WAEC Geography 2021 past questions and answers

Follow the road from Dambo north-east to the junction near Ilo, then south to Hume and measure against the linear scale: about 17 km + 14 km, roughly 30 km.

The south-east corner carries the symbol for 'area liable to flooding', so it is poorly drained.

The 500 m and 600 m contours are in the north-west corner; the land falls to 100 m in the south-east.

Roads link Dambo, Ilo, Ogoh and Hume; there is no airport and only short footpaths.

A straight line from Dambo to Ogoh measured against the linear scale is about 20 km.

Ilo lies north-north-west of Hume, so its bearing is between 315° and 360°: about 330°.

Bridges, roads and settlements are all shown in the key and on the map; no dam is shown.

Dambo is to the left (west) of and higher up (north of) Hume on the map, so it is north-west.

October has the highest figure, 230 mm.

Adding the twelve monthly totals gives 1,511 mm.

Highest 30°C (August) − lowest 16°C (January) = 14°C.

Rainfall rises to a peak in June (189 mm), dips in July (140 mm) and rises to a second peak in September-October: two maxima.

Permeable rocks have pores and joints that let water in and store it as groundwater.

Temperature falls about 6.5°C per 1,000 m, so 3,000 m gives 19.5°C; at the foot it is 6 + 19.5 = 25.5°C.

The overhead sun reaches the Tropic of Capricorn (23½°S) at the December solstice, about 22 December.

A barchan is a crescent-shaped dune built from sand deposited by the wind.

Where bands of hard and soft rock alternate, tributaries cut along the soft bands and join the main streams at right angles, giving a trellis pattern.

30° east is 30 × 4 = 120 minutes (2 hours) ahead, so 10.00 am + 2 h = 12.00 noon (12.00 p.m.).

Zeugens and inselbergs both form in deserts; batholiths are volcanic and sandbars and tombolos are coastal.

At the March equinox the sun is overhead at the equator, so every place has about 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night.

Hydraulic action, the force of waves and air compressed in cracks, breaks up rocks: it is erosion. The others are ways of transporting load.

A wadi is a dry valley cut by occasional floods of running water; the others are wind features.

Africa stretches from about 17°W to 51°E; 20°E runs close to the middle of the continent.

Humidity is measured with a hygrometer (wet and dry bulb); a barometer measures air pressure.

Limestone changed by heat and pressure becomes marble.

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

Limestone and chalk are both formed from deposited shells and calcium carbonate: sedimentary rocks.

Bush burning, overgrazing and excavation all expose bare soil to rain and wind; reafforestation protects the soil.

A = tropical rainy climate, f = rain in every month: the equatorial (tropical rainforest) climate.

Stromboli, a volcano that erupts almost continuously, is called the lighthouse of the Mediterranean.

ECOWAS has worked towards a common market, allowed free movement of people and set up ECOMOG for joint military action; restricting trade is not an aim.

Cover crops shield the soil from rain splash and runoff and add organic matter, so cover-cropping is the conservation technique.

Climate, relief and soil decide where people choose to live; sex ratio is a feature of a population, not a cause of where it lives.

Slave raiding in the past drove people out of the Middle Belt, leaving it thinly populated; the other options would attract people.

Freetown has a deep, sheltered natural harbour in the Sierra Leone River estuary; Takoradi's harbour is artificial.

Most rural people work in primary activities such as farming, fishing and lumbering.

Capital cities grow mainly because people move in from rural areas in search of jobs and amenities.

Coal formed from the remains of ancient plants, so it is a fossil fuel.

Large cities are usually centres of government and of trade; plantations are rural and not all cities are religious centres.

Japan's Pacific industrial belt is famous for shipbuilding, electronics and cars.

Plains usually have fertile soils and are easy to build roads and railways across, so people concentrate there.

Air fares are high for most people, so few passengers and little freight use the planes: low patronage.

In drought rivers become too shallow for boats, and in floods currents are dangerous, so river transport suffers most.

Industries in towns provide jobs and bring revenue to government; religious tolerance has nothing to do with it and 'unemployment provision' is not a benefit.

Countries trade because they have different resources and different levels of technology; uniform tastes and language barriers do not create trade.

