Lesson Y7-U03-L04

Y7-U03-L04 Erosion, Transport and Deposition Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y7-U03-L04, Erosion, Transport and Deposition: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 3: Year 7: Rivers and the Water Cycle, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What does erosion mean in a river?

    • Wearing away the rock and soil of the banks and bed
    • Dropping the load when the river slows down
    • Carrying the load of rock and mud downstream
    • Piling up sediment on flat land near the sea

  2. What does deposition mean?

    • Wearing away the rock of the riverbed over time
    • Dropping the load because the river has slowed down
    • Carrying the load of rock and mud downstream
    • Breaking stones into smaller, rounder pieces by collision

  3. What is a river's load?

    • The salts that the sea adds to the river at its mouth
    • The water that flows in the channel near its mouth
    • All the rock, stones and mud the river carries
    • The energy a river has to wear away the land

  4. Which erosion process scrapes the bed and banks like sandpaper?

    • Hydraulic action, where water forces apart cracks in rock
    • Attrition, where stones knock together and round off
    • Solution, where water dissolves soft rock like chalk
    • Abrasion, where stones scrape against the bed and banks

  5. Which erosion process slowly breaks stones into smaller, rounder pieces?

    • Hydraulic action, water forcing apart cracks in rock
    • Abrasion, scraping the bed like sandpaper
    • Solution, water dissolving soft rocks like chalk
    • Attrition, stones knocking together and wearing down

  6. Which erosion process dissolves soft rocks such as chalk and limestone?

    • Solution, where slightly acidic water dissolves the rock
    • Abrasion, where stones scrape against the riverbed
    • Hydraulic action, where water forces apart cracks in rock
    • Attrition, where stones knock together and get rounder

  7. Which transport process carries the biggest boulders, rolling them along the bed?

    • Traction, where large boulders roll along the bed
    • Saltation, where small stones bounce along the bed
    • Suspension, where light particles float in the water
    • Solution, where dissolved minerals are carried invisibly

  8. Which transport process carries fine mud floating inside the water?

    • Solution, where minerals are dissolved in the water
    • Suspension, where light particles float inside the water
    • Saltation, where small stones bounce along the bed
    • Traction, where large boulders roll along the bed

  9. Which transport process makes small stones bounce and hop along the riverbed?

    • Solution, where dissolved minerals travel invisibly
    • Saltation, where small stones bounce and hop along
    • Traction, where large boulders are rolled along
    • Suspension, where fine mud is held up in the water

  10. Sand and grit scrape along a riverbed, smoothing it. Which erosion process is this?

    • Solution, where water dissolves the rock
    • Abrasion, where stones scrape against the bed
    • Hydraulic action, where water forces apart cracks
    • Attrition, where stones knock together and round off

  11. A river forces water into a crack in its bank until a chunk of rock breaks off. Which process is this?

    • Attrition, stones knocking into each other
    • Abrasion, stones grinding against the bank
    • Hydraulic action, the force of the water breaking rock
    • Solution, the water dissolving the rock slowly

  12. Acidic river water slowly dissolves a chalk bank. Which erosion process is at work?

    • Solution, water dissolving the soft chalk
    • Abrasion, stones scraping the bank away
    • Hydraulic action, water forcing open cracks
    • Attrition, stones knocking and rounding off

  13. Pebbles near a river's mouth are usually smaller and rounder than pebbles near its source. What best explains this?

    • Pebbles near the source are made of soft rock that dissolves away
    • The river deposits its largest pebbles as it reaches the sea
    • The mouth is higher, so pebbles are carried up there and shrink
    • The pebbles were carried further, so attrition has rounded and reduced them

  14. Which transport process carries dissolved minerals from limestone, so they are invisible in the water?

    • Solution, where dissolved minerals are carried in the water
    • Saltation, where small stones bounce along the bed
    • Traction, where large boulders roll along the bed
    • Suspension, where light particles float in the water

  15. A fast river flows onto flat, gentle land and slows. What will most likely happen to its load?

    • It will be transported further, because slow water carries more
    • It will be eroded, because slow water scrapes the bed harder
    • It will be deposited, because the river has less energy
    • It will be dissolved, because the river becomes saltier

  16. Why does a river deposit its heaviest material first when it slows down?

    • Heavy material floats more easily than light material
    • Heavy material dissolves before the lighter material does
    • Heavy material needs the most energy to carry, so it is dropped first
    • Heavy material is always carried in suspension by the river

  17. Where on a river would you expect the most erosion?

    • Near the mouth, where the land is low and flat
    • On a flat plain where the river meets the sea
    • Near the mouth, where the river spreads into a delta
    • In the upper course, where the river is steep and fast

  18. Where on a river would you expect the most deposition?

    • In the upper course, where the river is steep and fast
    • Near the source, where the river starts high in hills
    • Where the river is narrow and channelled through a gorge
    • Near the mouth, where the river slows and spreads out

  19. A pupil says a slow river erodes the most. Which reply is correct?

    • Rivers erode the same amount whatever their speed, so speed does not matter
    • Slow rivers erode the banks but never the bed, so they erode least overall
    • Slow rivers erode most because they have time to wear rock away
    • Fast rivers have more energy, so they erode the most, and slow rivers deposit

  20. The same river can be eroding in one place and depositing in another at the same time. What best explains this?

    • Its water turns salty near the mouth and stays fresh near the source as the seasons change
    • Its load stops moving once it reaches the sea, so the river cannot erode any more banks
    • Its tributaries stop flowing, so the channel dries up in some places during the year
    • Its speed and energy differ between places, so it erodes where fast and deposits where slow

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