Geography Previous Year Questions (PYQ) with Answers – Page 5

The correct answer is B, Geology. Geology is the science of the solid Earth: the rocks it is made of, how it formed and changed over time, and the minerals, coal, oil and gas found inside it. The word comes from the Greek geo (earth) and logos (study). A geologist reads rock layers to date events, studies earthquakes and volcanoes, and maps where iron ore, coal or petroleum lie. In India this work is done by the Geological Survey of India, founded in 1851 at Kolkata, one of the oldest such bodies in the world. A is wrong because geophysics uses physics, such as gravity, magnetism and seismic waves, to probe the Earth's interior; it is a branch within the earth sciences, not the broad study asked here. C is wrong because geography studies the Earth's surface, its climate, people and places, not the rocks and resources beneath. D is wrong because geometry is the mathematics of shapes, lines and angles and has nothing to do with the Earth. Exam tip: geo-logy = rocks and resources, geo-graphy = surface and people, geo-physics = physics of the interior.

The correct answer is C, Neither I nor II. Both pairs are reversed: in Punjab rice is a commercial crop, while in Odisha it is a subsistence crop. The same crop can be commercial in one state and subsistence in another; it depends on why the farmer grows it. A subsistence crop feeds the farmer's own family, and a commercial crop is grown mainly for sale. Punjab and Haryana farmers do not eat much rice, yet they grow it on irrigated land with high-yielding seeds and sell almost all of it to the government at the minimum support price. In Odisha, West Bengal and Assam rice is the staple food, grown mostly on small rain-fed plots for the family's own kitchen. A is wrong because Punjab rice is sold, not eaten at home, so it is commercial. B is wrong because Odisha rice is largely eaten by the growers, so it is subsistence. D fails because neither pair is correct. Exam tip: NCERT line to remember, rice is commercial in Punjab and Haryana but subsistence in Odisha.

The correct answer is C, a seasonal shift in wind direction that brings heavy summer rain and dry winters. That is exactly what the Indian monsoon is. The word monsoon comes from the Arabic mausim, meaning season, and describes winds that reverse direction with the season. From June to September the south-west monsoon blows from sea to land and gives India about three-quarters of its yearly rain. From October the winds reverse, the north-east monsoon blows from land to sea, and most of the country stays dry; only Tamil Nadu gets its main rain in this retreating season. A is wrong because summer is the wet season, not the dry one. B is wrong because a monsoon is a change in wind direction, not a sudden change in temperature. D is wrong because summer rain is heavy, not moderate, and winter is dry rather than completely rainless. Exam tip: monsoon = seasonal wind reversal; south-west June to September wet, north-east October to December dry except Tamil Nadu.

The correct answer is C, Sikkim. Tsomgo Lake, also called Changu Lake, lies in East Sikkim, about 40 km from Gangtok on the road to Nathu La. It is a glacial lake at a height of roughly 3,750 metres; it freezes in winter and is fed by melting snow in summer, which makes it one of Sikkim's best-known tourist spots. In the local language tso means lake, the same word you see in the names of Ladakh's lakes. Nathu La, the pass just beyond it, is a point for border trade with the Tibet region of China. A is wrong, because Ladakh's famous high lakes are Pangong Tso and Tso Moriri, not Tsomgo. B is wrong, because Himachal Pradesh is known for lakes such as Chandratal and Suraj Tal. D is wrong, because Uttarakhand's lakes include Nainital, Bhimtal and the mysterious Roopkund. Exam tip: Tsomgo (Changu) and Gurudongmar are Sikkim lakes; Pangong Tso and Tso Moriri are in Ladakh.

