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LGCSE Geography study materials
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LGCSE Geography practice questions

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Question 1Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which process is the main way a river erodes its bed by lifting loose sediment particles and carrying them away in the current?

  1. Solution
  2. Hydraulic action Correct answer.
  3. Abrasion
  4. Attrition

Explanation

Hydraulic action is the force of flowing water entering cracks and lifting loose material from the bed and banks. Abrasion, attrition and solution describe other erosion mechanisms with different results.

Question 2Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A river drops its load rapidly where it enters a lake. Which feature is most likely to form at that point?

  1. A delta Correct answer.
  2. A waterfall
  3. An oxbow lake
  4. A meander

Explanation

When a river enters standing water its velocity falls sharply, so deposition occurs and sediment builds a delta. Waterfalls and meanders form where flow is active, and oxbow lakes form from cut-off meanders.

Question 3Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which term describes the layer of rock beneath the soil that is permanently saturated with water?

  1. The zone of aeration
  2. The water table Correct answer.
  3. The spring line
  4. The aquifer

Explanation

The water table is the upper surface of the saturated zone, below which all pore spaces are filled with water. The zone of aeration lies above it and contains air as well as water.

Question 4Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which type of plate boundary is associated with the formation of a mid-ocean ridge?

  1. Convergent
  2. Divergent Correct answer.
  3. Passive
  4. Transform

Explanation

At a divergent boundary two plates move apart and magma rises to fill the gap, building new oceanic crust as a ridge. Convergent and transform boundaries involve collision or lateral sliding instead.

Question 5Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which process of mass movement involves the slow, gradual downslope creep of soil that is often revealed by tilted fence posts?

  1. Mudflow
  2. Rockfall
  3. Slumping
  4. Soil creep Correct answer.

Explanation

Soil creep is an extremely slow movement of soil downslope, detectable only through tilted poles and terraces over years. Mudflows, rockfalls and slumping are much faster and more visible.

Question 6Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which feature is produced by glacial erosion on a mountainside?

  1. An esker
  2. A terminal moraine
  3. A corrie Correct answer.
  4. A drumlin

Explanation

A corrie is an armchair-shaped hollow carved by ice on a mountainside, an erosional feature. Drumlins, eskers and moraines are all depositional landforms.

Question 7Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which coastline is most likely to develop a wave-cut platform?

  1. A coast of resistant rock with high-energy waves Correct answer.
  2. A coast built entirely of deposited sand
  3. A coast of soft clay with low-energy waves
  4. A coast sheltered from all wave action

Explanation

Wave-cut platforms form where strong waves erode resistant cliffs, cutting a notch that retreats and leaves a rock platform. Soft or sheltered coasts erode differently and sandy coasts are depositional.

Question 8Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which factor most directly determines the size of material a river can transport as bedload?

  1. The velocity of the river Correct answer.
  2. The depth of the channel
  3. The width of the floodplain
  4. The temperature of the water

Explanation

The competence of a river, meaning the largest particles it can move, rises with velocity because faster water exerts greater force on the bed. Temperature, floodplain width and channel depth are secondary.

Question 9Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A cliff of chalk retreats inland over time. Which sequence best explains this process?

  1. Chemical solution alone removes the whole cliff face evenly
  2. Wave erosion at the base creates a notch, the unsupported cliff collapses, and debris is removed Correct answer.
  3. Wind abrasion gradually sands down the cliff top
  4. Debris is deposited at the base, protecting the cliff from further attack

Explanation

Marine erosion undercuts the cliff base, forming a wave-cut notch; the overhanging rock then collapses and the debris is washed away, so the cliff retreats. Deposition, solution and wind do not drive this cycle.

Question 10Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Why does a meander on the inside of a bend accumulate a point bar?

  1. The water is deeper there, so sediment settles from still water
  2. Velocity is highest there, so coarse gravel is swept into place
  3. Velocity is lower there, so the river's competence falls and sediment is deposited Correct answer.
  4. The bank is made of resistant rock that traps material

Explanation

On the inside of a bend, friction and shallower water reduce velocity, lowering competence so deposition builds a point bar. The outer bank has faster flow and is eroded instead.

