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Leaving Cert Geography
Revision Notes
Contents
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY CORE UNIT 1 ..................................................................................................................... 4
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH.................................................................................................................... 4
CONTINENTAL DRIFT .............................................................................................................................................. 8
PLATE BOUNDARIES ............................................................................................................................................... 9
OCEANIC-CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE.............................................................................................................. 12
VOLCANOES ......................................................................................................................................................... 15
WHAT IS A VOLCANO? ......................................................................................................................................... 15
VOLCANIC MATERIALS ......................................................................................................................................... 15
WILL IT FLOW / BLOW? ........................................................................................................................................ 16
GLOBAL PATTERN OF VOLCANOES ....................................................................................................................... 17
CLASSIFYING VOLCANIC STRUCTURES .................................................................................................................. 17
EXTRUSIVE STRUCTURES ...................................................................................................................................... 18
LEVELS OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY ............................................................................................................................ 19
PREDICTING VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS AND THEIR EFFECTS ..................................................................................... 22
LEINSTER BATHOLITH ........................................................................................................................................... 25
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN ICELAND ...................................................................................................................... 26
EARTHQUAKES..................................................................................................................................................... 27
PHYSICAL PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS ............................................................................................................. 37
ROCKS AND THE ROCK CYCLE ............................................................................................................................... 37
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REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY CORE UNIT 2 .................................................................................................................. 50
IRELAND .............................................................................................................................................................. 51
PHYSICAL PROCESSES........................................................................................................................................... 53
ECONCOMIC PROCESSES ............................................................................................................................................. 54
EUROPE ............................................................................................................................................................... 68
........................................................................................................... 68
PARIS BASIN, France ............................................................................................................................................ 76
INDIA ................................................................................................................................................................... 87
PHYSICAL PROCESSES (Climate and Relief) ........................................................................................................... 89
CHECKLIST REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY...................................................................................................................... 97
PATTERNS AND PROCESSES IN THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................... 99
POPULATION..............................................................................................................................................................100
URBAN GROWTH .......................................................................................................................................................135
The Wright Plan ........................................................................................................................................................137
Buchanan Report ......................................................................................................................................................137
Urban Renewal..........................................................................................................................................................138
URBAN LANDUSE MODELS .......................................................................................................................................139
THE 5 ZONES OF THE CONCENTRIC MODEL ..............................................................................................................140
URBAN GROWTH IN EU : The Randstad ...................................................................................................................142
DEVELOPING WORLD CITIES ......................................................................................................................................146
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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY CORE UNIT 1
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH
Introduction
planet. (Endogenic forces)
are in order of increasing depth:
o
o
o
The crust
The mantle
The core
Layer 1- the crust
This is the surface, outermost layer of the earth. It has the following features:
It is a solid layer made up of rock
Its main surface features are the continents and ocean basins
It is the thinnest layer with maximum depth around 70 km
The thickness of the crust varies
Temperatures are lower than in the deepest layers
Highest temperatures around 375 c
There are 2 types of crusts; Continental crust and Oceanic crust
Continental crust
This forms the surface of all the continents and surrounding shallow seas
It is the thickest part of the crust (average of 45km thickness) It is thickest under the great
mountain ranges e.g. the Alps
It is the oldest part of the crust with some rocks as old as 4 billion years
Mostly made up of granite
The rocks of the continental crust are often referred to as sial this refers to their most common
mineral components silica and aluminium
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Oceanic crust
This is the most common type of crust
It lies under all the oceans of the earth
It is the thinnest part of the crust, its thickness an average of 8km
Oceanic crust is heavy (heavier than continental)
Most common rock is basalt
Rocks of the oceanic crust are often referred to as sima this refers to their most common
mineral components silica and magnesium
Layer 2- The mantle
This is the layer directly below the crust. It has the following features:
It is nearly 3000 km thick we can divide it into the upper, middle and lower mantle
Temperatures are higher than those of the crust (increase with depth, believed to be over 5000
c in the lower mantle)
Can flow slowly, despite having the properties of a solid
Layer 3- the core
This is the centre layer of the earth. It is made up of the outer core and the inner core.