(a)(i) 5.5 + 8.0 + 6.7 + 4.8 = 25 million (25,000,000).
(ii) 60,000 + 105,000 + 125,000 + 88,000 = 378,000 km².
(iii) Density = population ÷ area = 25,000,000 ÷ 378,000 ≈ 66 persons per km².
(b) Fertile soils and good farmland; favourable climate; availability of water; gentle relief; mineral resources and industries (jobs); good transport and accessibility; social amenities; political stability and security; high birth rate and low death rate; administrative or commercial centres.
(c) Large labour force for farms and industries; large home market for goods, which attracts investors; cheaper provision of roads, schools and other services per person; more taxpayers and revenue for government; manpower for defence; full use of resources; rapid spread of ideas and innovation.

Show the working for density with units.

(a)(i) A settlement is a place where people live, a building or group of buildings together with the people who live and work there.
(ii) Town; city; conurbation; metropolis; megalopolis (any two).
(b) Rural areas supply food; raw materials for urban industries (cotton, cocoa, timber); labour (migrants); building materials (sand, gravel, timber); fuel wood and charcoal; market for manufactured goods; recreation and tourist sites; herbs and craft products.
(c) Administrative centres; commercial/market centres; industrial centres; educational centres; health services; transport nodes and ports; religious and cultural centres; residential function.

Five distinct ways in (b).

(a) Tourism is the travel of people away from their usual home to other places for pleasure, leisure or business, staying for at least one night and less than a year.
(b) Attractive scenery and natural features (beaches, waterfalls, mountains); wildlife parks and game reserves; historical and cultural sites and festivals; good transport and accessibility; good accommodation (hotels); political stability and security; pleasant climate; publicity and favourable government policy; friendly, hospitable people.
(c) Erosion of local culture and values; social vices (drug abuse, prostitution) and crime; pollution and damage to the environment and historic sites; rising prices of goods and land; spread of diseases; seasonal unemployment; profits going to foreign companies; poaching of wildlife.

Give five factors and four problems.

(a) Outline of Nigeria with a title, north arrow and key; Kainji dam on the River Niger in the west (Niger State/Kwara area, about 10°N 4.5°E); Lake Chad in the extreme north-east corner; Ibadan in the south-west, north-east of Lagos.
(b) High cost of solar panels and batteries; lack of technical skills; low level of technology and dependence on imported parts; poor maintenance; inadequate government policy and funding; low public awareness; theft and vandalism of panels; cloud cover and harmattan dust reduce sunshine.
(c) Displacement and resettlement of people from flooded villages; loss of farmland and grazing land; loss of forest and wildlife habitats; spread of water-borne diseases (bilharzia, malaria); reduced flow and silt downstream, affecting farming and fishing; flooding when water is released; loss of historical sites (old Bussa); high cost of maintenance.

Explain each problem in a sentence.

(a) Outline of Nigeria with title and north arrow; latitude 4°N along the southern coast and 14°N along the northern border; longitude 3°E on the western border and 15°E near the eastern border; Enugu in the south-east.
(b)(i) Size: about 923,768 km²; about 1,100 km from north to south and about 1,300 km from east to west; the most populous country in Africa; one of the largest countries in West Africa (about one-seventh of the region).
(ii) Location: in West Africa; between latitudes 4°N and 14°N and longitudes 3°E and 15°E; north of the equator and east of the Greenwich meridian; extent about 10° of latitude and 12° of longitude.
(iii) Position: bounded by the Niger Republic in the north, Chad in the north-east, Cameroon in the east, Benin Republic in the west and the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Guinea) in the south; surrounded by French-speaking countries.

Mark the lines of latitude and longitude clearly.

(a)(i)-(ii) e.g. Lagos - textiles, breweries, food processing; Port Harcourt - oil refining and petrochemicals; Kano - tanning, leather and groundnut oil milling; Kaduna - oil refining and textiles; Aba - soap, footwear and textiles; Nkalagu - cement; Jos - tin smelting; Onitsha - textiles and plastics.
(b) Provide employment; earn foreign exchange; raise revenue for government; add value to raw materials; transfer technology and skills; diversify the economy; encourage growth of towns and infrastructure; reduce imports.
(c) Erratic power supply; shortage of capital; shortage of skilled labour; poor transport and infrastructure; competition from imported goods; insecurity; high cost of raw materials and spare parts; inconsistent government policies and corruption.

Pair each town with a real industry.

