Lesson 3.1.2.3

3.1.2.3 Arid landscape development in contrasting settings Quiz: AQA Geography, Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 3.1.2.3, Arid landscape development in contrasting settings: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Geography (7037), Unit 1: Physical geography, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which aeolian landform is a crescent-shaped dune with horns pointing downwind?

    • Seif dune, which is a long linear dune formed where winds from two directions combine
    • Yardang, which is an elongated ridge carved by wind erosion of weakly consolidated rock
    • Zeugen, which is a table-like ridge with a resistant cap rock above softer strata
    • Barchan dune

  2. Which landform is a long, linear dune aligned parallel to the resultant sand-moving wind?

    • Seif dune
    • Ventifact, which is a small stone with flat faces ground smooth by wind-blown sand
    • Playa, which is a flat dry lake bed in a closed basin covered with salt or fine silt
    • Barchan dune, which forms a crescent shape with horns that point in the direction of the wind

  3. Which landform is a streamlined, wind-eroded ridge aligned with the prevailing wind?

    • Pediment, which is a gently sloping bedrock surface cut by water at the foot of a mountain
    • Inselberg, which is an isolated residual hill rising abruptly from a plain or a desert floor
    • Bahada, which is a broad apron of merged alluvial fans at the base of a mountain range
    • Yardang

  4. What is a desert pavement?

    • A surface of coarse stones left behind after wind has removed fine material
    • A paved road built across a desert for transport, which is laid over a bed of compacted gravel
    • A layer of salt deposited by evaporating lakes that covers the floor of a closed basin
    • A smooth bedrock surface scoured by floods that have swept across the desert for centuries

  5. Which term describes a wind-faceted stone shaped by sand abrasion?

    • Wadi, which is a dry channel that carries water only after rainfall in the desert
    • Zeugen, which is a table-like ridge where a hard cap rock protects softer rock below it
    • Ventifact
    • Playa, which is a flat salt-covered basin in which water collects after rare storms

  6. What is a zeugen?

    • A dune with a crescent shape that migrates across the sand sea in the direction of the wind
    • A salt flat formed in a closed basin where water evaporates and leaves minerals behind
    • A stone shaped by wind abrasion on all sides, with several polished facets on its surface
    • A table-like ridge or mesa where a resistant cap rock protects softer rock beneath

  7. Which feature is an ephemeral river channel in a desert?

    • An inselberg, which is an isolated hill that rises abruptly above the surrounding desert plain
    • A wadi
    • A pediment, which is a gently sloping rock surface cut at the foot of a desert mountain
    • A bahada, which is a fan-shaped apron formed where several alluvial fans have joined together

  8. Which landform is formed where several alluvial fans coalesce at the foot of a mountain front?

    • Deflation hollow, which is a shallow depression formed where the wind has removed fine sediment
    • Playa, which forms in a closed basin where water collects and evaporates to leave a salt flat
    • Pediment, which is a bare rock surface cut gently across the foot of a mountain slope
    • Bahada

  9. A gently sloping, bare rock surface at the foot of a mountain, cut by running water, is best described as:

    • A ventifact, which is a stone with flat faces polished by wind-blown sand grains
    • A pediment
    • An erratic boulder, which is a rock carried by ice and left far from its source
    • A barchan dune, which is a crescent-shaped dune that migrates across the desert floor

  10. What is a playa?

    • A rocky outcrop of resistant granite that stands above the surrounding desert plain
    • A sand dune that migrates slowly across the desert in the direction of the prevailing wind
    • A flat, dry lake bed in a closed basin, often covered with salt or silt after evaporation
    • A steep channel carved by seasonal flash floods that cut deeply into the desert surface

  11. What is an inselberg?

    • A dune formed by a single wind direction that builds a long ridge of sand over time
    • A coarse surface layer of desert pavement left after the fine sediment has been removed
    • A broad alluvial fan at the base of a range, formed where streams leave the mountains
    • An isolated residual hill rising abruptly from a plain

  12. Which landform develops through deflation of loose sediment, creating a shallow depression in a desert surface?

    • A bahada, which is an apron of alluvial fans that have merged at the base of a mountain
    • A yardang, which is an elongated ridge carved by wind from weakly consolidated rock
    • A deflation hollow
    • A zeugen, which is a table-like ridge that survives where a resistant cap rock protects it

  13. Which combination of landforms is typically associated with water-dominated processes in deserts?

    • Barchans, seif dunes, yardangs and ventifacts, which are all shaped mainly by wind action
    • Wadis, bahadas, pediments, playas and inselbergs
    • Lateral moraines, drumlins and erratics, which are shaped mainly by glacier ice and its meltwater
    • Deflation hollows, desert pavements and zeugen, which are shaped mainly by wind erosion

  14. Which statement describes the relationship between process, time and desert landforms?

    • Processes are irrelevant once a landform has been created, because the form then remains fixed
    • Landforms reflect the processes operating over time, so the same process can produce different forms in different settings
    • Landforms are identical everywhere because the same processes always produce the same shapes
    • Time has no effect because desert landforms form in a single storm and never change afterwards

  15. Why do barchan dunes typically migrate in the direction of the wind?

    • Water flow pushes the dune against the wind, so the dune moves in the opposite direction to the air
    • Sand is eroded from the windward slope and deposited on the lee slope, moving the whole dune forward
    • Sand is blown backwards up the slope and collected at the top, so the dune rotates in place each season
    • The dune rotates in place while remaining stationary on the desert floor, with its horns turning

  16. Which feature of a desert landscape is most likely to form in a setting with strong wind and abundant loose sand but limited unidirectional flow?

    • Glacial troughs carved by ice that moves slowly down a valley in the desert mountains
    • Playa basins filled with water after heavy rain, which dry out to leave flat salt surfaces
    • Pediments cut by perennial rivers that flow steadily across the desert all through the year
    • Seif dunes aligned with the resultant wind

  17. Which contrasting setting would most likely produce yardangs rather than barchans?

    • An alpine valley with permanent snow cover, where the wind has little effect on the surface
    • A coastal dune system with onshore winds and an abundant supply of sand from the beach
    • A region of weakly consolidated sediments exposed to strong, persistent winds with little loose sand
    • A river delta with frequent flooding and a supply of fine silt deposited on the floodplain

  18. Which statement best explains why a desert landscape can contain relict features from earlier wetter conditions?

    • Relict features form only in permanently wet settings, so they cannot survive in deserts at all
    • Deserts have always been as dry as they are today, so no relict features can have formed earlier
    • Landforms formed under past climates may persist because present processes are too weak to remove them
    • Present-day processes always erase every earlier feature within a few decades of its formation

  19. Which process is most important in the formation of a pediment?

    • Deposition of loess by winter winds, which builds a thick sheet of silt over the bedrock
    • Lateral planation by sheetwash and episodic streams cutting across a rock surface
    • Coastal wave quarrying of a cliff, which cuts a platform at the base of the coastal headland
    • Glacial plucking of bedrock, which removes large blocks from the surface of the mountain front

  20. Which landform would most likely result from erosion of a layered sandstone where a hard capping bed resists weathering?

    • A bahada, which forms where alluvial fans have merged at the foot of a mountain range
    • A moraine, which forms where glacier ice deposits debris at the edge of its former margin
    • A barchan dune, which forms a crescent shape where sand is blown across a level surface
    • A zeugen

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