1. The outer core
o
o
Approx. 2,200 km thick
2. The inner core
o This is a solid layer, rocks are believed to be up to 5 times denser than surface rocks
o It is about 2,300 km wide
o Temperatures are believed to reach up to 5,500 c
The Lithosphere
This refers to both the crust and the upper mantle. Both are composed of solid rock because
temperatures are not high enough to melt the rocks into a molten, or semi molten state. The
lithosphere is therefore the solid shell surrounding the earth. It averages about 100km in depth.
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Tectonic Plates
ed
tectonic plates. There are seven major plates and several
rock beneath. There are two types of tectonic plate.
Oceanic plates are 5km to 10km thick, continental plates
are 25km to 90km thick. Oceanic plates are made from
denser rock than continental plates, and are therefore
heavier.
The map shows the global distribution of the main
Fold Mountains
Fold Mountains are formed where two tectonic plates
converge. The rocks in the crust become crumpled
and folded to form new mountain ranges. Areas of
fold mountains include, Alps, Andes, Rockies and
Himalayas.
zones and volcanoes are found at the boundaries
between different plates.
200 million years ago all the continents were joined
together, forming a mega island called pangea.
There are 7 major plates and 7 minor ones
- molten asthenosphere
er, collide with one another or slide past one another
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CONVECTION CURRENTS
C
Suggests the positions of the continents on the earth's surface have changed over time relative
to one another
Accepted that the continents still continue to move today
All the continents were originally united in one super continent called Pangea (Greek for all
land)
About 200 million years ago it began to break up
First it broke up into 2 major elements called Laurasia and Gondwanaland separated by the
Tethys Sea
These continued to break up and drift to form the pattern of continents that we know today
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CONTINENTAL DRIFT
he mantle where it flows sideways
drift
PROOFS OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT
1. Continental fit: Shapes of continents fit together resembling a jigsaw puzzle. Especially in the case of
South America and Africa
2. Matching rocks and mountain ranges-mountain ranges dot the coastlines of Europe, Africa and North
America, matching rock groups link up with each other- Appalachian mts. of USA and
'Caledonian mts. of Ireland, Britain and Scandinavia could have been part of same mt. range originally.
3. Matching glacial deposits-glacial deposits left by ancient ice sheets in St America, Africa, India and
Australia match, same age and origin
4. Sea floor spreading- ocean floors are widening as new rock is formed where the plates originally split,
as plates separate, driven by convection currents ,molten magma rises up from within the mantle to fill
the opening, as it cools magma creates new crust and leads to the formation of the new ocean floor.
New crust continues to form and older crust continues to move away from the centre, samples taken
from the ocean floor get progressively younger towards ridge at centre of the ocean, rocks at the edge
of the Atlantic are up to 200 million years old while those at the centre are less than 10 million years old.
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PLATE BOUNDARIES
INTRODUCTION:
lace at their boundaries or margins
another, there are 3 types of plate boundary:
1. Divergent plate boundaries
Plates separate and move apart from one another; new rock is formed so these are constructive
boundaries
2. Convergent plate boundaries
Plates collide; rock is changed or destroyed so they are destructive boundaries
3. Conservative plate boundaries
Where plates grind past one another, rock is neither created nor destroyed so they are passive
boundaries
DIVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARIES
ocean floor cooled by sea water and forms new oceanic crust
up to form a mt ridge beneath the ocean and occasionally rises above the surface to form
islands
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- south direction
2500 and 3000 metres from the ocean floor
CASE STUDY- AFRICA (A CONTINENT BREAKING APART)
e crust in this region was damaged originally when the African and Eurasian plates collided
to move apart
m the rest of the continent
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