PRINCETON ACADEMY

‘o’ level geography exam topics

LAND FORMS SUDIES

Internal Structures of the Earth

The earth’s crust is made up of three main layers these are :

 Crust
 Mantle
 Core

Crust /Lithosphere
 Is made up to continental crust and oceanic crust
 Continental crust is made up of silica and aluminium [SIAL]
 Oceanic crust is made up of silica and magnesium [SIMA]

Mantle / mesosphere

Is made up of molten magma. the magma is under convectional currency as result of heat generated by
radio-active atoms

Core

Is made up of nickel [Ni,] and iron [Fe] [NiFe]

 Liner core is liquid, plastic or semi-liquid [molten] and outer core is solid due to pressure
operating on it.

THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

 It refers to the movement of continental

 The continental drift theory was suggested.by Alfred Wagner he suggested hat: about millions of
years ago of the continent was a single block known as Pangea and it was surrounded by water
known as Panthalassa. Pangea was drifted apart into two main blocks; that is the northern block
known as Laurasia and the southern block known as Guadiana land. Both Laurasia and
Gondwanaland were drifted apart there forming oceans and continents that we have today.

BVIDENCE OF THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEOFY

 The jig saw fitness between continents for example the south America and Africa
 Similarities in geology
 Paleo-magnetism evidence.

Plate
 Is a large block of earth’s crust that lies on mantle; it can oceanic or continental.

Example of plates is
 Northern America plate, southern America plate, African plate, Australia plate, Eurasian plate,
Arabian plate, Pacific plate, Antarctic plate, Atlantic plate etc.

Plate tectonic
 Is the movement of plates from one point to another?
Reasons why plates move are:
 1) Convection currency in mantle boundary
2) Divergence or constructive plate boundary
3) Conservative or transform plate boundary

Convergence/ destructive zone

 This is when plates move towards each other under compressional forces

 Plate meet at the subduction zone; the continental plate is the lighter so it folds upwards whilst the
oceanic plate is dense so it sinks downwards as indicate by the diagram below:

Continental plate vs oceanic plate

Divergence/ constructive zone

 This is when plates move away or apart from each other.

 Molten magma erupts from the mantle to fill the gap left by diverging plates there by forming land
forms such as mid-oceanic ridge and volcanic mountains and rift valleys.

Conservative plate boundary

 This is when plates slide sideways in opposite directions under teal or shear forces.
 Earthquake
 Is the shaking and movement of the earth crust?

Causes of earthquakes
 Plate tectonic theory
 Large water bodies like dams and lakes
 Deep underground moving

EARTHQUAKES TERMS
1. Focus-is the point at which the earthquake originates
2. Epicentre- is the point where earthquake hits surface or it is where a shock wave first on
surface

Types of earthquake shocks are:

1. Body wave
 They travel through the earth’s crust in a vertical direction. It can be primary or secondary.
2. Surface wave
 They travel through the rock surface.
 They cause most damage to infrastructure and loss of lives.

Dangers of earthquakes

 Loss of life * destruction of vegetation

 Destruction of infrastructure *outbreak of diseases
 Destruction of buildings *tsunami
 Destruction of property
 Destruction of silos and food storage system
  It causes volcanic eruptions

Measures to reduce the impacts of earthquakes

 Reinforcement of buildings
 Evaluate people from plate boundaries
 Provision of earth warning system
 Construct building and using flexible material like rubber

Measures to assist the victims of earthquakes

 Provision of rescue team
 Provision of first aid
 Provision of cloths
 Provision of food
 Reconstruct their dwellings
 Cancelling those who lost their loved once

Advantages of earthquakes
 Exposition of mineral like gold
 Formation of new landforms like mountains
 Exposition of fertile soil
 Educational tours

Reason why people live in plate boundaries

 To extract minerals
 For educational purpose
 To earn foreign currency from tourist
 For filming
 To practise farming in fertile soil
 To study formation of new land forms

Dangers of living along/near plate boundaries

 Earthquakes
 Volcanic eruption
 Loss of lives
 Outbreak of diseases
 Destruction of buildings
 Loss of property
 Homelessness
 Destruction of telecommunication and power lines
 Destruction of infrastructure.

