Fiducia TogetherTectonic hazards
Earthquakes and volcanoes: why they happen where they do, and why the effects differ so much.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
Tectonic hazards occur at plate boundaries — constructive, destructive, conservative and collision — driven by convection in the mantle and slab pull.
Where it applies
GCSE geography physical topics.
How it works
Primary effects happen immediately — buildings collapse, people are killed. Secondary effects follow — fire, disease, homelessness, economic loss.
Responses split into immediate and long-term, and into management by prediction, protection and planning.
The same magnitude event kills vastly different numbers in different countries, which is a development question as much as a physical one.
How to use it in your work
Always split effects into primary and secondary, and responses into immediate and long-term. That structure is the mark scheme.
Compare a higher-income and a lower-income case study, and explain the difference by preparedness, building standards, and capacity to respond — not by the magnitude alone.
Use named places, dates and figures.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's specification. Bitesize for worked examples, and the subject song for the topic list.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Geography Song The GCSE geography topics, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.