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Geography practice questions

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Question 1Maps, statistics, spatial analysis and fieldwork

On a map, the ratio 1:50,000 is an example of which type of scale?

  1. Verbal scale
  2. Graphic (bar) scale
  3. Nominal scale
  4. Representative fraction scale Correct answer.

Explanation

A representative fraction (RF) expresses scale as a ratio such as 1:50,000, meaning one unit on the map equals 50,000 of the same units on the ground. It is unitless, so it works for any measurement system. A verbal scale states the relationship in words, and a graphic scale uses a marked bar.

Question 2Physical geography and earth-surface processes

A deep ocean trench, frequent earthquakes, and a volcanic mountain arc are most characteristic of which plate boundary?

  1. Divergent boundary
  2. Transform boundary
  3. Hotspot far from any boundary
  4. Convergent (subduction) boundary Correct answer.

Explanation

At a convergent boundary where an oceanic plate subducts beneath another plate, a deep trench forms at the subduction line, and melting of the descending slab feeds a volcanic arc. The Andes and the Japanese island arc are examples.

Question 3Climate systems and environmental change

Which statement about the Equator's climate is most accurate?

  1. It experiences four distinct temperate seasons
  2. It is dominated by polar high pressure and aridity
  3. It has the largest annual temperature range on Earth
  4. It receives relatively consistent, high solar energy year-round, producing warm temperatures Correct answer.

Explanation

Near the Equator the Sun's rays strike at a high angle throughout the year, delivering consistently high insolation. This produces warm temperatures with small annual variation; in humid equatorial regions it also produces year-round rainfall and rainforest vegetation.

Question 4Rivers, coasts and catchment water accounting

In a developing river meander bend, where do lateral erosion and sediment deposition predominantly take place?

  1. Erosion on the inner convex bank; Deposition on the outer concave bank
  2. Erosion on the outer concave bank; Deposition on the inner convex bank (slip-off slope) Correct answer.
  3. Erosion across both banks equally; Deposition only on the river bed centre
  4. Deposition along the outer bank; Zero erosion anywhere along the bend

Explanation

In a meander, helicoidal water flow travels fastest on the outside of the bend (outer concave bank), creating lateral erosion and forming a steep river cliff. Water flows slowest on the inside of the bend (inner convex bank), reducing energy and depositing sand/gravel to form a gently sloping slip-off slope (point bar).

Question 5Population, cities, economic location and development

In the demographic transition model, a country with high birth rates and rapidly declining death rates, producing very high population growth, is in which stage?

  1. Stage 1
  2. Stage 4
  3. Stage 5
  4. Stage 2 Correct answer.

Explanation

Stage 2 of the demographic transition model features continued high birth rates but sharply falling death rates due to improvements in food supply, sanitation, and medicine. This gap produces the most rapid natural population increase.

Question 6Resources, environment and sustainability

Overdrawing groundwater from an aquifer faster than it recharges most directly leads to

  1. falling water tables, well failure, and possible land subsidence Correct answer.
  2. rising water tables and flooding
  3. increased rainfall in the region
  4. the formation of new mountains

Explanation

When groundwater is pumped faster than natural recharge, the water table drops, wells can run dry, pumping costs rise, and in some areas the land surface subsides. This is a major sustainability concern for aquifers like the Ogallala.

Question 7Regional comparison and territorial scales

A region develops specialty fruit farming because of unique climate, brand reputation, and transport to cities. This best illustrates:

  1. Using regional comparative advantages Correct answer.
  2. Ignoring all market demand
  3. A purely random land-use choice
  4. The absence of human-environment interaction

Explanation

Regional development often builds on local physical and human advantages. Climate, branding, and market access combine to create a competitive specialty sector.

Question 8Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which plate-boundary type is associated with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

  1. Divergent (constructive) boundary where plates move apart Correct answer.
  2. Convergent boundary where two continental plates collide
  3. Transform boundary where plates slide past each other
  4. Passive continental margin with no plate motion

Explanation

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge forms where plates diverge and new oceanic crust is created by upwelling magma. That constructive process builds a submarine mountain chain along the ridge axis.

Question 9Physical geography and earth-surface processes

What is the primary energy source that drives Earth’s large-scale atmospheric circulation?