Question 11Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which condition most strongly increases the risk of a rapid mass movement on a steep hillside?

  1. A gradual fall in temperature
  2. Heavy rainfall saturating the soil Correct answer.
  3. A slow rise in atmospheric pressure
  4. A period of prolonged drought

Explanation

Saturation by heavy rain adds weight and pore water pressure, reducing friction and making slope failure likely. Drought, cooling and pressure changes do not generally destabilise a slope in this way.

Question 12Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which statement correctly distinguishes a Roche moutonnée from a crag and tail?

  1. A Roche moutonnée is a depositional mound of till, while a crag and tail is purely erosional
  2. A Roche moutonnée forms beneath a river, while a crag and tail forms beneath a glacier
  3. A Roche moutonnée is a single abraded and plucked rock outcrop, while a crag and tail has a resistant rock with a lee-side tail of deposited till Correct answer.
  4. A Roche moutonnée is a ridge of sand and gravel, while a crag and tail is a hollow

Explanation

Both are ice-moulded features, but a Roche moutonnée is a single outcrop smoothed on the stoss side and plucked on the lee side. A crag and tail is a resistant crag protected by a trailing ridge of deposited till.

Question 13Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which combination of processes produces a sea stack?

  1. Hydraulic action and abrasion on a headland, followed by collapse of a natural arch Correct answer.
  2. Wind depositing sand on a beach ridge
  3. Longshore drift depositing sand across a bay mouth
  4. Chemical solution of limestone in a cave

Explanation

A sea stack is a remnant of a headland left when a natural arch collapses after erosion along joints. Longshore drift, limestone solution and wind deposition create different landforms.

Question 14Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

What is the main reason a river's discharge increases downstream even though infiltration may add water along its course?

  1. The catchment area feeding the channel grows as tributaries join Correct answer.
  2. The channel becomes narrower downstream
  3. Evaporation decreases the water lost downstream
  4. The gradient of the channel steepens downstream

Explanation

Discharge rises downstream mainly because more tributaries join, enlarging the catchment that supplies the channel. Gradient generally decreases downstream and channels widen, not narrow.

Question 15Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which feature is characteristic of a limestone karst landscape?

  1. A point bar on a river bend
  2. A wave-cut notch in a cliff
  3. A swallow hole where surface water disappears underground Correct answer.
  4. A drumlin of glacial till

Explanation

Karst landscapes form where soluble limestone is dissolved, producing features such as swallow holes, caves and sinkholes. Drumlins, wave-cut notches and point bars belong to glacial, coastal and fluvial settings.

Question 16Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

An igneous intrusion cuts across horizontal sedimentary layers. What does this relationship show?

  1. The intrusion is older than all the sedimentary layers
  2. The two formed at exactly the same time
  3. The sedimentary layers are younger than the intrusion
  4. The intrusion is younger than the sedimentary layers it cuts Correct answer.

Explanation

The principle of cross-cutting relationships states that a feature cutting across others must be younger than those it cuts. Therefore the intrusion postdates the horizontal layers.

Question 17Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which change would most reduce the rate of coastal erosion along a cliffed coast?

  1. Building a wide beach in front of the cliff Correct answer.
  2. Increasing the frequency of storms
  3. Removing protective rock armour
  4. Steepening the cliff face

Explanation

A wide beach absorbs wave energy before it reaches the cliff, reducing erosion, which is the principle behind beach nourishment. Storms, removal of defences and a steeper face all increase attack.

Question 18Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Why are drumlins often described as having a blunt end and a tapered end?

  1. Ice flowed from the blunt stoss end toward the tapered lee end, moulding till in that direction Correct answer.
  2. Wind shaped the tapered end during periglacial conditions
  3. The tapered end marks the site of a former corrie
  4. Meltwater deposited sand at the blunt end after the ice had gone

Explanation

Drumlins are streamlined subglacial till mounds whose blunt stoss end faces the direction of ice flow and whose tapered lee end points down-ice. This shape records the flow direction of the former glacier.

Question 19Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which statement best explains why waterfalls often retreat upstream over time?

