Lesson 3.1.1.2

3.1.1.2 The water cycle Quiz: AQA Geography, Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 3.1.1.2, The water cycle: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Geography (7037), Unit 1: Physical geography, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. Which store holds the largest proportion of Earth's water?

    • Groundwater within the lithosphere, which holds water in pore spaces and fractures
    • The atmosphere, where water vapour and cloud droplets are held in large volumes
    • The hydrosphere, mainly the oceans
    • The cryosphere, where ice sheets and glaciers hold water for very long periods

  2. Which process transfers water from liquid to vapour at the surface?

    • Infiltration, which carries water from the soil surface into the ground below
    • Evaporation
    • Precipitation, which delivers water from clouds to the land and sea surface
    • Condensation, which changes water vapour in the air back into liquid droplets

  3. What is interception in a drainage basin?

    • Water flowing over the surface into a river channel along the valley floor
    • Water moving down tree trunks and collecting in the soil at the base of the tree
    • Water seeping through the soil into bedrock and slowly reaching deep aquifers
    • Water caught and held on vegetation and surfaces before it reaches the ground

  4. Which term describes precipitation that runs down tree trunks to reach the ground?

    • Stemflow
    • Percolation, which is the downward movement of water through the soil and rock
    • Infiltration, which is the entry of water into the soil through its surface layer
    • Throughfall, which drips or falls through gaps in the canopy onto the ground below

  5. Which term describes water that soaks into the soil surface?

    • Infiltration
    • Channel flow, which moves water along the bed of a river to the basin outlet
    • Stemflow, which runs down the trunks of trees and reaches the soil at their base
    • Overland flow, which moves across the ground surface towards the nearest channel

  6. What is the water balance equation for a drainage basin over a year when there is no change in storage?

    • Precipitation = evapotranspiration + runoff
    • Evapotranspiration = precipitation + runoff, with precipitation treated as the output term
    • Runoff = precipitation + evapotranspiration, which adds the losses to the total input
    • Precipitation = evapotranspiration - runoff, which allows runoff to be subtracted from the total

  7. On a flood hydrograph, what is lag time?

    • The time taken for groundwater to reach the river channel after the storm has ended
    • The time taken for the river to fall back to its pre-storm level after the flood has passed
    • The time taken for infiltrated water to reach full saturation in the soil profile
    • The time between peak rainfall and peak discharge

  8. Which feature of a flood hydrograph shows the highest discharge?

    • The rising limb, which shows discharge increasing as water reaches the channel from the slopes
    • The peak discharge
    • The falling limb, which shows discharge decreasing as the flood water drains away
    • The base flow, which is the steady discharge supplied by groundwater between storms

  9. Which change is most likely to shorten lag time and increase peak discharge in a drainage basin?

    • Increased infiltration into permeable soils that absorb water and delay runoff
    • Urbanisation with impermeable surfaces and drains
    • Greater interception by dense woodland that holds rainfall on leaves before it reaches the soil
    • Afforestation of upland slopes, which increases interception and slows the arrival of water

  10. A drainage basin has annual precipitation of 1,200 mm, evapotranspiration of 700 mm and runoff of 450 mm. What is the annual storage change?

    • -50 mm, because the runoff of 450 mm is larger than the evapotranspiration subtracted
    • +450 mm, because the runoff is the only term that adds to the basin's storage
    • +700 mm, because evapotranspiration is returned to storage as soil moisture each year
    • +50 mm

  11. A catchment of 40 km2 receives 25 mm of rainfall in a storm, and 60 per cent of it runs off as surface runoff. What volume of runoff is produced?

    • 400,000 m3, which is the 40 per cent of rainfall that infiltrated into the soil
    • 600,000 m3
    • 6,000 m3, which is the runoff depth in millimetres converted to a volume in cubic metres
    • 1,000,000 m3, which is the full volume of rain that fell over the catchment in the storm

  12. A river discharge rises from 8 m3/s to 42 m3/s after a storm. What is the increase in discharge?

    • 50 m3/s, which is the sum of the original discharge and the new peak discharge
    • 34 m3/s
    • 42 m3/s, which is the peak discharge reached during the storm and not the increase
    • 5.25 m3/s, which is the ratio of the peak discharge to the original discharge

  13. Rainfall of 15 mm falls evenly on a 2 km2 area of catchment. What volume of water falls on the area?

    • 30 m3, which is the volume obtained by multiplying the depth in millimetres by the area in km2
    • 300,000 m3, which is the volume obtained by multiplying the depth by 20 km2
    • 3,000 m3, which is the volume obtained by dividing the rainfall depth by ten
    • 30,000 m3

  14. Which statement about the atmosphere as a water store is correct?

    • Water in the atmosphere typically remains there for thousands of years before it falls
    • It holds the largest share of global water in the system, by a very wide margin
    • It holds a very small proportion of global water, but water there has a short residence time
    • It holds more water than the cryosphere, because ice is a much smaller store overall

  15. Which cryospheric store has the longest residence time for water?

    • Clouds in the troposphere, which form and disperse again within a matter of days
    • Soil moisture near the surface, which is lost to evaporation and plant uptake quickly
    • Ice sheets and glaciers
    • Surface runoff in river channels, which moves water to the sea within weeks

  16. A basin has annual runoff of 300 mm from 900 mm of precipitation. What is the runoff ratio?

    • About 3 per cent, which is obtained by dividing the runoff by ten times the precipitation
    • About 67 per cent, which is the share of precipitation lost to evapotranspiration
    • About 33 per cent
    • About 300 per cent, which is the ratio of runoff to precipitation expressed as a multiple

  17. Which factor would most reduce infiltration and increase overland flow after heavy rain on bare, compacted farmland?

    • Stemflow channelled down a tree canopy, which adds water to the soil at the base of trunks
    • Compacted soil with reduced porosity
    • High levels of organic matter in the topsoil, which improve soil structure and water entry
    • Deep-rooted vegetation that creates soil pores and channels for water to move down

  18. A hydrograph shows a long lag time and a low, broad peak after a storm. Which catchment characteristic is most likely?

    • Compacted soils on steep slopes with little vegetation cover to hold back the flow
    • A large area of permeable, vegetated ground
    • Extensive urban concrete surfaces, which send surface water to drains within minutes
    • Steep slopes underlain by impermeable rock, which carry water rapidly into the channel

  19. What is the most likely effect of large-scale water abstraction on a drainage basin's water balance?

    • It increases evapotranspiration only, because water taken from rivers is lost to the atmosphere
    • It increases base flow permanently, because the abstracted water is returned to the rivers
    • It acts as an extra output, reducing channel discharge and possibly lowering storage
    • It adds an input to river channel storage, increasing the discharge at the basin outlet

  20. Which change in farming practice is most likely to increase flood peaks in a drainage basin?

    • Planting hedgerows along field boundaries, which slows runoff and traps sediment on the slope
    • Using no-till methods that keep the soil structure intact and improve infiltration capacity
    • Drainage of wetlands and removal of vegetation, increasing overland flow and reducing interception
    • Creating field ponds that store water temporarily and release it slowly to the channel

All AQA Geography quizzes