Geography

An interactive A-level geography simulation exploring how El Niño changes precipitation across the Pacific and influences the water cycle around the world. Three linked views connect the physical mechanism to its consequences. Pacific mechanism shows changing trade winds, warm-water distribution, upwelling and the eastward shift of rising moist air and rainfall. Regional water cycle compares neutral conditions with developing El Niño across Australia and Indonesia, the central/eastern Pacific, coastal Ecuador and northern Peru, and northern South America. Global connections explores contrasting seasonal rainfall tendencies through an interactive map. Students can animate the transition, adjust the development slider, pause the action and hide process labels to explain what they observe. Rainforest vegetation gradually browns as western conditions become drier, with possible wildfire effects illustrating a further consequence of reduced precipitation. Designed for teacher demonstration, guided exploration and revision, the simulation helps students build explanations linking atmospheric circulation, precipitation, soil moisture, runoff and water availability.

Explore the impacts of groundwater abstraction through two animated simulations. Investigate how pumping lowers the water table inland, affecting wells, vegetation, river flow and ecosystems. Switch to a coastal aquifer to visualise saltwater intrusion as freshwater levels decline. Adjust abstraction rates and recharge, observe changes over time, and investigate what happens when pumping stops. Designed for A-level Geography students studying the water cycle and human impacts on groundwater systems.

Explore how temperature affects the rate and type of glacier movement. This interactive A-level geography simulation compares warm-based and cold-based glaciers, with close-up views of movement between ice crystals and deformation within individual crystals. Follow moving markers, switch between side and bird’s-eye views, and investigate how temperature and basal water pressure affect internal deformation and basal sliding. Designed to help students connect processes within the ice to the movement of an entire glacier.

Explore how tectonic plates move and create Earth's major landforms through interactive geological simulations. Designed for GCSE and A-level Geography, this resource investigates continental rifting, transform faults, collision zones, ocean ridges, subduction boundaries and volcanic hotspots. Students can animate plate movements, examine cross-sections, explore earthquake distributions and investigate the formation of mountains, volcanoes, trenches, island arcs and tsunamis. Includes a global plate map, real-world examples such as Iceland, the Himalayas and Hawaii, interactive recap activities and knowledge checks.