VOLCANICITY
 It refers to the movement of solid, liquid or gaseous substances loathing or outside the earth’s

Intrusive volcanicity

 This is when molten magma empts and solidifies within the earth’s crust thereby forming intrusive
landforms such as batholith
Extrusive volcanicity

 This is when magma erupts and solidifies outside the earth’s crust as lava thereby forming extrusive
landforms such as caldera

VOLCANO
 Is an opening in earth’s surface through which magma is erupted

Types of volcano

1. Active volcano
2. Dormant volcano
3. Extinct volcano

Active volcano
 Is a current erupting volcano or a volcano that shows signs to erupt

Dormant volcano
 These are inactive or sleeping volcanoes

Extinct volcano
 Are volcanoes with exhausted magma and they don’t have signs to erupt

CALDERA
 Is a large crater formed on top of a volcano usually 2 or more km in diameter
 They are deep and can extend down wards

Formation of caldera’s
 Caldera’s are formed by violet eruption of volcanoes; this causes the crater to enlarge
 Are also formed by block subsistence when the central part of a volcano moves downwards
 Are also formed when mountains on wetter surface collapse

Extrusive volcanic landforms

 Are landforms, formed when magma solidifies outside the earth’s crust as lava
 is made up of fluid lava that travels over a long distance before it solidifies
 have a wider narrow base, gentle sides and short height
 has low silica

Acid cone
 is made up of vicious lava solidifies quickly before it travels over a long distance
 has high silica content
  has sleep sides

Composite cone
 is made up of moderate lava which means the lava is neither viscous or fluid
 has moderate silica content
 is made up of parasitic cones and layers of ash and lava

INTRUSIVE LANDFORMS
 are landforms, forms when magma erupt and solidifies inside the earth’s crust
REASONS WHY PEOPLE LIVE IN VOLCANIC AREAS
 to extract minerals
 to study formation of volcano landforms
 to cultivate crops in fertile alluvial soil
 for filming
 for geothermal generation

ECOSYSTERM
 is the study of living things and non-living things on how they depended on each other?

Inputs
 water for metabolic process
 oxygen for respiration
 carbon dioxide for photosynthesis
Outputs
 sunlight for photosynthesis
 timber grass
 fruits
 wild meat

Important terms

1] Producer/autotrophic
 these are green plants that manufacture their own food
 these are photosynthesising organisms

2] Primary consumer
 are organism that feed on producer e.g. zebra
3] Secondary consumer
 are organism that feed on primary consumer e.g. carnivores like lion

4] Tertiary consumers
 are decomposers such as bacteria and fungi
 Food chain
 Is a feeding chain in an ecosystem starting with green plants?
 Trophic
 Is the loss of energy in an ecosystem through movement, respiration, reduction and excretion?

Less energy

Tertiary consumer Energy loss

Secondary consumer

Primary consumer

Producer
More energy

Energy flow in an ecosystem

Energy loss

Primary Secondary Tertiary

Producer
Consumer Consumer Consumer e.g
e.g plants
e.g zebra e.g lion vulture
Types of ecosystem

1] Natural ecosystem
 Is the interdependence of living things and non-living things without human interference?

2] Artificial ecosystem
 Is the interdependence of organism under human control?

Types of natural ecosystem are:

1. Savannah or tropical continental
2. Tropical rainforest/equatorial ecosystem
3. Desert/arid ecosystem
4. Polar ecosystem
5. Tundra ecosystem

Savannah ecosystem

Climatic characteristics
 It receives seasonal rainfall
 Cold winters and hot summers
 High humidity in summer and low in winter
 High pressure in winter season

Vegetation structure of savannah

Ways used to vegetation to adept in savannah

description explanation

Space trees To reduce competition of water

Umbrella shaped trees To conserve moisture on soil

dense grass Adequate sunlight on ground

Trees drop leaves in dry season To reduce the rate of transpiration

Thick bucks To protect cells from veld fires

Income generating profits that can be done in savannah ecosystem / advantage of savannah

 Game ranching
 Cattle ranching
 Cultivation of crops
 Filming
 Extraction of timber
 Gathering of fruits

