WAEC Geography 2020 past questions and answers

On the original map each kilometre division of the linear scale measures 1 cm.

P lies inside the closed contours above the 300 m line on the hill in the north-west, so it is a little higher, about 375 m.

Measured in a straight line and compared with the linear scale, Obasa to Oju is about 9-10 km.

Danki lies west and a little north of Oju, so its bearing is between 270° and 315°: about 285°.

The feature marked Y has closed contours standing in the ocean: an island.

Near the coast R. Kam winds in loops (meanders) through the swamp, a sign of old stage.

Musa is on the coast of BUT OCEAN, so its people are likely to fish.

Bama (Barna) is inland on the western edge; the others are on the coast.

The 150-250 m ridges between KUSH and Kalu block the view.

Köppen's C climates are warm temperate (mesothermal).

When the sea level falls, old beaches are left above the new shoreline as raised beaches.

Fine material carried along within the water is in suspension; attrition and abrasion are erosion processes.

Frost action and temperature changes break rocks physically; hydrolysis and oxidation are chemical.

B is 30° further east: 30 × 4 = 120 min = 2 hours ahead, so 6.00 am + 2 h = 8.00 am.

Latitude and ocean currents are factors that control temperature; of the pairs offered only I and IV are both such factors.

The Mediterranean climate has wet winters and dry summers.

In the troposphere temperature falls about 6.5°C per 1,000 m.

A playa is a temporary salt lake in a desert basin.

A hamada is a bare rocky desert surface swept clear of sand.

Oil forms from buried marine organisms in sedimentary rocks.

A rift valley forms when land sinks between parallel faults.

21 March is an equinox.

Impermeable rock does not let water pass through it.

A great circle is the shortest route, so it saves time and fuel.

Coastal submergence is caused by sea-level change or sinking land, not the earth's shape.

Rivers cut a dissected plateau into separate blocks.

The towns are 40 + 10 = 50° apart (opposite sides of the Equator): 50 × 111 = 5,550 km.

Political instability, shortage of foreign exchange and strained relations all hinder trade; low tariffs encourage it.

The hinterland is the inland area a port serves.

Transport spreads ideas and culture and boosts trade; it does not cause unemployment.

Industries in Tropical Africa are mostly labour intensive and produce consumer goods for home markets.

Limestone is bulky and loses weight in processing, so cement works are sited at the raw material.

Where population is high, land is scarce and demand is large, so land is farmed intensively.

Fear of failure is overcome by training bold, innovative entrepreneurs willing to take risks.

Fishermen in sail and paddle boats go out on the land breeze at night and return on the sea breeze by day.

Pottery is a traditional handicraft.

Governments site some industries in rural areas to develop them and slow migration to towns.

Towns provide many services (trade, banking, education, administration).

Air transport is the fastest, so perishable goods reach markets before they spoil.

(a) Nearness to raw materials; nearness to market; power supply; labour supply; good transport and port facilities; capital and credit facilities; government policy (industrial estates, incentives); industrial linkages and ancillary industries; shared infrastructure; industrial inertia; water supply.
(b) Employment for rural people; higher rural incomes and living standards; reduced rural-urban migration and urban congestion; development of rural infrastructure (roads, power, water); use of local raw materials and markets for farmers; growth of rural settlements into towns; even (balanced) development; skill acquisition and transfer of technology; diversification of the rural economy; revenue to government.

Explain each benefit for rural people.

(a) Buildings are close together (compact/clustered); has a clear centre (market, palace, CBD); farmland lies outside the settlement; high population density; well connected by roads; many social amenities; close interaction among inhabitants.
(b) Administrative (Abuja, Washington); commercial and financial (Lagos, New York, London); industrial (Manchester, Detroit); port (Rotterdam, Lagos); educational (Oxford, Ibadan); religious (Mecca, Rome, Jerusalem); tourist and cultural (Paris); residential; transport nodes.
(c) Water supply; fertile soils; defence/security; nodal location (meeting of routes); mineral deposits; good harbours; administrative status; industries and jobs; good climate and relief; trade.

Give an example city for each function.

(a) Follows definite routes (ocean trade routes); uses large ships (tankers, container ships, liners); slow; links continents and ports; carries bulky goods over long distances; affected by weather and storms; needs port facilities.
(b) Cheapest for bulky goods over long distances; large carrying capacity; natural routeways need little construction; few accidents; links countries across oceans; suitable for heavy and awkward goods.
(c) Raw materials cannot reach factories easily; farm produce rots before reaching markets; high cost of transport raises prices; rural areas remain isolated and undeveloped; discourages investors and industries; limits trade and tourism; hinders movement of labour; slows national integration and administration.

Write each point as a short explanation.

(a) Map: rainforest belt across the south behind the mangrove coast (Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Imo, Cross River); Sahel savanna in the extreme north-east and north (Borno around Lake Chad, northern Sokoto, Yobe); Ibadan in the south-west on the forest-savanna margin.
(b) Tall evergreen trees (up to 45-60 m) in layers (canopies); many species mixed together; dense undergrowth where light reaches the floor; climbers (lianas) and epiphytes; hardwoods such as mahogany, iroko, obeche; buttress roots; trees shed leaves at different times so the forest is always green.
(c) Timber for building, furniture and export; raw materials for industries (plywood, paper, matches); cash crops grown there (cocoa, oil palm, rubber, kola); food, fruits and bush meat; medicinal herbs; fuel wood; employment; tourism (forest reserves); protects soil and supports rainfall.

