WAEC Geography 2018 past questions and answers

The triangle marked 730 is in the south-east corner.

Following the railway from the north-east edge through Aso and ALADE to its southern end and comparing with the linear scale gives about 28 km, closest to 29 km.

P is a small, low, rounded hill shown by one or two closed contours: a knoll.

The north is covered by forest symbols, suitable for lumbering.

Roads and the railway meet at ALADE: a nodal settlement.

The trigonometrical station lies almost due south of Ilo, slightly to the east, so the bearing is a little under 180°: about 178°.

ALADE is the largest settlement, with a market, churches and the meeting of road and railway.

Highest 28°C − lowest 26°C = 2°C.

Temperatures are high and almost constant (range 2°C) and rain falls in every month, as in the equatorial (tropical wet) region.

Warri, in the humid south of Nigeria, has hot wet conditions like these.

(27 + 28 + 28 + 28 + 27 + 27) ÷ 6 = 165 ÷ 6 = 27.5°C.

Cs = warm temperate climate with a dry summer: Mediterranean.

River capture leaves a dry wind gap in the beheaded stream's valley.

A dormant volcano is 'sleeping': it has erupted before and may erupt again.

On 21 June the sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer.

An ecosystem is a community of living things interacting with their environment.

The land heats faster than the sea by day, so cool air blows from sea to land during the day.

Mercury is the first planet from the sun.

Intense heating makes moist air rise, giving afternoon convectional storms.

Interlocking spurs occur in the steep V-shaped valleys of the upper course.

Wadis are dry desert valleys that carry water only after rare storms.

They form in limestone caves from dissolved calcium carbonate.

45° × 4 min = 3 hours; Accra is east of 45°W, so it is 3 hours ahead: 12 noon + 3 h = 3.00 pm.

They are 8 + 10 = 18° apart; 18 × 111 km = 1,998 km.

A beach is built from sand and pebbles deposited by waves; the others are erosion features.

The core (NIFE) is made of nickel and iron.

Moist air forced up over highlands cools and gives relief rain.

The atmosphere is the layer of air around the earth.

Carbonaceous rocks such as coal and lignite form from plant (vegetative) matter.

Producers, consumers and decomposers are the living parts of an ecosystem.

Graphite comes from coal; shale becomes slate.

Warm moist air passing over a cold current is chilled and forms fog, not rain.

Most West Africans earn a living from farming.

Subsistence farming uses little capital; it relies on family labour and simple tools.

A trans-continental highway crosses a continent, linking its countries.

Heavy industries need huge investment in plant and machinery.

If the reserves run out, drilling is no longer worthwhile.

Tropical Africa has abundant sunshine all year, so solar energy there is cheap and readily accessible.

Seats of government are administrative towns.

Tariffs make imports dearer and protect young local industries.

Textiles are mostly market-oriented, sited near large populations that buy cloth.

California's clear, dry, sunny skies allow aircraft to be tested all year, a special advantage of the region.

Countries classify settlements as urban or rural mainly by the number of people (e.g. 20,000 in Nigeria).

Land rotation (bush fallowing) uses land extensively, moving to new plots; the others use the same land intensively.

Natural increase = births minus deaths.

(a) Site (physical location: coastal, hilltop, river); situation (relationship with surrounding areas); size (area and population); functions (administrative, industrial, commercial, port); plan and layout (grid, radial, irregular); age and history; level of services and infrastructure.
(b) Advanced industrialisation offering jobs; intensive agriculture (rice) on fertile alluvial plains; limited lowland (mountainous country) so people crowd on plains and coasts; good transport and communication; high standard of living and medical care (long life expectancy); availability of fish from surrounding seas; political stability.
(c) Overcrowding and housing shortage; traffic congestion; pressure on social amenities; high cost of land and food; pollution and environmental degradation; stress-related illness; shortage of farmland, leading to land reclamation.

Japan's plains are small, so people crowd onto them.

(a) Produce mainly for family consumption with little surplus; small farm holdings; simple tools (hoe, cutlass); family labour; little capital; mixed cropping; bush fallowing or shifting cultivation; low yields; little use of fertilisers or improved seeds.
(b) Feeds the family; low cost (little capital needed); uses family labour; mixed cropping spreads risk and protects soil; fallowing restores fertility; uses simple tools easily available; gives some surplus for local markets.
(c) Low output and income; little surplus for export or industry; cannot feed growing towns; heavy labour and drudgery; slow adoption of modern methods; land degradation where fallow periods shorten.

Keep advantages and disadvantages separate.

(a) Map: cement at Ewekoro or Shagamu (Ogun), Nkalagu (Ebonyi), Obajana (Kogi), Sokoto, Gboko, Calabar; cocoa products at Ibadan, Ondo, Ikeja, Akure, Ile-Ife; flour at Lagos (Apapa), Kano, Calabar, Port Harcourt.
(b) Employment; large output satisfies home demand; foreign exchange through exports or savings on imports; revenue to government; transfer of technology; infrastructure development; growth of towns and allied industries.
(c) Lower unit cost (economies of scale); higher productivity and output; can afford research and modern technology; better welfare facilities for workers; easier access to loans and capital; can absorb risks; better advertising and wider markets.

Name a real town for each product.