(a) Number of dots = production ÷ 20,000: A = 5 dots; B = 13 dots; C = 10 dots; D = 4 dots. Copy the outline of Country M with regions A-D, place dots of equal size evenly in each region, and add a title and key (1 dot = 20,000 metric tonnes).
(b) Exact values are hard to read off; fractions of the dot value cannot be shown; dots crowd together and merge in high-value areas; spreading dots evenly hides the real distribution within a region; choosing a suitable dot value is difficult; dots may fall on areas where the crop is not grown (lakes, hills); slow to draw.

Work out each region's dots first.

(a) Cliff; wave-cut platform; cave; arch; stack; stump; headland and bay; geo; blowhole.
(b)(i) Hydraulic action: waves hit the coast with great force; water and air are forced into cracks and joints; the air is compressed, then expands suddenly as the wave retreats; repeated pressure widens the cracks and breaks off pieces of rock.
(ii) Corrasion (abrasion): waves pick up sand, pebbles and boulders and hurl them against the cliff base; they act as tools that scrape and undercut the rock, forming notches and wave-cut platforms.

Name the tools of corrasion.

(a) Temperature falls with height at about 6.5°C per 1,000 m; the atmosphere is heated from the ground by terrestrial radiation, so air further from the ground is cooler; air at height is thinner and holds less heat; so highland places (e.g. Jos Plateau) are cooler than lowlands.
(b) Land heats and cools faster than the sea; the sea warms places near it in winter and cools them in summer; coastal places have a small annual and daily range (maritime climate); inland places have hot summers, cold winters and a large range (continental climate).
(c) Slopes facing the sun (south-facing in the northern hemisphere) receive direct rays and are warmer; slopes facing away are in shade and cooler; gentle slopes may collect cold air in valleys at night (temperature inversion).

Explain each factor, not just state it.

(a) A great circle is a circle on the earth's surface whose plane passes through the centre of the earth, dividing it into two equal halves.
(b) It divides the earth into two hemispheres; its centre is the centre of the earth; it is the largest circle that can be drawn on the globe; the shortest distance between two points lies along a great circle (used by ships and aircraft); all meridians and the equator are great circles; infinitely many can be drawn.
(c) Difference = 100 + 10 = 110°; 110 × 4 = 440 minutes = 7 h 20 min; 10°W is west, so time is behind: 5.00 a.m. − 7 h 20 min = 9.40 p.m. (i) 9.40 p.m.; (ii) Sunday; (iii) 10th April 2011.

Subtract time when going west.

(a) Mechanically formed (clastic) rocks, e.g. sandstone, shale; organically formed rocks, e.g. limestone, coal, chalk; chemically formed rocks, e.g. rock salt, gypsum, potash.
(b)(i) Granite - gneiss; (ii) clay - slate; (iii) shale - slate (or schist); (iv) limestone - marble.
(c) Sedimentary rocks are formed from deposited sediments, metamorphic rocks from existing rocks changed by heat and/or pressure; sedimentary rocks are in layers (strata), metamorphic rocks are banded or foliated; sedimentary rocks may contain fossils, metamorphic rocks rarely do; sedimentary rocks are usually soft and porous, metamorphic rocks hard, compact and non-porous; sedimentary rocks form at the surface, metamorphic rocks deep in the crust.

Each difference should compare both rocks.

(a) Volcanic cones (ash, cinder, composite); lava plateau; lava plain; crater; caldera; crater lake; geysers and hot springs; fumaroles.
(b) Diagram: a dome-shaped mass of solidified magma between rock layers, with a pipe feeding it from below and the overlying layers arched upwards.
Characteristics: intrusive feature; dome or mushroom shape with a flat base; lies between bedding planes; arches the overlying strata; may be exposed by erosion as a hill (e.g. Henry Mountains, USA).
Formation: viscous magma rises along a line of weakness; it cannot spread far or break through the overlying hard layers; it accumulates between strata and forces the upper layers to bulge upward; it cools and solidifies there to form a laccolith.

Label pipe, laccolith and arched strata.

(a) Environmental balance is the state in which living things and the physical environment are in harmony, with natural processes keeping the components of the ecosystem stable.
(b) Diagram showing sea, land, clouds and arrows. Water from seas, lakes and rivers evaporates and plants transpire; water vapour rises, cools and condenses into clouds; precipitation (rain, snow) falls on land and sea; water flows back as surface runoff in rivers or infiltrates as groundwater which feeds springs and rivers; it returns to the sea and the cycle repeats.
(c) Provides rainfall for crops; replenishes rivers and groundwater for drinking and domestic use; water for industries; rivers for hydroelectric power; regulates temperature; supports fishing and transport.

Label evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff.