Airports on Water Reading Answers

Dec 14, 2022

Airports on Water Reading Answers contains 13 sets of questions that the candidates should answer in the given time span of 20 minutes. The topic Airports on Water Reading Answers comprises of three sets of questions, namely, identifying the information, labeling the diagram, and completing the summary. A candidate’s comprehension skills have been evaluated by the means of the IELTS reading section. The complete study of the IELTS reading section is mandatory for the candidates so that they can recognize the synonyms, identify the keywords and understand the concept. The candidates should necessarily go through the IELTS Reading sample in a proper way, and then should opt for questions. There are similar toopics like Airports on Water Reading Answers available in IELTS Practice papers.

Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Airports on Water Reading Answers

River deltas are difficult places for map makers. The river builds them up, the sea wears them down; their outlines are always changing. The changes in China’s Pearl River delta, however, are more dramatic than these natural fluctuations. An island six kilometers long and with a total area of 1248 hectares is being created there. And the civil engineers are as interested in performance as in speed and size. This is a bit of the delta that they want to endure.
The new island of Chek Lap Kok, the site of Hong Kong’s new airport, is 83% complete. The giant dumper trucks rumbling across it will have finished their job by the middle of this year and the airport itself will be built at a similarly breakneck pace.
As Chek Lap Kok rises, however, another new Asian island is sinking back into the sea. This is a 520-hectare island built in Osaka Bay, Japan, that serves as the platform for the new Kansai airport. Chek Lap Kok was built in a different way, and thus hopes to avoid the same sinking fate.
The usual way to reclaim land is to pile sand rock on to the seabed. When the seabed oozes with mud, this is rather like placing a textbook on a wet sponge: the weight squeezes the water out, causing both water and sponge to settle lower. The settlement is rarely even: different parts sink at different rates. So buildings, pipes, roads and so on tend to buckle and crack. You can engineer around these problems, or you can engineer them out. Kansai took the first approach; Chek Lap Kok is taking the second.
The differences are both political and geological. Kansai was supposed to be built just one kilometer offshore, where the seabed is quite solid. Fishermen protested, and the site was shifted a further five kilometers. That put it in deeper water (around 20 meters) and above a seabed that consisted of 20 meters of soft alluvial silt and mud deposits. Worse, below it was a not-very- firm glacial deposit hundreds of meters thick.
The Kansai builders recognized that settlement was inevitable. Sand was driven into the seabed to strengthen it before the landfill was piled on top, in an attempt to slow the process; but this has not been as effective as had been hoped. To cope with settlement, Kansai’s giant terminal is supported on 900 pillars. Each of them can be individually jacked up, allowing wedges to be added underneath. That is meant to keep the building level. But it could be a tricky task.
Conditions are different at Chek Lap Kok. There was some land there to begin with, the original little island of Chek Lap Kok and a smaller outcrop called Lam Chau. Between them, these two outcrops of hard, weathered granite make up a quarter of the new island’s surface area. Unfortunately, between the islands there was a layer of soft mud, 27 meters thick in places.
According to Frans Uiterwijk, a Dutchman who is the project’s reclamation director, it would have been possible to leave this mud below the reclaimed land, and to deal with the resulting settlement by the Kansai method. But the consortium that won the contract for the island opted for a more aggressive approach. It assembled the worlds largest fleet of dredgers, which sucked up l50m cubic meters of clay and mud and dumped it in deeper waters. At the same time, sand was dredged from the waters and piled on top of the layer of stiff clay that the massive dredging had laid bare.
Nor was the sand the only thing used. The original granite island which had hills up to 120 meters high was drilled and blasted into boulders no bigger than two meters in diameter. This provided 70m cubic meters of granite to add to the island’s foundations. Because the heap of boulders does not fill the space perfectly, this represents the equivalent of 105m cubic meters of landfill.
Most of the rock will become the foundations for the airport’s runways and its taxiways. The sand dredged from the waters will also be used to provide a two-meter capping layer over the granite platform. This makes it easier for utilities to dig trenches –granite is unyielding stuff. Most of the terminal buildings will be placed above the site of the existing island. Only a limited amount of pile-driving is needed to support building foundations above softer areas
The completed island will be six to seven meters above sea level. In all, 350m cubic meters of material will have been moved. And much of it, like the overloads, has to be moved several times before reaching its final resting place. For example, there has to be a motorway capable of carrying 150-tonne dump-trucks; and there has to be a raised area for the 15,000 construction workers. These are temporary; they will be removed when the airport is finished.
The airport, though, is here to stay. To protect it, the new coastline is being bolstered with a formidable twelve kilometers of sea defenses. The brunt of a typhoon will be deflected by the neighboring island of Lantau; the sea walls should guard against the rest. Gentler but more persistent bad weather – the downpours of the summer monsoon – is also being taken into account. A mat-like material called geo textile is being laid across the island to separate the rock and sand layers. That will stop sand particles from being washed into the rock voids, and so causing further settlement This island is being built never to be sunk.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-5:

Classify the following statements as applying to

Chek Lap Kok airport only
Kansai airport only
Both airports

Write the appropriate letters A-C in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

Question 1:having an area of over 1000 hectares

Answer: A
Supporting Statements: “An island six kilometers long and with a total area of 1248 hectares is being created there”
Keywords: 1258 hectares.
Keyword location: Para 1, line 3
Explanation: Line number 3rd of paragraph 1 states that an area of 1258 hectares is only found at the Chek Lap Kok Airport. Thus, option A is the correct choice.

