Types of Natural Hazard
Part of Natural Hazards Overview — GCSE Geography
This deep dive covers Types of Natural Hazard within Natural Hazards Overview for GCSE Geography. Revise Natural Hazards Overview in The Challenge of Natural Hazards for GCSE Geography with 15 exam-style questions and 18 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 3 of 15 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 3 of 15
Practice
15 questions
Recall
18 flashcards
🌍 Types of Natural Hazard
Natural hazards are classified into four broad categories. Knowing these categories — and being able to give examples for each — is a baseline GCSE requirement for both OCR B and AQA.
| Category | Type of Hazard | Named Examples | Caused By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tectonic | Earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami | Haiti earthquake 2010; Chile earthquake 2010; Eyjafjallajökull eruption, Iceland 2010 | Movement of tectonic plates |
| Atmospheric | Tropical storm (hurricane/typhoon/cyclone), tornado, drought, extreme cold/heat | Typhoon Haiyan 2013 (Philippines); Hurricane Katrina 2005 (USA); Sahel drought | Extreme atmospheric conditions, air pressure systems, climate patterns |
| Geomorphological | Flood, landslide, avalanche, coastal erosion | Vargas, Venezuela landslide 1999 (25,000 dead); Boscastle flood 2004 (UK); Somerset Levels flood 2014 (UK) | Surface processes — water movement, gravity, slope instability |
| Biological | Pandemic, pest swarm, wildfire, coral bleaching | COVID-19 pandemic (2020); Australia bushfires 2019–20; locust swarms East Africa 2020 | Biological processes, living organisms, often exacerbated by climate |
A key exam skill is identifying which category a hazard belongs to and then explaining what makes it hazardous. Many hazards interact: an earthquake can trigger a tsunami (tectonic → geomorphological); deforestation increases landslide risk (human action → geomorphological); climate change intensifies tropical storms (climate → atmospheric).
Quick Check: Classify each hazard and give the correct category: (a) Typhoon Haiyan, (b) the Vargas landslide, Venezuela, (c) the 2010 Haiti earthquake, (d) the Australia bushfires 2019–20.
(a) Typhoon Haiyan — atmospheric hazard (tropical storm). (b) Vargas landslide — geomorphological hazard (mass movement). (c) Haiti earthquake — tectonic hazard. (d) Australia bushfires — biological hazard (wildfire). Note that some hazards cross categories: the Vargas disaster involved both flooding and landslides triggered by extreme rainfall — so atmospheric and geomorphological. This kind of nuance scores well at Level 3.