope last year. Most of the 2,400 mm of annual rain falls in four monsoon months. Household waste water drains into the ground behind the houses. Two small slides have blocked the road since it opened.

(a) Using the description, identify two physical and two human factors that increase the risk of mass movement in Tarrin. [4] (b) Explain how hazard mapping and monitoring could reduce the risk to people in Tarrin. [6]

11. “Atmospheric hazards are now easier to manage than tectonic hazards.” How far do you agree? [20]

12. “Saving lives is not the same as managing a hazardous environment sustainably.” With reference to a hazardous environment you have studied, how far do you agree? [20]

Answers

Questions 11 and 12 are essays. The real exam marks essays with levels of response, not point by point; the [1]s below show indicative creditworthy points.

1. Saturated sand or silt loses its strength during earthquake shaking [1] because pore-water pressure rises and grains lose contact, so the ground behaves like a liquid [1]. [2] Examiner insight: “Define” needs both the material (saturated sediment) and the process; “the ground turns to liquid” alone earns one mark at most.

2. Sea surface temperature of at least 26.5 °C to a depth of about 50 m [1]. At least about 5° from the equator, so the Coriolis force can start rotation [1]. Low vertical wind shear [1]. [3] Examiner insight: “warm sea” without a figure is vague; one precise condition beats three loose ones.

3. A lahar is a mudflow of volcanic ash and water [1], whereas a pyroclastic flow is a current of hot gas, ash and rock [1]. Lahars can happen years after an eruption when heavy rain remobilises ash [1], whereas pyroclastic flows happen during the eruption itself [1]. [4] Examiner insight: each difference must state both sides; describing only the lahar earns half the marks.

4. (a) Earthquakes rose from 4 to 37 per day by week 4 [1]. Sulphur dioxide rose about thirteen-fold, from 150 to 1,940 tonnes per day [1]. Uplift increased steadily to 96 mm by week 4 [1]. In week 5 earthquakes fell to 15 and sulphur dioxide fell by about 77%, but uplift continued to 101 mm [1]. [4] (b) Continuing uplift shows magma is still accumulating beneath the volcano [1]. Falling gas output may mean the vent has become blocked, trapping gas [1], so pressure could be building towards an explosive eruption [1]. One week of lower readings is too short to show a trend, and lowering then raising the alert again would damage public trust [1]. [4] Examiner insight: in (a), quote figures from the table and spot the break in the pattern in week 5; in (b), link each suggestion to what it means for eruption risk.

5. (a) 7 / 9 x 100 [1] = 77.8% [1]. [2] (b) A threshold of 100 mm in 24 hours [1]. On days with 100 mm or more, 13 of the 17 landslide days would have been warned of, about 76% [1]. A limitation is that 12 of the 25 warning days would have had no landslide, so false alarms could cause people to ignore warnings [1]. Four landslide days fell below the threshold, perhaps because rain over earlier days had already saturated the ground, which a single-day threshold ignores [1]. [4] Examiner insight: “Using the data” means your threshold must be justified with numbers from the table, not just stated.

6. (a) (52,000 - 210) / 52,000 x 100 [1] = 99.6% decrease [1]. [2] (b) Wind speeds (225-240 km/h) and surges (4.8-5.3 m) were similar, so the hazard itself did not weaken [1]. People in shelters rose from 40,000 to 2.3 million, over 57 times as many [1], suggesting more shelters were built and evacuation became more effective [1]. Better warnings and public awareness may also explain the fall, although the table does not show them directly [1]. [4] Examiner insight: say what the data show and what they do not; a suggested reason beyond the table is credited only if it is reasonable and flagged as such.

7. Tornadoes mostly form in supercell thunderstorms where warm, moist air lies under drier air, making the atmosphere unstable [1]. Winds that change speed and direction with height create a horizontal rolling motion [1]. A strong updraught tilts this rotation upright to form a rotating mesocyclone [1]. A rear-flank downdraught can then stretch the rotation down to the ground as a tornado [1]. [4] Examiner insight: answers that describe tornadoes forming over warm oceans have confused them with tropical cyclones and score little.

8. Very low pressure at the centre lets the sea surface rise beneath the storm [1]. Strong onshore winds push this water towards the coast [1]. A shallow, gently sloping sea bed or a narrowing bay concentrates the water so it piles higher [1]. If the surge arrives at high tide, the water level rises further and floods low-lying land quickly [1]. [4] Examiner insight: name both causes of the surge, low pressure and wind, before explaining what makes it worse.

9. Volcanic soils are often very fertile [1], so farmers can grow more crops than elsewhere and support their families [1]. Volcanoes provide jobs in tourism, mining or geothermal energy [1], which tie people to the area economically [1]. Eruptions may be decades apart, so people perceive the risk as low or trust monitoring to warn them [1]. Poorer households may have no money or land to move elsewhere [1]. [6] Examiner insight: “Suggest” rewards developed reasons; three reasons each with a consequence beat six one-word reasons.

