Physical Geography: Earth Structure, Plate Tectonics, Rocks and Landforms
What this domain tests
This domain examines the Earth's layered structure, plate-tectonic processes, the rock cycle and the landforms produced by internal and external forces. Questions often ask you to link a process to a named feature and to explain, not just label.
Core rules and concepts
- Earth has a solid inner core, liquid outer core, mantle and crust; the lithosphere includes the crust and upper mantle and is broken into plates.
- Divergent boundaries create rift valleys and mid-ocean ridges; convergent boundaries produce fold mountains, ocean trenches and volcanic arcs; transform boundaries produce faults and earthquakes.
- Rock types: igneous (crystallised magma/lava), sedimentary (layered, often fossil-bearing), metamorphic (heat/pressure-altered). The rock cycle links them.
- Weathering, erosion, transport and deposition shape landforms such as valleys, deltas and beaches.
Worked example
A question asks why fold mountains occur at a convergent boundary between two continental plates. Reasoning: both plates are low-density continental crust, so neither subducts easily; collision compresses and buckles sedimentary layers into folds, thickening the crust and raising mountains. The Himalaya are a useful example. The answer should name the boundary, the process and the resulting feature; saying only that plates collide is too vague.
Traps
Do not confuse the mantle with the lithosphere. Do not say magma comes from the core. Do not treat weathering and erosion as identical: weathering breaks rock in place; erosion removes it. In rock-cycle answers, name the process (cooling, compaction, metamorphism) rather than only the rock type.