Chapter 3, paragraph 3: Water, protecting the coast

• Aardrijkskunde
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

A large part of the Netherlands is....... sea level

1. above
2. below
3. on
4. without

What's the dutch word for 'treacherous'?

1. abnormaal
2. duur
3. veilig
4. verraderlijk

Low-lying land is protected by .............. and ...............

1. dikes and dunes
2. dunes and water boards
3. dikes and polders
4. sea and river dikes

The picture shows:

1. a polder
2. the Afsluitdijk
3. the Delta Works
4. the Zuiderzee

Noadays, water in a polder is pumped away with the help of....

1. dikes
2. dunes
3. pumping stations
4. windmills

Question 7a(workbook)
Without climate change, sea levels would not rise, except in the Netherlands. Why is that?

Answer question 7a

The ground is subsiding in several places in the Netherlands.

Question 7b.
Natural and human causes of subsidence

Question 7b

natural factors: In Scandinavia, the land is rising where land ice is disappearing, but in the Netherlands this causes the opposite to happen (subsidence). This is the see-saw effect.

human factors: Pumping out water in peatlands causes the peaty soil to disappear, extraction of natural gas.

Question 7c. Figure 16.
Where is the ground subsiding and why is it such a problem there?

Question 7c

In the Low Netherlands. 

This is a problem because the ground there is already low-lying and close to the sea, where the sea level is rising.

Question 7d.
What does figure 14 show?

Question 7d

The rise in the sea level on the Dutch coast between 1900 and 2020. 

Question 7e: Figure 15.
Describe relative sea-level rise.

Question 7e

The relative sea-level rise is the combination of subsidence and sea-level rise.