The correct answer is A, precipitation. Precipitation is any form of water, liquid or solid, that falls from clouds to the ground. When the temperature is above freezing it falls as rain or drizzle; below freezing, water vapour turns directly into ice crystals that fall as snow. Sleet is rain that freezes into small ice pellets while falling through a cold layer of air, and hail is made of hard ice balls built up layer by layer inside towering cumulonimbus clouds during thunderstorms. All three are therefore solid forms of precipitation. B, Condensation, is the change of water vapour into tiny droplets or ice crystals, which forms clouds, dew, frost and fog, but these do not fall from clouds. C, Transpiration, is the loss of water vapour from the leaves of plants. D, Evaporation, is the change of liquid water into vapour, the first step of the water cycle. Exam tip: rain, drizzle, snow, sleet and hail fall, so they are precipitation; dew, frost, fog and mist form on or near the ground, so they are condensation.

The correct answer is C, Deccan Plateau. The Deccan plateau is the large triangular block of the Peninsular plateau south of the Narmada, bounded by the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in the north, the Western Ghats in the west and the Eastern Ghats in the east, with an average height of about 600 metres. It is higher in the west, up to 900 to 1,200 metres along the Western Ghats, and tilts east, so the Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri flow east into the Bay of Bengal. Its north-western part is the Deccan Trap of basalt lava, which weathers into black cotton soil. Option A is wrong because the Marwar plateau is a low upland of eastern Rajasthan, drained by the Banas. Option B is wrong because the Meghalaya plateau is a detached block in the north-east, made of the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills. Option D is wrong because the Chota Nagpur plateau lies in Jharkhand, drained by the Damodar and rich in coal and iron. Exam tip: Deccan = between Satpura, Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats, high in the west, sloping east.

The correct answer is B, Sahyadri Range. The Krishna rises near Mahabaleshwar in the Satara district of Maharashtra, at about 1,337 metres in the Sahyadri, which is the local name of the Western Ghats. It is the second longest peninsular river after the Godavari, about 1,400 km long, and flows east through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the Bay of Bengal near Vijayawada. Its main tributaries are the Bhima, Tungabhadra, Koyna, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Musi, and the Almatti, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar dams stand on it. Option A is wrong because the Satpura range is the source of the Tapi, which rises at Multai. Option C is wrong because the Vindhya range feeds northward rivers like the Betwa and Ken, not the Krishna. Option D is wrong because the Eastern Ghats are where the Krishna ends its journey, not where it begins. Exam tip: three great east-flowing rivers rise in the Western Ghats, Godavari at Trimbakeshwar, Krishna at Mahabaleshwar, Kaveri at Talakaveri.

The correct answer is A, Ganga. The Ganga basin is the most populous river basin on earth, home to more than 600 million people across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and a small part of Tibet. In India alone it covers about 8.6 lakh square km, roughly a quarter of the country, across Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana, Delhi and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and it supports about 40 percent of India's population. Fertile alluvial soil, plentiful groundwater and a long farming history explain the dense settlement. B is wrong because the Nile, though the longest river, flows mostly through desert and its basin holds far fewer people. C is wrong because the Mississippi basin lies in the thinly populated interior of the USA. D is wrong because the Amazon has the largest discharge and basin area but its rainforest is among the least populated regions on earth. Exam tip: Ganga is the most populated basin; Amazon is the largest by area and water; Nile is the longest river.

The correct answer is A, Brahmaputra. Majuli lies in the Brahmaputra river in Assam, near Jorhat, and is the largest river island in the world. In 2016 it became India's first island district. It is the heart of Assam's neo-Vaishnavite culture: the saint Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciple Madhavdeva set up satras (monasteries) there in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the island is famous for its mask-making and the Raas festival. Every monsoon the Brahmaputra eats away its banks, so Majuli has shrunk from over 1,200 square km to less than half of that, making erosion its biggest worry. B is wrong because the Ganga has no comparable island; its delta islands such as Sagar belong to the Sundarbans. C is wrong because the Indus flows mainly through Pakistan and has no such island. D is wrong because the Godavari's Konaseema is a delta region, not a single river island. Exam tip: Majuli equals Brahmaputra equals Assam, first island district of India (2016).