Ways used by humans to degrade savannah ecosystem

 Veld fires
 Deforestation
 Overgrazing
 Ming
 Monoculture
 Shifting cultivation

Ways to restore/ conserve degraded ecosystem

 Gully reclamation *
 Regressing
 Destocking
 Paddocking
 Banning of veld fires
 Afforestation
 Banning stream bank cultivation
 Legislation
 Terracing of land

Tropical Rainforest Ecosystem

Climatic Characteristics

 It receives high rainfall throughout the year

 Humidity is always high
 High temperature throughout the year
 Pressure is always low
 The sky is always overcast

 Vegetation structure of tropical rainforest

Description explanation
Tall trees Competition for sunlight
Buttress roots For supporting
Climbers Searching for sunlight
No underground growth Shortage of light on ground
evergreen Adequate supply of water and nutrient

Problems faced by people living in tropical rainforest are:

 Floods
 Outbreak of water borne disease
 Lighting and thunderstone
 Drowning of animals 8muddy roads

Measures to solve the above problems
 Practise storm abortion or cloud displacing
 Use of lighting conductors
 Construction of dams
 Widening and Deeping of water channels
 Reinforcement of buildings
Advantage of tropical rainforest ecosystem
 Extraction of timber fishing
 Hydro-electric power generation
 Filming
 Recreation activities e.g. swimming
 Educational tours

Ways used by humans to destroy tropical rainforest ecosystem are:

 Deforestation
 Veld fires
 Industrialisation shifting cultivation
 Monoculture
 Overpopulation

Desert or acid ecosystem

 Is an area that receives rainfall less than 500mm per year

Factors that led to the formation of deserts are:

Human causes Natural causes

 Deforestation *onshore wind
 Veld fires *mining
 Climate change *industrial effluence
 Overgrazing *shifting cultivation
 Siltation of rivers *desertization

Climatic characteristics of deserts are:

 Low rainfall less than 5oomm
 High temperature during the day and low temperature during the night
 The sky is always cloudless
 Pressure is always low
 Humidity is always low

Vegetation structure of deserts

Ways used by vegetation to adapt in desert

Description explanation
 Wax  To reduce water loss
 Thorn trees  To reduce predation
 Long tape roots  To take underground water
  Flesh stem  To store water
 Drought resistant plants  To survive in drought conditions


Ways Used by Animals to Adapt in Desert

 Double eye lashes to protect eyes from dust
 Drought resistant animals e.g. camel
 Hump at the back to store fats
 Wide hooves to move freely on sand soil without sinking or trapped down
 Bright shown to reflect heat
 Hairy nostrils to filter dust

Problems faced by people living in deserts

 Drought
 Dust storms
 Water crises
 Excessive heat
 Shortages of food

Measures to solve the above problems are:

 Practise cloud seeding
 Drilling or boreholes
 Growing drought resistant crops
 Keeping of drought resistant crops
 Use of jelly lotions
 Advantages of deserts
 There are rich in minerals
 Deserts landforms beatifies the environment e.g. yardangs
 There are used for military training
 There are used for testing weapons like nuclear bombs
 For educational purpose

Soil profile

Top soil

Sub soil

Weathered particles

Parent rocks

Characteristics of Horizon A
 High water holding capacity
 Fine particles
 High human’s content
 Hugh aeration
Characteristics of horizon B
 Coarse soil low aeration as compared to horizon B
 Low water holdings capacity

Characteristics of horizon C
 It contains weathered particles from horizon D
 Has little humans
 Poor aeration

Characteristics of horizon D
 Is made up of pours or impermeable rock
 It forms the bases of water table
 Poor aeration

WET LANDS
 These are marsh areas or water logged areas

Importance /advantages of wetlands are:

 Are used as shelter for aquatic animals
 Filtrate pollutants
 Reduces floods
 growing for water loving crops e.g. rice
 It beautifies the environment
 Provide water for domestic and industrial use
 Are used for generating hydro-electricity
 Ways used by people to degrade wetlands
 Deforestation
 Poor farming methods
 Mining
 Industrialisation and urbanisation
 Overpopulations
  Veld fires
 Land reform programs
 Oiling of water to reduce breeding of mosquitos

Measures to conserve wet lands

 Afforestation
 Legislation
 Fencing
 Regressing
 Destocking
 Educational campaigns
 Rotational grazing
 High fines to the offenders

INDUSTRY
Is a site where goods and services are produced?
Cases of industries are:
Primary industry
1. Secondary industry
2. Tertiary industry
3. Quartnery industry

Primary industry
Is based on extraction of raw-materials from earths e.g. farming, mining, fishing etc.

