WAEC Geography 1999 past questions and answers

Each division of the linear scale (2 km) measures about 1 cm on the original map; 1 cm to 2 km = 1 cm to 200,000 cm, i.e. 1:200,000.

Measure the road on the map (about 5.5 cm) and multiply by 2 km per cm: about 11 km. An actual distance must be in km, not cm.

Doubling the map size halves the ground distance per cm: 1:200,000 becomes 1:100,000.

The plantation lies north-east of Dabu, i.e. about N 45° E.

At Y the contours form a tongue of high land pointing down into lower ground: a spur.

Z is a low point between two hills on the western high ground, used as a way through: a pass.

A to B follows a valley shown by V-shaped contours but no river is drawn in it, so it is a dry valley.

Measure the length and width of the plantation and convert with the scale (2 km per cm), then multiply.

The south-east is low land marked 'area liable to flood'; waterlogged land suits rice.

Two places are intervisible when no higher ground lies on the straight line between them.

A single circle divided into sectors in proportion to each value is a pie chart.

660,000 + 420,000 + 530,000 + 580,000 + 590,000 = 2,780,000 metric tons.

660,000 ÷ 2,780,000 × 100 = 23.74%.

Coal and oil form from buried plant and animal remains, so they occur in sedimentary rocks.

When the sun is over the Tropic of Capricorn (22 December), it is winter in the northern hemisphere, so days are shorter there.

The order from the sun is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, so the earth lies between Venus and Mars.

6° of latitude × 111 km per degree = 666 km.

Gondwanaland broke up as the continents slowly moved apart: continental drift.

Marble (from limestone) and schist (from shale) are rocks changed by heat and pressure: metamorphic.

Daily heating and cooling of bare rock in dry areas makes outer layers expand, contract and peel off.

Vertical hard and soft bands lying along the wind produce yardangs; zeugens form in horizontal layers.

Lakes along a river trap its sediment, leaving less to build a delta at the mouth.

Block mountains are raised between parallel faults.

On the gentle lower course the river swings from side to side in meanders; rapids and falls belong to the upper course.

The Benguela current is cold and cools the south-west coast of Africa; the others are warm.

Sum of the 12 temperatures = 330; 330 ÷ 12 = 27.5°C.

Counting months with less than 50 mm of rain (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Oct, Nov, Dec) gives 7 dry months.

0+0+3+13+71+121+211+302+138+12+0+0 = 871 mm.

Temperature falls about 6°C per 1000 m: 30 − (2 × 6) = 18°C.

An anemometer measures wind speed; a wind vane shows direction.

Hot, wet conditions under the rainforest produce red, leached lateritic soils; podsols form under coniferous forest.

Erosion is the wearing away and carrying off of soil and rock by agents such as wind and water.

Minerals take millions of years to form, so once mined they cannot be replaced.

Monrovia gets very heavy rain with only a short dry spell, which is Koppen's Af type; Accra lies in the dry coastal belt.

Strong morning heating causes convection, so thunderstorms come in the afternoon.

Man takes food, timber and medicine from vegetation; habitat is what vegetation provides for wildlife, not a product used by man.

50 decibels is about the level of normal conversation, which does no harm.

Industries are grouped as primary (extracting), secondary (manufacturing) and tertiary (services).

Wind and sun give power, wind is used to winnow grain, and the air carries radio signals; the atmosphere does not provide housing.

Thailand's cheap labour has made textiles and clothing one of its leading manufactures.

A megalopolis is a huge urban region formed when several cities and conurbations join, e.g. Boston to Washington.

The delta is low-lying and very wet, so flooding from rivers and the sea is common.

Off Newfoundland the warm Gulf Stream meets the cold Labrador current, causing fog, and the Labrador current carries icebergs.

Most commercial hardwoods come from the southern rainforest belt.

Nigeria's biggest trade is with industrial countries such as Britain, the USA, Germany and Japan.

The western railway line crosses the Niger by bridge at Jebba.

Copper is mined in the Katanga (Shaba) region around Lubumbashi.

Water is available all year, so farmers can grow two or three crops each year.

(a) A large continuous built-up area formed when several towns grow and merge.
(b) e.g. Lagos-Ikeja (Nigeria), Accra-Tema (Ghana), Cairo-Giza (Egypt), Ruhr (Germany), Greater London/Manchester (UK), Tokyo-Yokohama (Japan).
(c) Overcrowding and slums; traffic congestion; pollution and waste disposal; inadequate water, power and housing; unemployment and crime; flooding from poor drainage.
(d) Urban planning and slum clearance; building satellite towns and new roads/mass transit; better waste management; decentralising industries; rural development to reduce migration.

Name a different country for each example.