  1. Uneven solar heating of the Earth’s surface Correct answer.
  2. Tidal friction from the Moon
  3. Heat released only by volcanic eruptions
  4. Earth’s magnetic field

Explanation

Solar radiation is strongest in low latitudes and weaker toward the poles, creating temperature and pressure gradients. Those gradients power Hadley, Ferrel, and polar cells and the major wind belts.

Question 10Physical geography and earth-surface processes

In the water cycle, which process returns water vapour to the atmosphere from oceans, lakes, and plants?

  1. Evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration) Correct answer.
  2. Infiltration into groundwater only
  3. Condensation of clouds into rain
  4. Surface runoff into rivers

Explanation

Liquid water becomes vapour through evaporation from open water and soil and through transpiration from plants. Together these fluxes are often called evapotranspiration and close the atmospheric side of the cycle.

Question 11Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which landform is typical of past continental glaciation such as that which shaped much of Finland?

  1. U-shaped valleys, drumlins, and widespread till deposits Correct answer.
  2. Extensive sand dunes formed only by tropical winds
  3. Active volcanic cones aligned on a mid-ocean ridge
  4. Coral atolls built on warm-water reefs

Explanation

Continental ice sheets erode and deposit material, producing U-shaped valleys in highlands, streamlined drumlins, eskers, and thick till. Finland’s lake-dotted landscape and moraine features largely record Pleistocene glaciation.

Question 12Physical geography and earth-surface processes

What does the term ‘weathering’ mean in physical geography?

  1. In-situ breakdown of rock by physical, chemical, or biological processes Correct answer.
  2. Long-distance transport of sediment by rivers only
  3. Sudden collapse of a building after an earthquake
  4. Seasonal freezing of soil without any rock change

Explanation

Weathering is the disintegration and decomposition of rock where it sits. Physical processes (frost, unloading), chemical processes (solution, oxidation, hydrolysis), and biological activity all contribute before transport (erosion) moves the debris.

Question 13Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which climate type is characterized by year-round high temperatures and heavy convectional rainfall near the equator?

  1. Tropical rainforest (Af) climate Correct answer.
  2. Hot desert (BWh) climate
  3. Mediterranean (Csa/Csb) climate
  4. Tundra (ET) climate

Explanation

Equatorial low-pressure belts favour deep convection and frequent rain with little seasonal temperature range. Köppen Af climates describe humid tropical rainforest conditions.

Question 14Physical geography and earth-surface processes

What is the main reason temperatures generally decrease with height in the troposphere?

  1. The surface is heated by solar radiation and warms the air from below Correct answer.
  2. Air pressure increases with altitude, cooling the air automatically
  3. The ozone layer absorbs all heat only at ground level
  4. Clouds always form at the surface and cool the upper air

Explanation

Shortwave solar energy is absorbed mainly at the ground and oceans; the surface then emits longwave radiation and heats the lower air. Higher layers are farther from this heat source, so temperature usually falls with altitude in the troposphere (the environmental lapse rate).

Question 15Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which soil-forming factor set is classic in physical geography (CLORPT)?

  1. Climate, organisms, relief (topography), parent material, and time Correct answer.
  2. Only human fertilizer use and irrigation schedules
  3. Latitude alone without any other influence
  4. Ocean tides and magnetic storms only

Explanation

Jenny’s soil-forming factors-climate, organisms (including vegetation and humans), relief, parent material, and time-explain how soils develop differently from place to place.

Question 16Physical geography and earth-surface processes

How do cold ocean currents typically influence adjacent coastal climates?

  1. They cool coastal air and often stabilize the lower atmosphere, reducing rainfall Correct answer.
  2. They always create tropical rainforest climates on every coast
  3. They have no effect on air temperature or precipitation
  4. They force year-round monsoonal flooding inland regardless of latitude

Explanation

Cold currents (for example the Canary or California Current) lower sea-surface temperatures, chill overlying air, and can strengthen stability and coastal aridity or fog. Warm currents have the opposite tendency.

Question 17Physical geography and earth-surface processes

What process creates a waterfall that retreats upstream over time when hard rock overlies softer rock?