Secondary industry
Is based on processing and manufacturing primary products into finished or semi-finished products that is
value addition e.g. converting groundnuts into peanut butter

Tertiary industry
It provides services to primary and secondary industry such as insurance, banking, transport etc.

Quartnery industry
Is based on researching of ideas and technology, it is also known as information and technology industry e.g.
medical research and computer design

Types of industries are:

a. Heavy industries
 Are industries that manufacture bulky goods?
  They use heavy raw materials
 They require a large piece of land
 Highly mechanised
 They cause much pollution e.g. Lafarge

b. Light industries
 Are industries that produce light products such as cosmetics?
 They require light raw materials
 Use a small piece of land
 Use light machines
 Are less pollutive

Factors That Influence Location of an Industry

 Availability of labour [both skilled and unskilled works}
 Availability of power to run machines
 Availability of cheap both internal and external markets
 Availability of water cooling and cleaning machines
 Availability of cheap land
 Accessibility that is availability of road networks and railway lines
 Climatic factors

Advantages of Industries
 It creates employment
 It raises standard of living
 Improves infrastructure
 Bring inn foreign currents through trade
 Prevents shortages
 Raises revenue of the government
 Create friendship with other countries

Disadvantages of Industries
 Causes pollution
 Destruction of ecosystem
 Causes global warming
 They emit poisonous gases

INDUSTRIAL RELOCATION
 Is the movement of industries from one place to another?

Causes of industrial relocation

 Shortages of raw materials
 Political instability
 Shortage of markets
 Inflation
 Shortage of power
 High tax revenue

Effects of industrial relocation at the source area

 Unemployment
 Brain drain
 Reduces the standard of living
 They are becoming undeveloped
 Shortages of resources to use

Measures to reduces chances of industries relocation

 Recycling of use products
 Search both internal and external markets
 Reduces tax revenue
  Use of alternative sources of energy
 Devaluation of local currency

Challenges face by industrialist in Zimbabwe / causes of industrial closure

 Shortages of raw materials
 Shortages of markets
 High tax revenue
 Inflation
 Political instabilities
 Fuel crises
 High rate of power cuts

Measures to solve the above problems

 Recycling of scrap
 Search both internal and external markets
 Reduces tax revenue
 Embargo foreign goods
 Devaluation of local goods
 Use alternative sources of energy

INDUSTRIAL AGLOMBRATION
 Is the concentration of industries in one area that is the industrial estate?

Problems caused by industrial agglomeration

 Traffic congestion
 Air pollution
 High pressure on raw materials
 Destruction of ecosystem
 Noise pollution
 Water pollution
 Land pollution

Assembly industry
 Isan industry based on assembly raw materials or parts into a finished product e.g. willovale car
assembly in Zimbabwe

MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES /TRANSINATIONAL COMPANY

 Are companies that operates in more them one country e.g. coca cola

Advantages of TNCs/MNCs to the host country

 It creates employment
 It improves standard of living
 Brings in foreign currency
 Improves infrastructure
 Creates friendship among countries
 Encourages industrialisation
 Provide social services that benefits the host
 Country e.g. scholarships

Disadvantages of TNCs/MNCs to the host country

Exhausted of raw materials
Destruction of environment
Repatriation of profits
Local employers are poorly paid
They intervene in politics
They destroy ecosystem
TOURISM
 Is a service industry that provides recreational activities and leisure
 Examples of tourist resort areas in Zimbabwe are Victoria falls, Gonarezhou, Matopos hills etc

Great Zimbabwe ruin

Advantage of tourism industry

 It creates employment
 It brings in foreign currency
 Create friendship among countries
 It improves infrastructure

Disadvantages of tourism industry

Causes cultural erosion
Transmition of diseases
It is seasonal
It raises conflicts between tourism and mining industry
Waiters are poorly paid

Ways used to revive or boost tourism industry in Zimbabwe are;

 Advertising
 Practise tourism and hospitality
 Improve accommodation
 improve security
 improve facilities
 Conserve tourist resort areas from being degraded

FARMING
Agriculture
Is type growing of crops and keeping of animals

Factors that affect farming are:

 Climatic conditions
 Relief or conditions
 Type of top soil
 Pest and diseases
 Availability of capital
 Availability of markets
  Availability of machines
 Land tenure
 Cost of land
 Availability of labour

Types of farming are;

1. Commercial
2. Substance farming

Commercial farming
 Is the growing of crops and keeping of animals on a large scale of selling?