(a) Raw materials (cement at Ewekoro near limestone); market (consumer industries in Lagos); power (aluminium smelting at Tema using Akosombo HEP); transport/ports (Apapa, Tema); labour; capital; water; government policy (Ajaokuta steel).
(b) Shortage of capital; lack of skilled labour and technology; unreliable power; poor transport; small market; dependence on imported machines and spare parts; political instability and poor management.
(c) Foreign and joint investment; training of technicians; improving power supply; better roads and railways; regional cooperation (ECOWAS market); stable policies.

Use named West African examples.

(a) Nigeria: exports crude oil, cocoa (rubber, palm kernels); imports machinery, vehicles (chemicals, textiles). Ghana: exports cocoa, gold (timber, bauxite); imports machinery, petroleum products. Sierra Leone: exports diamonds, iron ore/rutile; imports rice, manufactured goods. The Gambia: exports groundnuts, fish; imports rice, textiles.
(b) e.g. Nigeria: USA, Britain, Germany (France, Netherlands, Japan).
(c) Increase and diversify exports; reduce imports through tariffs and quotas; import substitution industries; devaluation/exchange control; process raw materials before export; encourage tourism; borrow or attract investment.

Give real commodities for the countries you choose.

(a) e.g. Yankari Game Reserve (Bauchi), Kainji Lake National Park (New Bussa), Old Oyo National Park (Oyo), Cross River National Park (Calabar/Obudu), Gashaka-Gumti (Serti).
(b) Jobs as guides, hotel and transport workers; income from sale of crafts and food; roads, electricity and other amenities; cultural exchange; but also rising prices and loss of farmland/hunting rights.
(c) Good roads, hotels and security; advertising and publicity; protection and stocking of wildlife; training of staff; government and private investment; stable policies.

Place each reserve correctly.

(a) Forest belt: mangrove swamp, freshwater swamp, rain forest; savanna belt: Guinea, Sudan, Sahel savanna; shown in correct bands from south to north.
(b) e.g. Rain forest: heavy rain all year and high temperature give tall evergreen trees; continuous growth gives dense layered forest; high humidity supports lianas and epiphytes; heavy rain causes leaching. (Or Sudan savanna: long dry season gives short grasses and scattered drought-resistant trees, deciduous trees, long roots.)
(c) Rain forest: cocoa, oil palm, rubber, kola, yam; Guinea savanna: yam, maize, guinea corn, rice, benniseed; Sudan savanna: groundnuts, cotton, millet, sorghum.

Two broad belts are forest and savanna.

(a) Large rivers with constant volume; heavy, reliable rainfall in the catchment; waterfalls, rapids or steep gradients; narrow valley with firm rock for the dam; large market; capital and technology; lack of other power sources.
(b) Electricity for homes and industries; cheaper than thermal power and renewable; reservoirs for irrigation, fishing and water supply; flood control; navigation; tourism; jobs.
(c) Low water level in the dry season reducing output; silting of reservoirs; high cost of dams and transmission lines; displacement of people; flat land with few good sites; poor maintenance and management; water weeds.

Use Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro as examples.

(a) Large estates; single cash crop (monoculture) e.g. rubber in Liberia (Firestone), tea in Kenya, sisal in Tanzania, oil palm; large capital; many hired workers; scientific methods (fertiliser, improved seedlings); processing on the estate; mainly for export; often foreign-owned; good roads/rail to ports.
(b) Foreign exchange; employment; raw materials for industry; government revenue; infrastructure and settlements; transfer of skills.
(c) Price fluctuations on world markets; pests and diseases; labour shortages; high capital costs; land disputes; soil exhaustion; foreign ownership and profit repatriation.

Give named crops and countries.

(a) Heavy rain all year gives dense evergreen rainforest (Zaire Basin, Guinea coast); seasonal rain gives savanna with tall grass and scattered trees (Sudan, East Africa); very low rain gives desert scrub (Sahara, Kalahari); winter rain gives Mediterranean vegetation (Cape, North Africa).
(b) Temperature falls with height, so vegetation changes upwards from forest to montane forest, bamboo, grassland and alpine plants on Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya, Ethiopian highlands, Jos Plateau.
(c) Fertile, deep soils support dense forest or crops; poor sandy or lateritic soils support grassland or scrub; waterlogged soils support swamp and mangrove (Niger Delta); salty soils support salt-tolerant plants.

Name a place for each effect.

(a) Low, unreliable rainfall and long dry season in the north; rivers and lakes (Sokoto, Kano, Hadejia, Lake Chad); flat land and fadama plains; dams and reservoirs (Bakolori, Tiga, Challawa); government river basin authorities; demand for food.
(b) Sokoto-Rima (Bakolori): rice, wheat, onions; Kano River Project (Tiga): wheat, rice, tomatoes; Hadejia-Jama'are: rice, wheat; South Chad Irrigation Project: wheat, rice, cotton; Bida/Badeggi and Niger valley: rice, sugarcane (Bacita).
(c) High cost of dams and canals; silting and evaporation losses; salinisation and waterlogging; water-borne diseases; displacement of farmers; poor management and maintenance; shrinking water sources.