10. (a) Physical: slopes of about 35° [1]; deeply weathered granite and heavy monsoon rain [1]. Human: forest clearance for tea gardens removes roots that bind soil [1]; the road cut at the foot of the slope removes support [1]. [4] (b) A hazard map could combine slope angle, weathered rock and the two past slides to zone land [1], so no new houses are built in the highest-risk zones [1]. It could also show safe evacuation routes away from the road and lower slope [1]. Rain gauges could trigger warnings when rainfall passes a threshold [1]. Inclinometers or GPS could detect slow movement before a slide [1], giving time to evacuate families [1]. [6] Examiner insight: in (b), tie each method to Tarrin’s details; a general list of monitoring tools earns fewer marks.

11. Indicative content:

• Define atmospheric and tectonic hazards and say that “manage” includes prediction, preparedness and response [1].
• Tropical cyclones can be tracked by satellite days ahead [1], allowing evacuation, as in Bangladesh, where about 2 million people went to shelters for Cyclone Sidr in 2007 [1].
• Cyclone deaths in Bangladesh fell from 300,000-500,000 in 1970 to at least 3,447 in 2007 [1].
• Earthquakes cannot be predicted to a precise time [1], so management relies on building codes and land-use planning [1].
• Tohoku in 2011 overwhelmed a well-prepared country, with 19,759 deaths [1].
• But some tectonic hazards can be managed well: monitoring at Pinatubo in 1991 allowed about 60,000 people to evacuate [1].
• Japan’s early-warning system gave about a minute’s warning before strong shaking reached Tokyo [1].
• Not all atmospheric hazards are easy to manage: tornadoes give only minutes of warning [1], and at Joplin in 2011, 158 people died despite a 17-minute warning [1].
• Typhoon Haiyan killed about 6,300 people in 2013 despite forecasts [1], showing that a storm surge can overwhelm poorly protected coasts [1].
• Cyclone Idai’s flooding and cholera show that secondary impacts are hard to manage [1].
• Management depends on wealth, governance and communication as much as on the hazard type [1], as Armero’s unclear hazard map shows [1].
• Atmospheric hazards are seasonal and frequent, so people gain experience and preparedness [1].
• Judgement: large-scale atmospheric hazards are generally easier to predict [1], but small-scale ones and secondary impacts are not [1].
• Conclusion: agree to a large extent for cyclone deaths, but not for economic losses or for tornadoes [1]. [20] Examiner insight: top-level answers compare the two hazard types directly in each paragraph rather than writing two separate halves.

12. Indicative content (coastal Bangladesh):

• Introduce the environment: low, flat delta land, high population density and frequent cyclones [1].
• Define sustainable management: meeting present needs without harming future ones, socially, economically and environmentally [1].
• Problem: storm surges flood low-lying land [1]; poverty limits strong housing or moving away [1].
• The Cyclone Preparedness Programme, set up in the early 1970s, spreads warnings through volunteers [1].
• Cyclone shelters: about 2 million people evacuated before Sidr in 2007 [1].
• Evidence of success: deaths fell from about 138,000 in 1991 to at least 3,447 in Sidr [1].
• Limitation: some officials described Sidr’s damage as worse than in 1991, so economic losses stayed high [1].
• Polders and embankments, 139 built from the 1960s, protect farmland from tidal flooding and salt water [1].
• But embankments are costly to maintain [1] and can be overtopped or breached by a large surge [1].
• The Sundarbans mangroves are a natural buffer against surges [1].
• Conflict of interest: shrimp farmers profit from clearing mangroves that protect others [1].
• Sea-level rise and increasing salinity threaten long-term sustainability [1].
• Viewpoints: governments value engineering; local people value livelihoods; conservationists value mangroves [1].
• Possible solution: combining warnings, shelters, protected mangroves and land-use control [1].
• Evaluation: social success is clear [1]; economic and environmental success is limited [1].
• Judgement: partly successful, with lives saved but livelihoods still at risk [1].
• Conclusion links back to the case study and the question [1]. [20] Examiner insight: evaluation needs criteria; judge success against lives, livelihoods and the environment, not just “it worked”.

Where marks are usually lost

• Data questions answered without quoting figures from the table.
• Calculations with no working shown, or a percentage given without its unit.
• Lahars, pyroclastic flows and nuées ardentes used as if they were the same thing.
• Tornado formation explained using tropical cyclone processes.
• Storm surge put down to wind alone, with no mention of low pressure.
• Mass movement answers that list causes without linking them to shear stress and shear strength.
• Essays with case-study detail but no judgement on “how far” or “evaluate”.
• A sustainable management answer that describes measures but never weighs them against each other.

Next steps

Go back to any weak areas in the study guide, then check your progress with the Marlbridge diagnostics. Plan your Paper 3 timing with preparing for the staged four-paper route. If you would like a teacher to go through your answers, Book a free trial class.

Official syllabus

These questions follow the Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, topic 9, sections 9.1-9.4. Your teacher will confirm which two Paper 3 options you will answer.