  1. Differential erosion and undercutting of the softer rock Correct answer.
  2. Glacial plucking of an entire mountain range at once
  3. Volcanic uplift of the river bed overnight
  4. Deposition of a delta that blocks the river mouth

Explanation

Where resistant caprock protects softer strata below, the soft rock erodes faster, undercutting the hard layer so blocks collapse and the waterfall migrates upstream. Niagara Falls is a classic textbook example of this process.

Question 18Physical geography and earth-surface processes

In atmospheric circulation, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is best described as:

  1. A low-pressure belt near the equator where trade winds meet and air rises Correct answer.
  2. A high-pressure belt at the poles with persistent sinking air only
  3. A mid-latitude jet stream that always stays fixed at 60°N
  4. A cold ocean current that circles Antarctica exclusively

Explanation

The ITCZ is a shifting band of low pressure where northeast and southeast trades converge, promoting rising air, clouds, and heavy rain. It migrates seasonally with the thermal equator.

Question 19Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which statement correctly distinguishes chemical from physical weathering?

  1. Chemical weathering alters the mineral composition of rock; physical weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces without changing composition Correct answer.
  2. Physical weathering always requires acid rain; chemical weathering never involves water
  3. Chemical weathering only occurs below freezing; physical weathering only in deserts
  4. They are identical processes with different names in different languages

Explanation

Physical (mechanical) weathering fragments rock while keeping the same minerals. Chemical weathering transforms minerals through reactions such as hydrolysis, oxidation, carbonation, and solution, often aided by water.

Question 20Physical geography and earth-surface processes

What is the main control on the global distribution of biomes at continental scale?

  1. Climate-especially temperature and moisture regimes-plus local soils and fire Correct answer.
  2. Political borders drawn on maps
  3. Only the presence of major cities
  4. Longitude alone without climate

Explanation

Biomes such as tundra, boreal forest, temperate forest, grassland, desert, and tropical rainforest align primarily with climate patterns. Soil, topography, disturbance (fire, grazing), and human land use refine local boundaries.

Question 21Physical geography and earth-surface processes

How does the Coriolis effect influence large-scale winds and ocean currents?

  1. It deflects moving air and water to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere Correct answer.
  2. It always forces all winds to blow straight from poles to equator
  3. It only operates inside buildings and has no outdoor effect
  4. It reverses day and night cycles twice each year

Explanation

Because Earth rotates, freely moving fluids appear deflected relative to the surface: rightward in the north, leftward in the south. This shapes trade winds, westerlies, and major gyres, though friction and pressure gradients also matter.

Question 22Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which feature is characteristic of a meandering river in a low-gradient floodplain?

  1. Sinuous channel, cut banks on outer bends, point bars on inner bends, and possible oxbow lakes Correct answer.
  2. A perfectly straight bedrock canyon with no sediment bars
  3. Only underground karst flow with no surface channel
  4. A glacial cirque lake with no fluvial process

Explanation

Meanders develop where banks erode on the outer (concave) bend and deposit on the inner (convex) bend. Neck cutoffs leave oxbow lakes. Low-gradient alluvial plains favour this pattern.

Question 23Physical geography and earth-surface processes

What is permafrost?

  1. Ground that remains at or below 0 °C for at least two consecutive years Correct answer.
  2. Any temporary winter snow cover that melts each spring
  3. A floating sea-ice shelf that never contacts land
  4. Molten rock beneath a volcano

Explanation

Permafrost is perennially frozen ground (soil or rock). It underlies large areas of the Arctic and high mountains and strongly affects hydrology, engineering, and carbon storage when it thaws.

Question 24Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which process builds a river delta at a coast?

  1. Deposition of sediment where river velocity drops on entering standing water Correct answer.
  2. Uplift of the entire continental shelf by a single earthquake only
  3. Complete evaporation of the river before it reaches the sea
  4. Glacial abrasion of bedrock into a fjord without sediment

Explanation

When a river enters a lake or sea, flow slows and capacity falls, so suspended and bed load settle. If waves and tides do not remove all sediment, a delta progrades seaward.

Question 25Physical geography and earth-surface processes

In the rock cycle, metamorphic rocks form primarily by:

  1. Recrystallization of existing rock under heat and pressure without complete melting Correct answer.
  2. Cooling of magma at the Earth’s surface only
  3. Compaction of plant remains into coal exclusively
  4. Precipitation of salt when a lake dries

Explanation

Metamorphism transforms solid rock through elevated temperature and pressure (and often fluids), producing new minerals and fabrics. Complete melting would produce magma and then igneous rock on cooling.