Characteristics of commercial farming

 It is capital intensive
 It requires a large piece of land highly mechanised [use of heavy machines e.g. tractors]
 It requires skilled workers
 Practise modern farming methods [green revolution]

Advantage of commercial farming

 It creates employment
 It prevents shortages
 Encourage industrialisation
 It raises standard of living
 Improves infrastructure
 Provide revenue to the government

Disadvantage of commercial farming

 Farm chemicals pollute the environmental is expensive
 Heavy medicines destroy the crumb structure of the soil
 It causes deforestation through clearing of land

Problems faced by commercial farmers in Zimbabwe

 Drought
 Lack of knowledge
 Climate change
 Shortages of inputs to use
 Shortages of markets
 Outbreak of pest and diseases
 Loses through theft

Measures to solve these above problems are:

 Practise cloud seeding
 Practise irrigation
 Practice reforestation and afforestation
 Provide free inputs to farmers
 Search both internal and external markets
 Provide chemicals to farmers
 They must insure their products

Types of commercial farming

1. Market gardening/ hot culture
 Is the growing of vegetables, citric fruits and flowers

Characteristics of market gardening

 It requires a small piece of land
 It is capital intensive
 It required skilled worker
 They practice biotechnology e.g breeding
  Crops are grown in green house
 Located near markets

inputs outputs
land

Inputs process Outputs

Land Spraying Vegetables
Labour Weeding Flowers
Knowledge Breeding Fruits
Fertilisers Harvesting

Green house

 Is a structure made up of plastics or glasses used to regulate temperature of crops.

Green house

Advantages of growing crops in greenhouse

 Protect crops from bed weather hazards eg frost

 It protects crops from pest and diseases
 It regulates temperature of crops
 High yield is obtained

Dairy farming eg dairy board

 Is the keeping of dairy cattle for milk production?

Characteristics of dairy farming

 Located near markets

 It produces milk and milk products
 It requires small piece of land
N.B #Nowadays they located in remote areas or away from markets because refrigerated tanks

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUTS

Land Feeding Milk
Chemicals Vaccination Milk products
 Food supplements Dipping Profit
Knowledge Quarantining
Milking

Cattle ranching

 Is the keeping of cattle for beef production.

Characteristics of cattle ranching

 It requires a large piece of land
 Are located in marginal areas
 It requires less capital than on dairy farming
 It requre3s skilled workers

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUTS

Land Feeding Beef
Food supplements Paddocking Hides
Knowledge Vaccination Horns
Chemicals Curling Hooves

PLANTATION FARMING/ ESTATE FARMING

Is the cultivation of cash crops such as sugar cane and tea eg katiyo tea estate

Characteristics
 It requires a large piece of land
 Highly mechanised
 They practise monoculture
 Are owned by foreigners
 It required both skilled and unskilled workers

Advantages of estate farming

 It creates employment
 It raises standard of living
 It improves infrastructure
 It brings in foreign currency
 Creates friendship among countries

Disadvantages of estate farming

 Monoculture reduces soil fertility
 Farm chemicals pollute environment
 Local workers are poorly paid
 Repatriation of profits to their mother country

SUBSISTENCE FARMING
 Is the growing of crops and keeping of animals for family use with little surplus for sell.

Characteristics of subsistence farming

It requires less knowledge
Uses simple tools
It requires less capital
Uses family labour
They practise mixed farming
Outputs are used for family use
Types of subsistence farming are:

1.Shifting cultivation
This is a tradition method of farming which was mainly practised in Chetemene area of Zambia were farmers
clear land uses simple tools like axes. Catted residue are burnt to produce ash which was used as inorganic
fertilizer. When yield decrease after 3-4 years the farmer will vacate or abandon the area so that the soil will
gain its fertility.

