Lesson Y8-U02-L02

Y8-U02-L02 Weathering and Mass Movement Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 8

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U02-L02, Weathering and Mass Movement: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 8: Year 8: Coasts: A Changing Landscape, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What does weathering mean?

    • The breaking down of rock where it sits, without moving it away
    • Rock sliding downhill under the pull of gravity, often after heavy rain
    • Moving broken rock away by water, wind or ice, carrying it to a new place
    • Waves wearing a beach away over a long period, carrying sand out to sea

  2. How does erosion differ from weathering?

    • Weathering carries material away, while erosion breaks rock in place
    • Both processes always happen at exactly the same spot
    • Erosion carries broken material away, while weathering breaks rock in place
    • Erosion only affects rock that lies above sea level

  3. What are the three types of weathering that break down coastal rock?

    • Biological, gravitational and glacial
    • Chemical, tidal and solar
    • Mechanical, chemical and biological
    • Mechanical, thermal and magnetic

  4. Which type of weathering uses living things such as roots and burrowing animals?

    • Mechanical weathering
    • Chemical weathering
    • Freeze-thaw erosion
    • Biological weathering

  5. What is freeze-thaw weathering?

    • Ice carrying rock away from the base of a cliff, moving it along the shore
    • Acid rain dissolving rock into solution, leaving the cliff face smooth and clean
    • Water freezing in cracks, expanding and slowly splitting the rock apart
    • Waves pounding rock until a crack forms, then widening it with each big wave

  6. By about what percentage does water expand when it freezes?

    • About 25 percent
    • About 90 percent
    • About 0.9 percent
    • About 9 percent

  7. What is slumping?

    • Water rushing up a beach after a wave breaks
    • Acid slowly dissolving limestone in place
    • Wet, weak rock slipping downhill in a curved, rotating slide
    • Dry rock dropping straight down a steep cliff face

  8. Which type of weathering is caused by weak acids in rainwater dissolving rock?

    • Mechanical weathering
    • Biological weathering
    • Mass movement
    • Chemical weathering

  9. A cliff block is loose after water froze in its cracks over many winters. Which order describes freeze-thaw weathering correctly?

    • Water enters the crack, freezes and expands, then the crack widens until rock breaks off
    • Rock breaks off first, then water freezes in the crack that was left behind it
    • Ice melts first, so the crack shrinks and seals itself before the rock can break off
    • Ice forms on the surface of the cliff and the crack closes over and seals itself

  10. A river carries broken rock out to sea. Which process is this?

    • Erosion
    • Freeze-thaw
    • Weathering
    • Slumping

  11. Tree roots prise apart a block of rock on a cliff top. Which type of weathering is this?

    • Chemical weathering
    • Mechanical weathering
    • Biological weathering
    • Mass movement

  12. Clay at the cliff base is wet and weak, and it rotates downhill in a curved scoop. What is this called?

    • Chemical dissolving
    • Sliding
    • Slumping
    • Freeze-thaw weathering

  13. A dry, hard rock face drops straight down a steep cliff. What is this called?

    • Biological weathering
    • Slumping
    • Erosion by a river
    • Sliding

  14. Why is a weathered cliff more likely to collapse?

    • The rock becomes harder and denser over time, so it is less likely to crumble
    • Weathering piles rock on top of the cliff, adding weight and making it taller
    • The rock is broken into loose, weak pieces that gravity can pull down
    • The waves stop reaching the base of the cliff, so the cliff is no longer undercut

  15. Which card belongs in the 'Both / linked' column when sorting processes?

    • Acid rain slowly dissolving limestone
    • Wet clay rotating downhill in a curved scoop
    • A weathered cliff collapsing under gravity
    • Water freezing in a crack and splitting the rock

  16. Which statement correctly compares sliding and slumping?

    • Sliding drops rock straight down, while slumping rotates wet material in a curve
    • Sliding rotates wet clay in a curve, while slumping drops rock straight down
    • Both are caused only by water freezing in cracks
    • Both move material sideways along the beach

  17. Why can freeze-thaw weathering keep working on a cliff for many years?

    • Frost stops working once a crack has grown, because the rock is then too cold
    • Ice never melts once it has formed inside a crack, so the crack stays fixed
    • Freezing water shrinks and seals the crack each night, closing gaps in the rock
    • Each freeze-thaw cycle widens the crack a little, and the cycle repeats many times

  18. Why can a cliff fall when the sea is calm?

    • Weathering has already weakened the rock, so gravity can pull loose material down at any time
    • Calm seas make the cliff heavier and more likely to fall, adding weight to the base
    • Calm weather stops gravity from holding the cliff in place, so it can drift outward
    • Wave energy is stored inside the cliff and released later, so it falls without warning

  19. Why do soft clay cliffs slump more often than hard granite cliffs?

    • Granite is always wetter than clay, so it slides more
    • Clay is weak and wet, so gravity can rotate it in a curved slide
    • Clay has no cracks, so water cannot weaken it
    • Granite contains more living things, which weaken it more

  20. Suggest why a wet, mild winter might cause more cliff collapses than a dry one.

    • Rain removes all cracks from the rock surface, so weathering cannot work at all
    • Dry weather makes the rock heavier, so it slides more easily down the slope
    • Mild winters stop gravity from acting on cliffs, so collapses become much rarer
    • Water soaks in, weakening the rock and adding weight, so gravity pulls it down more easily

All KS3 Geography quizzes