  1. The river's discharge steadily falls, exposing more rock
  2. Erosion of the softer rock beneath the resistant cap rock undercuts it, causing collapse and upstream migration Correct answer.
  3. Wind erosion removes the resistant cap rock from above
  4. Deposition of sediment at the lip builds the fall higher each year

Explanation

Where a resistant cap rock overlies softer rock, splash and turbulence erode the soft layer, forming a plunge pool and undercutting the cap until it collapses; the fall therefore migrates upstream.

Question 20Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A river flows from a mountainous source to the sea. Which downstream change in its long profile is normally expected?

  1. Gradient stays constant while discharge falls
  2. Gradient decreases while bedload particle size increases
  3. Gradient increases and the channel becomes narrower and shallower
  4. Gradient decreases and the channel becomes wider and deeper Correct answer.

Explanation

A river's long profile is concave: steep near the source and gentle near the mouth, with the channel widening and deepening downstream. Bedload generally becomes finer, not coarser, downstream.

Question 21Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which reasoning best explains why a river may deposit its load on the inside of a meander while eroding the outside bank?

  1. Deposition and erosion alternate randomly along the bend
  2. The inner bank has a steeper gradient, so gravity pulls sediment down it
  3. The outer bank has lower velocity, so sediment accumulates there
  4. Helical flow near the bed crosses toward the inner bank, carrying sediment into slower water where it settles Correct answer.

Explanation

Secondary circulation in a meander moves surface water outward and bed water inward; the inward near-bed flow carries sediment to the slower inner bank, where it is deposited while the outer bank is eroded.

Question 22Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which combination of factors most likely produces a large, rapidly advancing glacier?

  1. High snowfall in the accumulation zone and steep, high-gradient bedrock beneath the ice Correct answer.
  2. Low snowfall and a gently sloping, warm valley floor
  3. High ablation and a flat, sheltered lowland
  4. A small catchment and a north-facing, sunlit slope

Explanation

Glacier advance depends on a positive mass balance, so abundant accumulation and a steep gradient that promotes fast flow favour rapid advance. High ablation or limited snowfall produces retreat.

Question 23Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Why does a spring commonly emerge at the boundary between permeable sandstone and impermeable clay?

  1. The boundary creates a vacuum that pulls water to the surface
  2. Water percolating through the sandstone is stopped by the clay, so the water table meets the surface there Correct answer.
  3. The clay absorbs water faster than the sandstone, drawing groundwater upward
  4. Sandstone is impermeable, so water flows along its upper surface

Explanation

Sandstone is permeable and transmits groundwater, whereas clay is impermeable and blocks it. Where the water table intersects the hillside above the clay, water flows out as a spring.

Question 24Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A coastline experiences strong longshore drift from west to east. Which management approach directly interrupts this process and may cause erosion further east?

  1. Beach nourishment along the whole frontage
  2. Dune stabilisation with marram grass
  3. Managed retreat of the cliff line
  4. A groyne built perpendicular to the shore Correct answer.

Explanation

A groyne traps sediment on its up-drift side and starves the coast down-drift, so erosion may increase to the east. Nourishment, managed retreat and dune stabilisation do not block the drift in this way.

Question 25Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which explanation best accounts for the formation of a pyramidal peak in a glaciated mountain area?

  1. A single river cuts vertically into the summit from all directions
  2. Meltwater deposits till in a cone at the summit
  3. Several cirque glaciers erode headward on different sides of a mountain, leaving a sharp peak between them Correct answer.
  4. Wind removes loose rock evenly from the summit

Explanation

Where three or more cirques erode backward around a mountain, the intervening rock is reduced to a sharp, pyramid-shaped peak known as a pyramidal peak or horn. Rivers, wind and deposition do not produce this form.

Question 26Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which process is the main way a river erodes its bed by grinding rock fragments against the channel floor?

  1. Attrition
  2. Abrasion Correct answer.
  3. Solution
  4. Hydraulic action

Explanation

Abrasion is the wearing away of the bed and banks by material carried in the load scraping against them, like sandpaper on rock. It is most effective where the river is fast and carries coarse sediment.