Advantages of shifting cultivation

 Fire destroys pest and diseases
 High yield is obtained during the first year
 It is cheap

Disadvantages of shifting cultivation

 It is suitable in areas with less population
 It causes deforestation
 It led to desertification
 It causes global warming
 It causes air pollution
 Burning of residues kills micro-organism sin soil

2. Bush Fallowing
 This is a traditional method of farming when a farmer rotated his/her land by dividing it into smaller
segments for example when he cultivates land A Land B and c is left to fallow in order to gain its
fertility

3. Nomadic pastoralism
 This is when a farmer moves from one place to another with his/her own livestock in search of
grazing pastures and water

Causes of nomadic pastoralism

 Shortages of grazing pastures
 Shortages of surface water
 Drought

Way of life of nomads

 They follow rain belts
 Their whole life depends on livestock
 They are very brave people who can scare dangerous wild animals like lions using their bare hands
and sticks
 They clash with settled farmers over grazing land

Problems faced by nomads

 Shortages of grazing lands
 Conflicts with settled farmers
 Shortages of chemicals to cure livestock diseases
 drought
problems caused by nomadic pastoralism
overgrazing
land degradation
soil erosion
trans motion of diseases from one place to another
global warming

Measures to solve the above problems.

 Sedentarise nomads
 Provide chemical to them
 Supply supplements to them
  Contraction of dip tanks

PROBLEMS FACED BY COMMUNAL FARMERS

 Drought
 Shortage of chemicals
 Shortage of fertilisers and seeds
 Lack of knowledge
 Shortage of morden of machines

Measures to assist communal famers

 Practise cloud seeding
 Provision of free inputs to farmer
 Educate them to practise morden farming techniques such as pfumvudza
 Growing of drought resistant crops
 Keeping of drought resistant animals
 Practise irrigation

Challenges faced when one tries to implement the above measures are:
 Uncooperation
 Lack of resources to use
 Lack of knowledge
 Ignorance

Causes of drought
 Shortage of rainfall
 Climate change
 Global warming
 Desertification

Effects of drought
 Lead to food shortages
 Hanger and starvation
 Outbreak of mulnutritional diseases
 Death of animals
 Drying of rivers and dams
 Wilting of crops

Measures to reduce the effect of drought / to reduce food shortages are:

 Practise cloud seeding
 Practise irrigation
 Practise pfumvudzo
 Government must have a drought levy budget
 Growing of drought resistance crops
 Construction of dams
 Practise afforestation and reforestation

GREEN REVOLUTION
It involves the practise of morden farming methods through the use of advanced chemicals and machines as
well as fertilisers.

Advantages of green revolution

 High yield is obtained
 Prevents food shortages
 It encourages industrialisation
 Brings in foreign currency through exportation of surplus outputs
 It makes work easer
Disadvantages of green revolution
 It is expensive
 Chemicals pollute environment
 Farm chemicals causes eutrophication rivers
 Heavy machines destroy the crumb structure of the soil

URBAN AGRICULTURE/ URBAN FARMING

It is the growing of crops and keeping of domestic animals like poultry in urban areas

causes of urban agriculture are:

 high rate of food shortages in urban area
 shortage of money to buy food
 unemployment
 it raises standard of living
 relaxation of city fathers to enforce laws
 people want to utilise idle areas.

Advantages of urban farming

 It creates employment
 It raises standard of living
 Earning of money through selling of produce
 It prevents food shortages

Disadvantages
 Stream bank cultivation causes siltation of rivers
 Degradation of wet lands
 Slashing of crops by the city council
 Fields are used as sites for robbery and rape cases

IRRIGATION FARMING

 Irrigation is the artificial application of water to crops in order to supplement rainfall during dry
spells.

Drip irrigation

Reasons for practising irrigation/ advantages of irrigation

 It increases food production
 Encourages double cropping
 Utilisation of marginal land
 Produce law material for industries
 Creates employment
 Raises standard of living
 Improve national economy
  Brings in foreign currency through exportation of produce

Disadvantages
 Salinisation of soil
 Drying of water sources like rivers
 Siltation of dams
 It is expensive
MINING
 It is the extraction of minerals that lies below the overburden.