(a) Map: coal at Enugu, Okaba (Kogi), Lafia, Gombe; crude oil in the Niger Delta (Oloibiri, Ughelli, Bonny, Port Harcourt area); limestone at Ewekoro/Shagamu, Nkalagu, Sokoto, Calabar, Obajana, Ashaka.
(b) Underground (adit/shaft) mining at Enugu: tunnels (adits) are driven into the hillside along the seam; roofs are supported with props; air is pumped in; coal is cut with picks, drills or explosives; loaded with shovels onto conveyors or tubs and brought to the surface; then sorted and taken by rail or road to users or ports. Open-cast mining (e.g. Okaba): overburden is removed with machines, the exposed seam is broken and loaded into trucks.
(c) Shortage of capital and modern equipment; inadequate skilled labour; poor transport; mining hazards (collapse, flooding, gas); falling demand (coal replaced by oil and gas); illegal mining and smuggling; insecurity and community conflicts; erratic power supply; depletion of reserves; inconsistent government policy.

Describe the steps in order.

(a) Number of dots = population ÷ 20,000: A = 5 dots; B = 19 dots; C = 8 dots; D = 11 dots. Copy the outline of Country M with regions A-D and place the dots, all the same size, evenly within each region; add a key (1 dot = 20,000 persons).
(b) e.g. 'Dot map showing the distribution of population in the regions of Country M in 2011'.
(c) Gives a clear visual impression of distribution and density; easy to understand; actual figures can be worked out by counting dots; easy to construct; shows absolute values; allows easy comparison between regions.

Show the dot calculation for each region.

(a) Gorge: characteristics: a deep, narrow river valley with very steep (almost vertical) sides; often has rapids; found in the upper course or where a river crosses hard rock or a plateau. Formation: a river cuts down vertically through resistant rock; a waterfall retreats upstream by undercutting and collapse, leaving a gorge below it; or rapid uplift (rejuvenation) makes the river cut down fast; in dry areas, little weathering of the sides keeps them steep. Examples: Kainji gorge on the Niger, Batoka gorge (Victoria Falls). Diagram: retreating waterfall and gorge.
(b) Seif dune: characteristics: long, narrow, sharp-crested sand ridges lying parallel to the prevailing wind; may be many kilometres long and up to 100 m high; separated by sand-free corridors. Formation: formed where the dominant wind blows steadily in one direction with occasional cross winds; eddies between the ridges sweep the corridors clear and pile sand along the ridges; a barchan may be elongated into a seif when one horn grows. Examples: Sahara (Libya, Egypt). Diagram: parallel ridges with wind arrows.

Annotate both diagrams.

(a)(i) Swallow holes (sink holes); dolines and uvalas; poljes; limestone pavement (clints and grikes); dry valleys; caves and caverns; stalactites, stalagmites and pillars; gorges; resurgent streams.
(ii) Diagram: cross-section showing a swallow hole leading to an underground stream, a cave/cavern with stalactites hanging from the roof, stalagmites on the floor, a pillar where they join, and a spring (resurgence) at the base where the stream reappears above impermeable rock.
(b) Raw material for cement; building and road stone; flux in iron and steel smelting; lime for agriculture (reducing soil acidity); chemical industries (soda, paper, glass); tourism (caves); aquifers for water.

Label every underground feature.

(a) An eclipse of the moon (lunar eclipse) happens when the earth comes directly between the sun and the moon, so the earth's shadow falls on the moon and blocks the sunlight it reflects; it occurs at full moon; it may be total (moon in the umbra) or partial (moon partly in the penumbra). Diagram: sun - earth - moon in a straight line with the earth's shadow cone covering the moon.
(b) A great circle divides the earth into two equal halves (hemispheres); its plane passes through the centre of the earth; it is the largest circle that can be drawn on the globe; the Equator is the only latitude that is a great circle; any pair of opposite longitudes forms one; there can be an infinite number of them.
(c) The shortest distance between two places lies along a great circle, so they are used for planning air routes and sea routes; navigation; saving fuel and time; used in calculating distances; telecommunication routes.

Draw the shadow cone clearly.

(a) River capture: one river must have greater erosive power (steeper gradient, more water) than its neighbour; the stronger river erodes headward (back towards its source) through soft rock; the two rivers must be close together, separated by a low watershed; the capturing river must flow at a lower level; result: elbow of capture, misfit stream and wind gap. Diagram: before and after capture.
(b) Waterfall: a band of hard rock lying across the river over soft rock, which is eroded faster (differential erosion); a fault scarp across the river course; a plateau edge or escarpment; a hanging valley left by glaciation; rejuvenation (knick point); a lava flow damming the valley; examples: Kwa Falls, Victoria Falls, Owu Falls. Diagram: hard rock over soft rock with plunge pool.

Draw before and after diagrams for capture.

(a) Heavy and prolonged rainfall; blocked drains from dumping refuse; inadequate or poorly designed drainage; building on flood plains and waterways; paved surfaces that stop infiltration (more run-off); overflow of rivers and dams; low-lying coastal location and sea surges; deforestation and lack of planning.
(b) Loss of lives; destruction of houses, roads and property; displacement of people; spread of water-borne diseases (cholera); disruption of traffic and business; pollution of water; economic losses.
(c) Build and maintain good drainage and clear blocked drains; ban dumping of refuse in drains; enforce town planning and stop building on waterways and flood plains; dredging and channelisation of rivers; build dams, levees and embankments; afforestation and green spaces; flood early-warning systems; public enlightenment.

Four, three and four points as asked.