Describe the layered structure of the forest.

(a) Map: interior coastland (lowlands) of Western Nigeria behind the coast in Ogun, Ondo and Lagos hinterland; coastal plain (lagoons and sand bars) along the coast from Lagos eastward; Niger Delta with its many distributaries between the Benin River and the Cross River (Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta); Port Harcourt on the Bonny River in the eastern delta.
(b) Petroleum and natural gas; fishing grounds; sites for seaports and trade; lumbering and timber; tourism (beaches); land for crops such as oil palm, rubber, coconut; salt and sand for building; employment.
(c) Sand bars and spits across river mouths; constant silting of channels requiring dredging; lagoons and swamps; lack of natural deep harbours (straight coast); coastal erosion and strong surf; water weeds; inadequate capital and poor management; poor roads to the hinterland.

Place Port Harcourt in the eastern delta.

(a)(i) Coal; natural gas; petroleum (crude oil, diesel); fuel wood/charcoal.
(ii) Solar (sun); wind; water (HEP); biomass/biogas; waves and tides.
(b) Inadequate capital and high cost of power stations; shortage of skilled manpower; vandalism of gas pipelines and sabotage; irregular gas supply; high cost of spare parts and poor maintenance; low level of technology; poor management and corruption; competition with HEP; insecurity.
(c) Provide adequate funding and encourage private investment; train and retrain technicians; protect pipelines with security patrols and punish vandals; ensure regular gas supply (gas pipelines, ending flaring); local fabrication of spare parts and regular maintenance; transfer of technology; good management and monitoring; consistent government policy.

Match each solution to a problem.

(a) Average contribution = (35,000 + 60,000 + 45,000 + 80,000 + 30,000) ÷ 5 = 250,000 ÷ 5 = $50,000. Deviations from the average: A −15,000; B +10,000; C −5,000; D +30,000; E −20,000. Draw a horizontal base line for the average ($50,000); choose a vertical scale (e.g. 1 cm = $5,000); draw bars upward for B and D and downward for A, C and E to the correct lengths; equal widths and gaps; label countries, axis and title, and shade positive and negative bars differently with a key.
(b) Shows values above and below an average or zero (gains and losses, surplus and deficit, e.g. balance of trade, temperature anomalies, population change).

Work out the average first.

(a) Latitude; altitude; distance from the sea (continentality); ocean currents; prevailing winds and pressure belts; relief (slope and aspect); natural vegetation; cloud cover; human activities (urbanisation, industry).
(b) High temperatures all year (about 27°C); very small annual range (2-3°C); heavy rainfall (over 2,000 mm) throughout the year; double maxima of rainfall (near the equinoxes); convectional rain with afternoon thunderstorms; high relative humidity (over 80%); cloudy skies; small diurnal range; calm air (doldrums).

Give figures for temperature and rainfall.

(a) Weathering is the breakdown or decay of rocks in their original position (in situ) by physical, chemical or biological processes, without the material being moved.
(b) Climate (temperature and rainfall); rock type and mineral composition; rock structure (joints, bedding planes); relief/slope; vegetation and living organisms; human activities; time.
(c) Exfoliation (onion weathering): in hot deserts rocks are heated strongly by day and cooled quickly at night; rocks are poor conductors, so the outer layer expands and contracts more than the inside; repeated stress creates cracks parallel to the surface; the outer shells peel off like the layers of an onion; moisture from dew can speed it up; it leaves rounded rock masses (exfoliation domes).

Stress repeated heating and cooling.

(a) V-shaped valley; gorge; waterfall; rapids; potholes; interlocking spurs; plunge pool; river capture features.
(b) Differences: an alluvial fan forms on land at the foot of a highland where a stream leaves a steep valley, a delta forms where a river enters a sea or lake; alluvial fans contain coarse material (gravel, boulders), deltas mostly fine silt and clay; alluvial fans are common in dry areas and are often dry, deltas have water most of the time; deltas are larger, with many distributaries; fans slope more steeply.
Similarities: both are depositional features formed by rivers; both are fan- or triangle-shaped; both form where the river suddenly loses speed; both are made of alluvium; both have streams dividing into several channels.

Three differences and two similarities exactly.

(a) Climate is the average weather conditions of a place over a long period, usually about 35 years.
(b) Globe showing the torrid zone between the Tropics of Cancer (23½°N) and Capricorn (23½°S); the north and south temperate zones between the tropics and the Arctic/Antarctic Circles (66½°); the north and south frigid zones from the circles to the poles.
(c) Sahara; Kalahari and Namib; Arabian Desert; Thar Desert; Great Australian Desert; Atacama; Sonoran/Mojave.
(d) Very low and unreliable rainfall (under 250 mm); very high day temperatures and cold nights (large diurnal range); low humidity and clear skies; strong winds and dust storms; high evaporation; sparse xerophytic vegetation.

Mark latitudes on the globe.

(a) Atmospheric pollution is the release into the air of harmful substances (gases, smoke, dust, chemicals) in amounts that damage people, animals, plants or property.
(b) Industrial smoke and fumes; vehicle exhaust; gas flaring; burning of refuse and bush burning; generators; volcanic eruptions; dust from mining and quarrying; aerosols and refrigerants (CFCs).
(c) Respiratory diseases (asthma, bronchitis); acid rain damaging buildings, forests and lakes; depletion of the ozone layer; global warming and climate change; smog and reduced visibility; damage to crops and vegetation; unpleasant smells.

Four effects, each in a phrase or sentence.