Advantages of mining

 It creates employment
 It raises standard of living
 It brings foreign currency
 It improves infrastructure
 It improves social services through construction of schools and hospitals
 Provide revenue to the government

Disadvantages of mining
 It causes deforestation
 It causes global warming destroys natural beauty of the environment
 Causes land degradation
 Mining explosives causes pollution
 Mine dumps encourages mudflows

METHOD OF MINING

1. OPEN CAST/ OPEN PIT

 Is the method used to extract surface minerals that lies on a depth not more than 50m?
 Overburden is removed using large excavators, bulldozers and draglines as shown by the diagram
below.

Open cast

Advantages of open cast/ open pit

 It is cheap
 It is safer because there is no risk of tunnel collapse
Disadvantages of open cast/open pit
 Causes deforestation
 Blasting destroys buildings and causes noise pollution

2. SHAFT MINING
 Is a method used to extract underground minerals that lies at the depth more than 50 metres
 It involves the sinking of vertical tunnels and construction of horizontal tunnels.

Shaft mining

Advantages of shaft mining

 There is less deforestation
 It extracts underground minerals

Disadvantages of shaft mining

 It is very expensive
 Plodding of tunnels kills miners
 Explosive gases affect miners
  Collapsing of tunnels kills miners
 It causes earth tremors.

3. ADIT/ DRIFT MINING

 Is the method used to extract minerals on the sides of mountains.
 It involves the construction of inclined tunnels along the mineral seem
 Conveyor belts and railway lines are also built to facilitates the extraction of the ore.

Adit/drift mining

Advantages of adit/drift mining

 It is safer than shaft mining
 It extracts minerals found on sediments of mountain

Disadvantages of adit/drift mining

 It leads to land slides
 Tunnels may collapse
 It causes deforestation

Problems faced by shaft and adit miners

 Plodding of tunnels
 Collapse of tunnels
 Inhalation of toxic gases
  Poor ventilation

Factors influencing exploitation of minerals.

 Availability and size of mineral deposits.
 Quality deposits
 Availability of capital to extract minerals transportation system
 Availability of labour
 Availability of market
 Demand of the mineral availability of water supply
 Climatic conditions

GOLD PANNING
 Is the extraction of gold from alluviums and river valleys.

Gold panners

Benefits of gold panning

 It creates employment
 Brings in foreign currency
 Income and wealth generation
 Creates a market for information traders

Effects of gold mining activities

 Pollute water sources
 Causes deforestation
 Causes siltation in rivers
 Damage to buildings
 Loss of life due to collapse of tunnels
Measures to control problems of gold panning
 Licencing of panners
 Enforcing environment laws
 Education and training of panners on environmental friendly methods of mining

Measures to conserve miners

 Use of permits
 Banning of illegal mining
 Use licences
 Practise sustainable use of resources
 Practise recycling of used substances

POPULATION
 Is the number of people living in an area.

Ways used to collect population data

 Census
 Sample survey
 School register
 Vital registration

Census
 Is the door to door counting of people, recording of economic activities, age, sex, education and
occupation?

Enumerators
 Are people who do the counting of people
 Census questionnaire is the in the instrument used to measure population

Advantages of census
 Information is collected from every corner of the country
 Information is reliable
 It keeps the government more organise
 Keeps details of all people in the country
 Shows the government of population status

Disadvantages of census
 It is expensive
 People may feel uncomfortable on revealing their details
 It is time consuming
 There may be language barriers
 Some people may run away from enumerators

Reasons why government collect population data

 It helps the government to plan
 It helps town planners to know number of schools and hospitals to be constructed
 It helps the government to know the number of people to be employed
  To know the ratio between active group and inactive group {dependency load}

Population distribution
 Is the spreading of population in an area.