Question 27Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A river with a discharge of 40 m³/s has a cross-sectional area of 20 m². What is its mean velocity?

  1. 800 m/s
  2. 2 m/s Correct answer.
  3. 0.5 m/s
  4. 20 m/s

Explanation

Discharge equals cross-sectional area multiplied by mean velocity, so velocity is discharge divided by area: 40 ÷ 20 = 2 m/s. This relationship explains why narrowing a channel can raise velocity for the same discharge.

Question 28Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which term describes the downslope movement of a saturated mass of soil and rock that rotates along a curved slip plane?

  1. Slump Correct answer.
  2. Soil creep
  3. Rockfall
  4. Mudflow

Explanation

A slump is a rotational slide in which material moves along a concave, curved shear surface, often leaving a stepped scar. Water weakening the slope and adding weight commonly triggers it.

Question 29Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which feature is formed where a tributary valley joins a main glacial trough whose floor has been deepened by ice?

  1. Corrie
  2. Terminal moraine
  3. Ribbon lake
  4. Hanging valley Correct answer.

Explanation

The main glacier erodes its trough far more deeply than the smaller tributary glacier erodes its valley. When the ice melts, the tributary valley floor is left perched above the main trough, often with a waterfall at its mouth.

Question 30Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A permeable sandstone aquifer overlies impermeable clay on a hillside. Which statement best explains why the water table rises above the clay and feeds a spring?

  1. Water percolates through the sandstone until it reaches the clay and moves laterally to the surface Correct answer.
  2. Water flows upward through the clay because clay is more permeable than sandstone
  3. The clay absorbs water faster than the sandstone can transmit it
  4. Rainfall cannot enter the sandstone, so it runs off directly as a spring

Explanation

Percolating water passes through the porous sandstone until it meets the impermeable clay, which it cannot readily pass. Water then accumulates and flows along the boundary, emerging where that boundary meets the hillside surface.

Question 31Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which condition most favours the formation of a spit across a river mouth?

  1. Longshore drift transporting sediment past a change in coastline direction Correct answer.
  2. Waves approaching the shore exactly parallel to the coastline
  3. A sudden fall in sea level exposing offshore bedrock
  4. A strong tidal current flowing directly out of the estuary

Explanation

A spit builds where longshore drift carries sediment along the coast until the coastline turns, so deposition continues across open water. A river mouth or change in direction provides the shelter and loss of transport energy needed for the sediment to accumulate.

Question 32Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which sequence correctly describes the development of a stump from a headland?

  1. Headland, stack, cave, arch, stump
  2. Headland, cave, stack, arch, stump
  3. Headland, arch, cave, stump, stack
  4. Headland, cave, arch, stack, stump Correct answer.

Explanation

Waves exploit a weakness in the headland to form a cave, which may be eroded through to make an arch. When the arch roof collapses it leaves an isolated stack, which is later reduced by erosion to a low stump.

Question 33Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A glacier flows over a resistant rock hill. Which combination of processes produces a roche moutonnée with a gentle up-glacier side and a steep down-glacier side?

  1. Plucking on the up-glacier slope and abrasion on the down-glacier slope
  2. Abrasion smoothing the up-glacier slope and plucking steepening the down-glacier face Correct answer.
  3. Freeze-thaw weathering acting equally on both slopes
  4. Deposition of till on the up-glacier side and meltwater erosion on the down-glacier side

Explanation

Ice moving over the hill presses debris against the up-glacier surface, smoothing it by abrasion. On the lee side, meltwater penetrates joints and refreezes, allowing the ice to pluck blocks away and leave a steep, jagged face.

Question 34Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which change in a river's channel downstream usually increases its efficiency in transporting load?

  1. A reduction in discharge as tributaries join
  2. A decrease in channel width relative to depth combined with a smoother bed Correct answer.
  3. An increase in bed roughness caused by large boulders
  4. A steeper gradient with a narrower, shallower channel

Explanation

Downstream, channels generally become wider and deeper with smoother beds, which reduces friction relative to the wetted perimeter. This raises hydraulic radius and channel efficiency, so the river can carry more load despite a gentler gradient.

