Geography GK Questions with Answers – Page 15

The name Ecuador is the Spanish word for the equator, the line crosses the north of the country, and its capital Quito stands only a few kilometres south of it in the Andes, which makes Quito the large capital city closest to the Equator.

Because the earth's axis is tilted by about 23 and a half degrees, the northern hemisphere is turned most towards the sun on 21 June, the summer solstice, when the noon sun stands vertically above the Tropic of Cancer and the northern hemisphere has its longest day.

The Tropic of Capricorn crosses Australia through Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland, passing close to the town of Rockhampton, and Australia is the only country of Oceania on this line.

Ethiopia lies wholly north of the Equator, roughly between 3 and 15 degrees north, and its capital Addis Ababa is about 9 degrees north, so the line misses it, although the country is tropical and highland in character.

Brazil is so large in north to south extent that the Equator crosses its northern part near the mouth of the Amazon while the Tropic of Capricorn crosses its south, close to Sao Paulo, making it the only country in the world cut by both lines.

From west to east the Tropic of Cancer passes through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram, which is why the line is said to divide India almost into two halves.

On these two dates the noon sun is vertically overhead at the Equator, the circle of illumination passes through both poles, and day and night are of nearly equal length everywhere on the earth; 21 March is the spring or vernal equinox and 23 September the autumnal equinox.

Europe lies entirely north of the Tropic of Cancer, its southernmost points being above 34 degrees north, and Antarctica lies far south of the Tropic of Capricorn, beyond the Antarctic Circle, so neither continent is touched by any of the three lines.

The Equator crosses Colombia in South America, Kenya in East Africa and the islands of Indonesia in South East Asia, so all three names in this group are correct.

In the Hadley cell, air rises near the equator and sinks at about 30 degrees latitude, in the subtropical high-pressure belts.

Belarus is a landlocked country in eastern Europe, far south of the Arctic, so it has no tundra. Tundra vegetation grows beyond the tree line, mainly north of the Arctic Circle, where summers are short and cool and the subsoil stays frozen as permafrost.

India's standard meridian is 82°30' East, and Indian Standard Time is set by the local time along this line. India stretches from about 68°7' E to 97°25' E, a spread of nearly 30 degrees of longitude, which makes a time difference of about two hours between Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh.

Both statements are true, and UPSC's official key also gives C. Water vapour is a variable gas, from almost nil in cold deserts to about 4 percent of the air by volume in the warm, humid tropics.

Both statements are correct: a ground inversion is formed by radiation cooling, and it is the same as a negative lapse rate near the surface.

Both the North Atlantic Drift and the Brazil Current carry warm water from low latitudes towards higher latitudes. As a rule, currents that flow from the equator towards the poles are warm, and those that flow from the poles towards the equator are cold.

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called terrestrial planets because, like the earth, they are made of rock and metal.

The Ten Degree Channel, which runs along roughly the 10° North parallel, separates the Andaman group from the Nicobar group.

All three factors shape the general circulation of the atmosphere, which is why UPSC's official key gives D. Planetary winds are the trade winds, the westerlies and the polar easterlies.

The Kuroshio is a warm current that flows north-east along the east coast of Japan, carrying warm tropical water from the North Equatorial Current.

Chalk is a soft, white limestone built up from the tiny calcium carbonate shells of marine micro-organisms, so it is an organically formed sedimentary rock.