GCSE Geography | Desertification and Degradation of Dryland

Geography Quiz - Desertification (Questions)

Learn how deserts spread into once-productive land. This GCSE Geography quiz explains what desertification is, why it happens, and how people can reduce its damaging effects.

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Fascinating Fact:

Desertification also increases the risk of dust storms, which can damage health, reduce visibility, and spread degraded soil over long distances.

In GCSE Geography, desertification is studied as the process where once fertile land in dry areas becomes increasingly degraded. You examine how climate change and human activities, such as overgrazing, deforestation, and overcultivation, damage soils and vegetation. The topic also looks at impacts on people, including food insecurity and migration, and at sustainable management strategies designed to slow, stop, or reverse land degradation.

Key Terms

Desertification: The gradual degradation of dryland environments so that fertile land becomes more desert like and less productive.
Overgrazing: When too many animals feed on the same area of land, removing vegetation faster than it can regrow.
Sustainable management: Using methods that protect soil and vegetation so land can continue to support people in the future.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is desertification in GCSE Geography?

In GCSE Geography, desertification is the process where dryland areas lose soil, vegetation, and productivity so that the land becomes more desert like and harder to farm.

What are the main causes of desertification?

Desertification is mainly caused by low and unreliable rainfall, overgrazing by livestock, deforestation for fuel or farming, overcultivation, and poor irrigation that leads to soil damage.

How can desertification be managed or reduced?

Desertification can be managed by controlling grazing, planting trees, using drought resistant crops, improving irrigation, and teaching farmers soil conservation techniques, often through small scale local projects.

Try These Related Quizzes

In areas under threat from desertification, people are forced to use marginal lands. How are these marginal lands defined?

[ ]	Lands along the edges of a desert or a lake
[ ]	Lands that form the boundary between two tribal areas. Grazing here can lead to tribal conflict
[ ]	Lands that have little or no potential for profit. They often have poor soils or other undesirable characteristics
[ ]	Lands that are at the edges of cities and may be heavily contaminated

Which of the following is a human cause of desertification?

[ ]	Increased flock and herd size
[ ]	Seasonal rainfall being unreliable
[ ]	Climate change
[ ]	Certain crops going extinct

How can rainfall be made more reliable in areas under threat from desertification?

[ ]	Better weather forecasting
[ ]	Damming of rivers
[ ]	Better crop selection
[ ]	Cloud Seeding

Dams have been built on a number of major rivers to increase the amount of water available for drinking and agriculture. How can artificial irrigation increase desertification?

[ ]	It causes rapid soil erosion
[ ]	It causes salinisation of the soil
[ ]	It causes soil contamination
[ ]	It causes sheet erosion

Magic stones are a project in which piles of stones are placed across slopes. How do these help reduce desertification?

[ ]	The stones prevent soil blowing away by holding it down
[ ]	The stones slow surface water run-off and soil erosion
[ ]	The stones stop goats and other grazing animals destroying the vegetation
[ ]	The stones remind people that the soil needs to be protected

How can plant science help increase the amount of vegetation in areas and so slow, or even reverse desertification?

[ ]	By developing or discovering more drought resistant versions of crops such as millet and cotton
[ ]	By creating new crops from varieties such as algaes and cactus
[ ]	By changing the ground in specific ways to suit the water-intensive crops that are required
[ ]	By developing treatments and medicines to help the crops survive times when there is little water

Which of the following is not a way that planting trees will help reduce desertification?

[ ]	By acting as a wind-break to reduce the amount of sand being blown away
[ ]	By producing water as rainfall in the immediate area
[ ]	By providing a source of sustainable fuel
[ ]	By protecting the remaining soil and allowing a leaf litter layer to develop

Which of the following is a physical cause of desertification?

[ ]	Overgrazing
[ ]	Irrigation
[ ]	Changing farming practices
[ ]	Climate change

Which of the following is a disadvantage of afforestation?

[ ]	Trees lock up carbon dioxide
[ ]	Newly planted trees prevent other plants from getting water
[ ]	Trees prevent windblown sand moving to form sand dunes
[ ]	Trees become a source of firewood that will be used in stoves by local people

10.

Which of the following is not a possible strategy to reduce desertification?

[ ]	Havesting branches rather than complete trees for fire wood
[ ]	Controlled burning of grasslands to reduce the spread of wildfires
[ ]	Reducing the number of livestock animals
[ ]	Developing national parks and reserves where local people aren't permitted

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Desertification

Geography Quiz - Desertification (Answers)

In areas under threat from desertification, people are forced to use marginal lands. How are these marginal lands defined?

[ ]	Lands along the edges of a desert or a lake
[ ]	Lands that form the boundary between two tribal areas. Grazing here can lead to tribal conflict
[x]	Lands that have little or no potential for profit. They often have poor soils or other undesirable characteristics
[ ]	Lands that are at the edges of cities and may be heavily contaminated

Lands that are considered marginal for crops may be suitable for animal grazing in some circumstances, or for different farming methods

Which of the following is a human cause of desertification?

[x]	Increased flock and herd size
[ ]	Seasonal rainfall being unreliable
[ ]	Climate change
[ ]	Certain crops going extinct

Whilst climate change is influenced by human activity, it is considered a natural cause of desertification rather than a human one

How can rainfall be made more reliable in areas under threat from desertification?

[ ]	Better weather forecasting
[ ]	Damming of rivers
[ ]	Better crop selection
[x]	Cloud Seeding

Some people believe that messing with the atmosphere in this high-tech way may have as yet unknown impacts

Dams have been built on a number of major rivers to increase the amount of water available for drinking and agriculture. How can artificial irrigation increase desertification?

[ ]	It causes rapid soil erosion
[x]	It causes salinisation of the soil
[ ]	It causes soil contamination
[ ]	It causes sheet erosion

Salinisation is an increase in levels of salt in the soil as minerals are drawn up to the surface by water evaporation

Magic stones are a project in which piles of stones are placed across slopes. How do these help reduce desertification?

[ ]	The stones prevent soil blowing away by holding it down
[x]	The stones slow surface water run-off and soil erosion
[ ]	The stones stop goats and other grazing animals destroying the vegetation
[ ]	The stones remind people that the soil needs to be protected

These piles of stones are laid across a slope and trap surface water runoff, so reducing soil erosion

How can plant science help increase the amount of vegetation in areas and so slow, or even reverse desertification?

[x]	By developing or discovering more drought resistant versions of crops such as millet and cotton
[ ]	By creating new crops from varieties such as algaes and cactus
[ ]	By changing the ground in specific ways to suit the water-intensive crops that are required
[ ]	By developing treatments and medicines to help the crops survive times when there is little water

Genetically modified crops can help in these situations, as can moving crops from a different area, such as moving early maturing millet from southern to northern Mali. Improving the soil using fertilisers such as animal dung also helps

Which of the following is not a way that planting trees will help reduce desertification?

[ ]	By acting as a wind-break to reduce the amount of sand being blown away
[x]	By producing water as rainfall in the immediate area
[ ]	By providing a source of sustainable fuel
[ ]	By protecting the remaining soil and allowing a leaf litter layer to develop

Charity programmes, such as that of the Green Cross in Burkina Faso, educate local populations on the use of plant nurseries and fuel saving stoves

Which of the following is a physical cause of desertification?

[ ]	Overgrazing
[ ]	Irrigation
[ ]	Changing farming practices
[x]	Climate change

Climate change is a leading cause of desertification, along with unsustainable land usage