Question 35Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which statement best explains why an alluvial fan forms where a steep mountain stream reaches a plain?

  1. The gradient steepens, so the river erodes vertically into bedrock
  2. The river's discharge increases suddenly, so it cuts a deep gorge
  3. The river's velocity falls abruptly, so it deposits its coarse load in a fan shape Correct answer.
  4. The load becomes finer, so it is carried further before settling

Explanation

On leaving the confined valley, the stream spreads out and its gradient and depth decrease, so velocity and competence fall sharply. Coarse sediment is dropped first and spreads radially, building a fan.

Question 36Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Which explanation best accounts for the formation of an oxbow lake?

  1. Erosion on the outer bank and deposition on the inner bank of a meander eventually isolate a loop Correct answer.
  2. A glacier deposits a moraine that dams the main channel
  3. A waterfall retreats upstream until it cuts off a tributary
  4. Tectonic uplift raises a meander above the floodplain

Explanation

Continued lateral erosion on the outer banks narrows the neck of a meander while deposition builds the inner banks. During a flood the river may breach the neck and follow a straighter course, abandoning the loop as an oxbow lake.

Question 37Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A coastal area has weak, unconsolidated cliffs and is exposed to prevailing onshore winds. Which landform is most likely to develop?

  1. A wave-cut notch in granite
  2. A raised beach terrace cut into resistant rock
  3. A geo cut along a fault in basalt
  4. A sandy beach backed by dunes Correct answer.

Explanation

Weak, easily eroded material supplies abundant sediment, and onshore winds move dry sand inland where vegetation traps it to build dunes. Such coasts are dominated by depositional rather than erosional forms.

Question 38Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A cirque glacier and a valley glacier occupy the same mountain. Which reasoning best explains why the valley glacier produces a deeper trough than the cirque produces a bowl?

  1. The cirque glacier flows faster because it is steeper
  2. The valley glacier has a larger mass of ice and longer residence time, so abrasion acts on a confined bed for longer Correct answer.
  3. The valley glacier contains no debris and erodes by hydraulic action
  4. The valley glacier is colder and therefore freezes to its bed more often

Explanation

Erosion depends on the amount of abrasive debris, the pressure of the ice and the duration of contact. A larger valley glacier exerts greater pressure and grinds a confined bed over a longer distance and time, producing deeper erosion than a small cirque glacier.

Question 39Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

A river's long profile shows a convex bulge at its middle course. Which interpretation is most consistent with this profile?

  1. The river has been rejuvenated by a fall in base level
  2. The river has reached a graded profile and is eroding only laterally
  3. The river's discharge is decreasing downstream
  4. The river is flowing over resistant rock, slowing downcutting and steepening the reach above Correct answer.

Explanation

A convex segment indicates a local steepening where downcutting has been slowed, typically by resistant lithology or a knickpoint. The reach upstream steepens because the river cannot lower it as quickly as the softer reaches below.

Question 40Physical Geography: Landforms and Processes

Two adjacent corries on the same mountainside erode headward until their back walls meet. Which resulting feature is most likely, and why?

  1. An arête, because two parallel glacial troughs are separated by a narrow ridge Correct answer.
  2. A hanging valley, because a tributary glacier joins a main trough
  3. A ribbon lake, because the ice over-deepened a straight valley section
  4. A pyramidal peak, because three or more corries erode back to leave a sharp summit

Explanation

Headward erosion by two corries on opposite sides of a ridge steepens and narrows the intervening rock into a sharp crest. Where three or more corries meet, the result is a pyramidal peak rather than a single ridge.

Question 41Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Which instrument is used to measure atmospheric pressure at a weather station?

  1. Rain gauge
  2. Hygrometer
  3. Anemometer
  4. Barometer Correct answer.

Explanation

A barometer measures the pressure exerted by the weight of the atmosphere, usually reported in millibars or hectopascals. Pressure readings are central to identifying highs, lows and frontal systems on synoptic charts.

Question 42Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Air moves from one place to another mainly because of differences in which property between the two places?