Question 26Physical geography and earth-surface processes

What causes the seasons on Earth?

  1. The 23.5° tilt of Earth’s axis relative to its orbital plane, changing solar angle and day length Correct answer.
  2. Earth moving much closer to the Sun in northern summer only
  3. The Moon casting a seasonal shadow on continents
  4. Annual changes in Earth’s total mass

Explanation

Axial tilt means that during a year different hemispheres lean toward the Sun, increasing solar altitude and day length in summer and reducing them in winter. Orbital distance variation (eccentricity) is secondary for seasonal contrast.

Question 27Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which statement best describes a rain shadow?

  1. A drier zone on the leeward side of mountains where air descends and warms adiabatically Correct answer.
  2. A permanently wet zone only on the windward side of every island
  3. An area that never receives any cloud cover for geological reasons
  4. A shadow cast by rainfall on satellite images with no climatic meaning

Explanation

Moist air rises and cools on windward slopes, often producing orographic rain. On the leeward side, descending air warms and relative humidity falls, creating a rain-shadow dry region.

Question 28Physical geography and earth-surface processes

What is the main difference between weather and climate?

  1. Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere; climate is the long-term statistical pattern of weather Correct answer.
  2. Climate changes every hour; weather only changes over centuries
  3. They are synonyms used interchangeably in science
  4. Weather only exists over oceans; climate only over land

Explanation

Weather describes conditions (temperature, precipitation, wind, etc.) over hours to days. Climate summarizes typical conditions and extremes over decades (commonly 30-year normals) for a place or region.

Question 29Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which coastal process is most responsible for longshore drift?

  1. Waves approaching the shore at an angle, moving sediment along the beach in a zigzag path Correct answer.
  2. Rivers depositing all sediment only in deep ocean trenches
  3. Tidal locking of the Moon preventing any wave action
  4. Volcanic ash settling vertically with no lateral transport

Explanation

Oblique waves push swash up the beach at an angle; backwash returns more perpendicular to the shore under gravity. Net sediment transport along the coast is longshore (littoral) drift, building spits and affecting harbours.

Question 30Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Why do tropical cyclones (hurricanes/typhoons) require warm sea-surface temperatures to intensify?

  1. Warm water supplies latent heat through evaporation that fuels deep convection in the storm Correct answer.
  2. Cold water creates stronger pressure gradients than warm water always
  3. They form only over permanently frozen polar seas
  4. They are powered solely by Earth’s magnetic field

Explanation

Evaporation over warm seas loads the air with moisture; condensation in towering clouds releases latent heat that intensifies the low-pressure core. Cool seas cut off this energy source, so storms weaken.

Question 31Physical geography and earth-surface processes

An adiabatic process in the atmosphere means that:

  1. A rising or sinking air parcel cools or warms due to expansion or compression without heat exchange with surroundings Correct answer.
  2. Air temperature changes only because the Sun is blocked by clouds
  3. Moisture content of air is fixed by political borders
  4. Pressure is constant at all heights in the troposphere

Explanation

As a parcel rises, pressure falls and it expands, doing work and cooling (dry or saturated adiabatic lapse rates). Sinking air compresses and warms. These adiabatic changes are central to cloud formation and foehn/chinook winds.

Question 32Physical geography and earth-surface processes

Which combination best explains why continental interiors often have greater annual temperature ranges than maritime coasts at the same latitude?

  1. Lower heat capacity of land, less moderation by ocean moisture and heat storage, and often drier air Correct answer.
  2. Oceans always freeze solid each winter at all latitudes
  3. Continents receive no solar radiation in summer
  4. Maritime climates always sit exactly on the equator

Explanation

Land heats and cools faster than water. Coastal climates are moderated by ocean heat storage and often by moisture, while continental interiors experience hotter summers and colder winters-continentality.

Question 33Population, cities, economic location and development

What does a population pyramid with a wide base and narrow top typically indicate?