Causes of sparse population

 Outbreak of diseases in the area
 Shortage of water in the area
 Outbreak of natural disasters such as volcanoes
 Poor economic development
 Unfavourable climatic conditions

Causes of dense population

 Favourable climatic condition
 Availability of minerals in the area
 Adequate supply of water
 Availability of fertile soil
 Availability of jobs
 Better social services like schools and clinics
 Better infrastructure

POPULATION TERMS

Natural population increase

 This is when birth rate exceeds death rate or when birth rate is higher than death rate

Natural population decrease

 This when death rate is higher than birth rate

Growth rate
 Is the different between birth rate and death rate I e birth rate _death rate

Birth rate
 Is the number of births per 1000 of population per year
Birth rate = number of births ×1000s
total population
Death rate
 Is the number of deaths per 1000 of population per year
Death rate = number of death × 1000
total population

Dependency ratio/load
 Is the ratio between the active group and the inactive group

Active group
 Is the working class between the ages of 16 and 65

Inactive group
 Is the number of people who cannot survive on their own /the number of people that depends to the
active group
 Are those who are below 16 and those who are above 65 years

Fertility rate
 Number of live births a woman has during her reproductive period or age or average number of
children that a woman of bearing age 15-19 years will have in her life time
Infant mortality rate
 Is the number of deaths of babies less than one-year-old per 1000 babies born that year

Life expectancy
 Is the numbers of years that a person is expected to live in a given environment.

Causes of high birth rate

 Early marriage
 Polygamy
 Desire for a male child
 Shortage of contraceptive
 Desire to have adequate labour

Effects of high birth rate

 It causes overpopulation
 High pressure in resources
 Land degradation
 Outbreak of sanitary
 Disease deforestation

Measures to reduce high birth rate

 Use of contraceptive
 Banning of early marriages
 Banning of polygamy
 Encourage one child policy
 Educate people about the negative impacts high birth rate

Causes of high death rate

 Outbreak of pandemic diseases
 Civil war poor medical care
 Poor sanitation
 Poor diet
 Shortage of clean water

Measures to reduce death rate/ to increase life expectancy

 Improve medical facilities
 Improve diets
 Improve sanitation
 Drilling of boreholes
 Provision of medication

Overpopulation
 This is when number of people exceeds number of available resources or when resources are less than
the available population.

Causes of overpopulation
 High birth rate
 High rate of internal migration
 Early marriages
 Religious beliefs
 Ignorance to use contraceptives
 Refugees

Effects of overpopulation
 Outbreak of diseases
 Land degradation
 Unemployment
 Shortages of resources
  Shortages of accommodation

Measures to reduce overpopulation

 Use of one child policy
 Legislation
 Banning of early marriages
 Banning of polygamy
 High penalties to those practise polygamies
 Educational campaigns
 Repatriation of refugees

DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION MODEL

 Demographic of means population
 Transition means change

 Demographic transition model means the population change model when a country transforms from
developing to developed; it shows birth rate; death rate ad total population
 The demographic transition model is divided into four stages. Stage 1 is the poorest stage and stage 4
is the richest stage

Stage 1; high fluctuating

 High birth rate and high death rate due to in adequate food supply, wars, diseases and shortages of
medical facilities
 Little or no increase of population because death rate and birth rate fluctuates.

Stage 2; early expanding

 High birth rate and decline in death rate due to improved food supplies and medical facilities
 High population growth rate since birth rate exceeds death rate

Stage 3: late expanding

 Relatively low death rates and declining birth rate due to family realisation of the need to have small
families due to high pressure on economic resources. Use of contraceptives and child polices
encourages the retardation of birth rates

Stage4: low fluctuating

 Low birth rate and death rate
 Low population growth rate
 The population becomes static

Population pyramids
A population pyramids shows the age and sex structure of the country

Characteristics of an age-sex pyramid

  Vertical axis represents age ranges
 Horizontal axes represent percentage of the total population
 Right hand side represents female population
 Left land side represent male population

Population structure of a developing country eg Zimbabwe

Description Explanation

Broad base Due to high birth rate caused by early marriage, polygamy
and ignorance to use
Contraceptives as well as use of children as a source of
labour and family continuity.
Hollow for ages Due to high mortality rate as a result of poor diet and poor
medication.
Thin towards the top (apex) Due to low life expectancy as a result of poor diet, poor
health facilities and sanitation.

Population structure of a developed country eg Japan

Description Explanation
Narrow at the base Due to low birth rate caused by proper use of
contraceptives, one child policy and late marriage
Broad towards the top Due to high life expectancy as a result of proper
medication and diet
Buldge at the middle This indicates that there is low mortality rate
throughout the age groups