  1. Air pressure Correct answer.
  2. Cloud cover
  3. Humidity
  4. Latitude

Explanation

Wind is air flowing from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure, and the steeper the pressure gradient the stronger the wind. Humidity, cloud and latitude influence weather but do not directly drive the pressure-gradient force.

Question 43Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Which type of rainfall occurs when moist air is forced to rise over a mountain range?

  1. Frontal rainfall
  2. Convectional rainfall
  3. Cyclonic rainfall
  4. Orographic rainfall Correct answer.

Explanation

Orographic (relief) rainfall forms when air is forced up a slope, cools, and condenses on the windward side, leaving a drier rain shadow on the leeward side. The key trigger is the physical barrier of high ground.

Question 44Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Which gas is the most abundant in the Earth's atmosphere?

  1. Oxygen
  2. Carbon dioxide
  3. Nitrogen Correct answer.
  4. Water vapour

Explanation

Nitrogen makes up roughly 78 per cent of the atmosphere by volume, with oxygen at about 21 per cent. Carbon dioxide and water vapour are trace gases but are important for the greenhouse effect.

Question 45Weather, Climate and Climate Change

In the Northern Hemisphere, winds around a low-pressure centre blow in which direction?

  1. Clockwise and outward
  2. Anticlockwise and inward Correct answer.
  3. Clockwise and inward
  4. Anticlockwise and outward

Explanation

In the Northern Hemisphere the Coriolis effect deflects moving air to the right, so air spirals anticlockwise into a low and clockwise out of a high. The inward component reflects air flowing toward the lower pressure at the centre.

Question 46Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Which of the following best describes the greenhouse effect?

  1. Volcanic ash blocking sunlight and cooling the surface
  2. Greenhouse gases trapping outgoing long-wave radiation and warming the lower atmosphere Correct answer.
  3. Clouds reflecting incoming solar radiation back into space
  4. Ozone absorbing ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere

Explanation

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour absorb outgoing infrared radiation and re-emit it, warming the troposphere. The effect is about trapping outgoing long-wave energy, not about blocking incoming short-wave energy.

Question 47Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Which factor most strongly explains why coastal locations usually have a smaller annual temperature range than inland locations at the same latitude?

  1. The high specific heat capacity of water moderates coastal temperatures Correct answer.
  2. Coastal areas receive more direct sunlight
  3. Coastal areas experience more volcanic activity
  4. Coastal areas have thinner atmosphere

Explanation

Water heats and cools more slowly than land, so the sea moderates coastal temperatures, giving cooler summers and milder winters. Inland areas lack this moderating influence and therefore show a wider annual range.

Question 48Weather, Climate and Climate Change

A weather station records a temperature of 18 °C at sea level. Using the environmental lapse rate of 6.5 °C per 1000 m, what is the approximate temperature at 2000 m on the same day?

  1. 11.0 °C
  2. 7.5 °C
  3. 13.0 °C
  4. 5.0 °C Correct answer.

Explanation

The lapse rate of 6.5 °C per 1000 m over 2000 m gives a cooling of 13 °C. Subtracting 13 °C from 18 °C gives approximately 5 °C, assuming no other changes in the air mass.

Question 49Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Which sequence correctly describes the passage of a warm front at a surface station?

  1. Temperature rises, pressure rises steadily, strong winds persist for days
  2. Temperature stays constant, pressure is steady, skies remain clear
  3. Temperature rises, pressure falls then rises, rain gives way to clearer, warmer weather Correct answer.
  4. Temperature falls sharply, pressure rises, heavy short showers occur

Explanation

Ahead of a warm front pressure falls and cloud thickens with steady rain; as the front passes, warmer air arrives and pressure begins to rise again, with clearer conditions following. The characteristic signals are a temperature rise and a pressure trough at the frontal passage.

Question 50Weather, Climate and Climate Change

Which human activity is the largest single source of the additional carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere?

  1. Rice cultivation
  2. Burning fossil fuels Correct answer.
  3. Deforestation
  4. Cement manufacture

Explanation

Burning coal, oil and gas for energy releases the greatest share of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Deforestation and cement production also contribute, but fossil fuel combustion dominates global emissions.