  1. A young population with high birth rates and relatively few elderly people Correct answer.
  2. A rapidly ageing population with very low fertility
  3. Zero population and no age structure
  4. Equal numbers in every age group forever

Explanation

A broad base shows many children, typical of high fertility and youthful age structure. Narrow apex shows fewer people surviving to old age or historically high mortality. Such pyramids are common in earlier demographic transition stages.

Question 34Population, cities, economic location and development

In the demographic transition model, Stage 2 is generally characterized by:

  1. High birth rates with rapidly falling death rates, producing fast natural increase Correct answer.
  2. Both birth and death rates already very low and stable
  3. Birth rates far below death rates with permanent population collapse only
  4. No vital rates recorded at all

Explanation

Stage 2 begins when mortality falls (better sanitation, food, medicine) while fertility remains high, so population grows quickly. Later stages see fertility decline and growth slow.

Question 35Population, cities, economic location and development

What is urbanization?

  1. The increasing proportion of a population living in towns and cities, and related lifestyle change Correct answer.
  2. The permanent abandonment of all human settlements
  3. Only the construction of one farm building in a rural field
  4. A decrease in the number of cities worldwide every year

Explanation

Urbanization measures the shift toward urban living and the growth of urban systems. It involves demographic concentration, economic restructuring, and cultural change-not merely a single building.

Question 36Population, cities, economic location and development

Push factors in migration are best defined as:

  1. Negative conditions in the origin area that encourage people to leave Correct answer.
  2. Attractions in the destination that draw migrants in
  3. Laws that completely ban all movement forever
  4. Only airline ticket prices between two cities

Explanation

Push factors (conflict, unemployment, environmental stress, persecution) operate at origin. Pull factors (jobs, safety, education, family networks) operate at destination. Migration decisions combine both plus intervening obstacles.

Question 37Population, cities, economic location and development

Primary economic activities mainly involve:

  1. Extracting or harvesting natural resources such as farming, fishing, forestry, and mining Correct answer.
  2. Only software design and banking services
  3. Retailing finished goods with no resource link
  4. Government legislation as the sole economic sector

Explanation

The primary sector gathers raw materials from nature. Secondary manufacturing transforms them; tertiary and quaternary cover services and knowledge work.

Question 38Population, cities, economic location and development

What is the core idea of central place theory (Christaller)?

  1. Settlements form a hierarchy of market centres providing goods and services over nested market areas Correct answer.
  2. All cities must be exactly the same size with no hierarchy
  3. Rural areas never trade with urban centres
  4. Only capital cities can ever provide any services

Explanation

Christaller’s model relates settlement size, spacing, and the range and threshold of goods. Higher-order centres offer specialized services for larger regions; lower-order places serve everyday needs more locally.

Question 39Population, cities, economic location and development

Which statement best describes the informal economy?

  1. Economic activity that is unregistered or poorly regulated, often lacking social protection Correct answer.
  2. Only multinational corporations listed on stock exchanges
  3. Government statistical agencies themselves
  4. Strictly illegal activity in every case by definition

Explanation

Informal work includes unregistered trade, casual labour, and household enterprises outside full formal regulation. It is not identical to criminal activity, though overlaps can exist; many livelihoods in cities of the Global South are informal.

Question 40Population, cities, economic location and development

Globalization in human geography most often refers to:

  1. Increasing interconnectedness of places through flows of goods, capital, people, information, and culture Correct answer.
  2. The complete isolation of every country from trade
  3. A return to purely local barter with no technology
  4. The physical expansion of Earth’s radius

Explanation

Globalization describes intensifying spatial integration via trade, FDI, migration, digital networks, and cultural exchange. Geographers stress unevenness: some places and groups are highly linked, others marginalized.

Question 41Population, cities, economic location and development

What is a megacity in common geographic usage?

  1. A very large metropolitan agglomeration, often defined as about 10 million or more inhabitants Correct answer.
  2. Any village with a single shop
  3. A city that has abolished all transport systems
  4. Only capital cities of island microstates regardless of size

Explanation

International agencies and textbooks commonly treat megacities as urban agglomerations of roughly 10 million-plus people. Definitions can vary slightly, but the idea is extreme metropolitan scale and complexity.

Question 42Population, cities, economic location and development

Which factor is most associated with suburbanization in many high-income countries after the mid-20th century?