Question 2: built-in a river delta

Answer: A
Supporting Statements: “The changes in China's Pearl River delta, however, are more dramatic than these natural fluctuations.”
Keywords: River Delta
Keyword location: Para 1. Line 2
Explanation: The second line of paragraph 1 suggests that the river delta has only one airport, Chek Lap Kok. Hence, option A is the suitable answer.

Question 3: built in the open sea

Answer: B
Supporting Statements: “Kansai was supposed to be built just one kilometer offshore, where the seabed is quite solid”
Keywords: just one kilometer offshore
Keyword location: Para 5, line 1
Explanation: Line 1 of paragraph 5 explains that the solo airport which is located just one kilometre offshore is Kasai Airport. Thus, option B is the right choice.

Question 4: built by reclaiming land

Answer: C
Supporting Statements: “Kansai took the first approach; Chek Lap Kok is taking the second.”
Keywords: Approach
Keyword location: para 4, line 5
Explanation: Line number 5 of paragraph 4 explains that the land reclamation is used to construct both Kansai Airport and Chek Lap Kok Airport. Hence, option C is an applicable answer.

Question 5: built using conventional methods of reclamation

Answer: B
Supporting Statements: “built using conventional methods of reclamation”
Keywords: engineer
Keyword location: Para 4, line 4
Explanation: The fourth sentence of paragraph 4 enhances that in order to reclaim lands, the airports were constructed with the procedure of traditional methods. Thus, option B is the correct answer.

Questions 6-9

Complete the labels on Diagram B below.
Choose your answers from the box below the diagram and write them in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more words/phrases than spaces, so you will not use them all.

DIAGRAM A

Cross-section of the original area around Chek Lap Kok before work began

DIAGRAM B

Cross-section of the same area at the time the article was written

granite
runways and taxiways
mud
water
terminal building site
stiff clay
sand

Question 6:

Answer: Runways and taxiways
Supporting Statements: “Most of the rock will become the foundations for the airport's runways and its taxiways.”
Keywords: Runways and taxiways
Keyword location: para 9, line 5
Explanation: As per line 5 of paragraph 9, the runways and taxiways will be built on the rocks present in airports. Thus, Runways and taxiways are the right words here.

Question 7:

Answer: terminal building site
Supporting Statements: “Most of the terminal buildings will be placed above the site of the existing island”
Keywords: Terminal Building
Keyword location: para 9, line 7
Explanation: Line 7 of paragraph 9 enhances that the construction site will be positioned over the current island where the terminal will be constructed. Thus, terminal building site will be the suitable one.

Question 8:

Answer: sand
Supporting Statements: “The sand dredged from the waters will also be used to provide a two-meter capping layer over the granite platform.”
Keywords: sand
Keyword location: para 9, line 5
Explanation: Line 5 of paragraph 9 states that the digged sand that has been scooped out from the water is utilised to cap and spread over the area of granite. Thus, sand will be the correct word here.

Question 9:

Answer: Stiff clay
Supporting Statements: “At the same time, sand was dredged from the waters and piled on top of the layer of stiff clay that the massive dredging had laid bare.”
Keywords: Stiff clay
Keyword location: Para 8, line 5
Explanation: The line 5 of paragraph 8 implies that the stiff clay layer that the extensive digging had exposed was covered with sand that was also scooped from the seas and heaped on top of it. Therefore, stiff clay will be an appropriate answer.

Questions 10-13

Complete the summary below.
Choose your answers from the box below the summary and write them in boxes 10-13 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more words than spaces, so you will not use them all.

Example:

When the new Chek Lap Kok airport was completed, the raised area and the ………. ( Example ) ………. will be removed. motorway

The island will be partially protected from storms by ………(10)……… and also by ………(11)……… . Further settlement caused by ………(12)……... will be prevented by the use of ………(13)……….

Question 10:

Answer: Lantau Island
Supporting Statements: “The brunt of a typhoon will be deflected by the neighboring island of Lantau; the sea walls should guard against the rest.”
Keywords: deflected, Lantau
Keyword location: para 11, line 2
Explanation: The second line of paragraph 11 suggests that the adjacent island of Lantau will block the force of a typhoon. Thus, Lantau Island is one of the right answer here.

Question 11:

Answer: sea
Supporting Statements: "The brunt of a typhoon will be deflected by the neighboring island of Lantau; the sea walls should guard against the rest."
Keywords: deflected, Lantau
Keyword location: para 11, line 2
Explanation: Line 2 of paragraph 11 explains that the sea walls will provide protection for the island's airport from the force of a cyclone. Thus, sea is another correct option in this regards.

Question 12:

Answer: rainfall
Supporting Statements: “Gentler but more persistent bad weather - the downpours of the summer monsoon - is also being taken into account”
Keywords: downpour
Keyword location: para 11, line 3
Explanation: The third line of paragraph 11 explains that The airports on the islands experience constant bad weather as well, like rainfall during the season of summer. Thus, rainfall is the correct word here.

Question 13:

Answer: geotextile
Supporting Statements: “A mat-like material called geotextile is being laid across the island to separate the rock and sand layers.”
Keywords: geotextile
Keyword location: para 11, line 4
Explanation: The fourth sentence of paragraph 11 suggests that Geotextile, a material which resembles like a mat, is spread throughout the island, shields the sand particle from being washed into the spaces between the rocks. Thus, geotextile will be an applicale answer here.

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