Use named schemes and their crops.

(a) Delta: low, flat, fan/arcuate or bird's-foot shaped land at a river mouth cut by many distributaries (Niger, Nile); formed where a river carrying much load enters a sea or lake with weak currents/tides and deposits it; sheltered coast, gentle offshore slope.
River capture: a stronger river with more vigorous headward erosion cuts back through the divide and diverts the headwaters of a weaker river; leaves elbow of capture, wind gap, misfit/beheaded stream.
Waterfall: steep or vertical drop of a river over a hard rock band, with a plunge pool below; formed where hard rock overlies soft rock, at fault scarps or plateau edges; the soft rock is undercut and the fall retreats upstream (Kwa Falls, Victoria Falls).
Inselberg: isolated steep-sided, dome-shaped rock hill rising from a plain (Idanre, Zuma Rock); formed when surrounding weaker rock is weathered and removed, leaving resistant granite.
Diagrams for the two chosen.
(b) Delta: fertile farmland, fishing, oil; river capture: wind gap as a route; waterfall: HEP and tourism; inselberg: tourism, quarrying, defence.

Pick two features and include a labelled diagram for each.

(a) Onshore winds from warm seas bring rain and moderate temperatures (south-west monsoon in West Africa; westerlies warming western Europe); offshore winds from the land are dry (harmattan bringing dust and dryness to the Guinea coast); cold winds lower temperatures.
(b) Warm currents raise temperatures and increase rainfall (Guinea current, North Atlantic Drift keeping Norwegian ports ice-free, Mozambique current); cold currents lower temperatures, cause fog and dry coasts (Benguela and the Namib, Canary current and the Sahara coast).
(c) Coastal places have smaller temperature ranges, higher humidity and usually more rain (Lagos, Freetown); inland places have greater ranges and less rain (Kano, Timbuktu).

Give a named example for each point.

(a) Long-profile diagram labelled upper, middle and lower course with cross-sections.
Upper (youthful) course: steep gradient, fast flow; vertical erosion forms narrow V-shaped valleys, gorges, waterfalls, rapids, potholes and interlocking spurs.
Middle (mature) course: gentler gradient; lateral erosion widens the valley; meanders, river cliffs and slip-off slopes; some deposition.
Lower (old) course: very gentle gradient; deposition dominant; wide flood plain, levees, large meanders, ox-bow lakes, braiding, delta or estuary.
(b) Water for domestic, industrial and farm use (irrigation); transport; fishing; HEP; tourism and recreation; boundaries; fertile flood plains.

Draw both the long profile and valley cross-sections.

(a) Convectional, relief (orographic) and cyclonic (frontal).
(b) Convectional: strong heating of the ground makes moist air rise, cool, condense into cumulonimbus clouds and give heavy showers; afternoon thunderstorms with lightning, short-lived, common in equatorial regions.
Relief: moist wind forced to rise over a mountain, cools and condenses; heavy rain on the windward side; dry, warm rain-shadow on the leeward side (Mt Cameroon, Jos Plateau).
Frontal: warm air rises over cold air along a front in a depression; long periods of steady rain/drizzle; common in temperate latitudes.
Diagrams with arrows for air movement.

Each type needs a labelled diagram.

(a) Short, soft, nutritious grasses (prairies, steppes, pampas, veld, downs); almost treeless except along rivers; grass grows in spring and early summer, dries in late summer and dies back under winter snow; flowers in spring; deep black (chernozem) soils.
(b) Low rainfall (about 250-750 mm) mostly in early summer; continental location far from the sea; cold winters and warm summers; frequent fires; grazing animals; relief (plains); soils; human activity (ploughing for wheat).

Link the factors to why trees are few.

(a) Weather is the state of the atmosphere at a place over a short time (hours or days); climate is the average weather over a long period (about 30-35 years) of a large area.
(b) Temperature (degree of hotness, measured by thermometer); rainfall/precipitation (rain gauge); humidity (amount of water vapour, hygrometer); pressure (barometer); wind speed and direction (anemometer, wind vane); sunshine (sunshine recorder); cloud cover.
(c) Planning planting and harvesting; planning irrigation and water supply; flood control and dam design; aviation and shipping; drawing climatic maps; construction planning.

Name the instrument for each element.

(a) Burning fossil fuels (vehicles, factories, power stations) adds carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and smoke; deforestation and bush burning add carbon dioxide and reduce oxygen production; gas flaring; use of CFCs in aerosols and refrigerators; agriculture (methane, fertiliser gases); mining and quarrying dust.
(b) More ultraviolet radiation reaches the earth; rise in temperatures (global warming); melting of ice caps and glaciers; rise in sea level and coastal flooding; changes in rainfall patterns and climate; damage to plants, crops and marine plankton; more skin cancer and eye cataracts.

Physical changes mean changes to the environment.