  1. Car-based mobility, housing demand, land availability at urban edges, and planning of residential estates Correct answer.
  2. Mandatory return of all residents to central medieval walls
  3. Complete ban on road construction outside city cores
  4. Immediate collapse of all retail and services

Explanation

Suburban growth reflected rising car ownership, desire for space, mortgage systems, and infrastructure. It restructured commuting, retail (shopping centres), and later sometimes reverse flows (reurbanization).

Question 43Population, cities, economic location and development

The Gini coefficient is used in human geography and development studies to measure:

  1. Income or wealth inequality within a population (0 = perfect equality, 1 = maximum inequality) Correct answer.
  2. Exact latitude of a country’s capital only
  3. Average annual rainfall in millimetres
  4. Number of official languages in a state

Explanation

A Gini of 0 means everyone has the same income; higher values indicate greater inequality. Geographers use it to compare countries and regions and to discuss social justice and development.

Question 44Population, cities, economic location and development

What is counterurbanization?

  1. Net migration from large cities toward smaller towns or rural areas Correct answer.
  2. Unstoppable growth of only the single largest primate city
  3. The creation of the first city in human history
  4. A law requiring everyone to live in capital cities

Explanation

Counterurbanization describes population shifts down the urban hierarchy or into rural areas, often for lifestyle, cost, or remote-work reasons. It contrasts with continuous metropolitan concentration.

Question 45Population, cities, economic location and development

In agricultural geography, intensive farming is characterized by:

  1. High inputs of labour, capital, or technology per unit area to achieve high yields Correct answer.
  2. Very low inputs and vast unused land with minimal management always
  3. Only hunting and gathering with no cultivation
  4. Farming conducted exclusively underwater

Explanation

Intensive systems (e.g., market gardening, high-input cereal systems, some rice paddies) maximize output per hectare. Extensive systems use more land per unit output with lower inputs per hectare (e.g., ranching).

Question 46Population, cities, economic location and development

What does the term ‘core–periphery’ describe in economic geography?

  1. Spatial inequality where dynamic core regions concentrate capital and innovation while peripheral regions are more dependent or less developed Correct answer.
  2. A perfectly equal distribution of wealth in every location
  3. Only the geological core of the Earth
  4. The daily commuting flows of workers between home and workplace

Explanation

Core–periphery models highlight uneven development: cores attract investment, skilled labour, and decision-making power; peripheries may supply resources, migrants, or lower-value activities. Scales range from global to regional.

Question 47Population, cities, economic location and development

Which statement best defines a refugee under common international usage?

  1. A person forced to flee across an international border owing to a well-founded fear of persecution or similar serious threat Correct answer.
  2. Anyone who moves cities for a better job voluntarily
  3. A tourist on a two-week holiday
  4. A student commuting daily within one city

Explanation

Refugees leave their country because of persecution, conflict, or serious harm and seek protection abroad. Economic migrants move mainly for work or opportunity; categories can blur in practice but legal definitions differ.

Question 48Population, cities, economic location and development

What is a primate city?

  1. A city that is disproportionately larger and more dominant than the next cities in a country’s urban system Correct answer.
  2. Any city named after a primate animal species
  3. The smallest settlement in a nation by law
  4. A city that has no political or economic functions

Explanation

Primacy means one city towers over others in population and functions (e.g., classic examples discussed for some countries’ capitals). It implies unbalanced urban hierarchy compared with rank-size expectations.

Question 49Population, cities, economic location and development

Foreign direct investment (FDI) refers to:

  1. Long-term investment by a firm in productive assets or control of enterprises in another country Correct answer.
  2. Only short-term tourist spending on souvenirs
  3. Domestic household grocery shopping
  4. Government printing of local banknotes only

Explanation

FDI involves lasting interest and influence-factories, subsidiaries, joint ventures-across borders. It differs from portfolio investment in tradable securities without managerial control.

Question 50Population, cities, economic location and development

Which process describes the conversion of rural land to urban uses at the city edge?

  1. Urban sprawl or peri-urban expansion Correct answer.
  2. Desertification of the Sahara only
  3. Glacial retreat in Antarctica only
  4. Deep-ocean trench formation

Explanation

Cities expand into surrounding agricultural or natural land through residential, industrial, and infrastructure growth. Sprawl debates concern density, transport, and environmental costs of low-density expansion.