The correct answer is C, Nilgiri Hills. Doddabetta, about 2,637 metres high, is the highest peak of the Nilgiri Hills and stands close to Ooty (Udhagamandalam) in Tamil Nadu. The Nilgiris are the place where the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats meet, which is why they are often described as a knot of the two ranges. In Kannada, 'dodda betta' simply means 'big mountain', an easy way to remember that it is the top of the Nilgiris. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India's first biosphere reserve, is spread around these hills. Option A is wrong because the Vindhyas are a low range of central India whose peaks stay well below 1,000 metres. Option B is wrong because the highest point of the Satpura Range is Dhupgarh near Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, about 1,350 metres. Option D is wrong because the Anamalai Hills of Kerala hold a different peak, Anamudi, about 2,695 metres, the highest point of South India. Exam tip: Anamudi (Anamalai, Kerala) is the highest in South India; Doddabetta (Nilgiri, Tamil Nadu) is the highest of the Nilgiris.

The correct answer is B, Nagaland. In the 2011 Census, Nagaland was the only state whose population actually fell, with a decadal growth rate of about minus 0.6 per cent for 2001–2011, the lowest in India. Experts linked the fall mainly to the correction of an inflated count in 2001, when Nagaland had shown one of the fastest growth rates in the country. For India as a whole, decadal growth was 17.7 per cent, down from 21.5 per cent in 1991–2001, and among states Meghalaya grew the fastest, at about 27.9 per cent. Option A is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh grew by about 26 per cent, well above the national average. Option C is wrong because Madhya Pradesh grew by about 20.3 per cent. Option D is wrong because Punjab grew by about 13.9 per cent, which is low but still positive. Exam tip: Census 2011 decadal growth, lowest Nagaland (negative), highest state Meghalaya, India 17.7 per cent.

The correct answer is C, 3 1 2 4. The Steppes are the temperate grasslands of Eurasia, stretching across Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan; the Prairies cover the central plains of the United States and Canada; the Velds are the grassy plateaus of South Africa; and the Downs are the grasslands of south-eastern Australia, famous for sheep rearing and merino wool. All four are temperate grasslands in the interior of continents, where light rainfall, hot summers and cold winters keep trees few and let grass dominate. The Pampas of Argentina and the Canterbury plains of New Zealand belong to the same family, while the Llanos and Campos of South America are tropical grasslands. Option A is wrong because it places the Steppes in South Africa. Option B is wrong because it puts the Steppes in the USA and the Prairies in Australia. Option D is wrong because it sends the Steppes to Australia and the Downs to the USA. Exam tip: Steppes–Russia, Prairies–USA, Velds–South Africa, Downs–Australia, Pampas–Argentina.

The correct answer is C, Kolkata. Kolkata is the only major port of India built on a river, the Hooghly, about 200 km upstream from the sea. It became a Port Trust in 1870 and since 2020 has been named the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port. It works as a twin system: the Kolkata Dock System handles smaller ships, while the Haldia Dock Complex, nearer the sea, takes larger ones. Silt carried by the river keeps the channel shallow, so constant dredging is needed, and the Farakka Barrage was built partly to push more Ganga water into the Hooghly to flush it. Option A is wrong because Mormugao is a natural harbour at the mouth of the Zuari in Goa, known for iron ore exports. Option B is wrong because Deendayal, earlier called Kandla, is a tidal port on the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat. Option D is wrong because Paradip is a deep-water sea port on the Odisha coast. Exam tip: the only riverine major port is Kolkata on the Hooghly, with Haldia as its deep-water dock.

The correct answer is C, A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1. The Sutlej feeds the Indus, the Kosi the Ganga, the Teesta the Brahmaputra and the Chambal the Yamuna. The Sutlej rises near Rakas Tal close to Mansarovar in Tibet, enters India at Shipki La and is the easternmost of the five Punjab rivers of the Indus system; the Bhakra dam stands on it. The Kosi, called the "Sorrow of Bihar" for its floods and shifting course, joins the Ganga near Kursela in Bihar. The Teesta, the lifeline of Sikkim, crosses north Bengal into Bangladesh and meets the Brahmaputra there. The Chambal rises near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, carves the famous ravines and joins the Yamuna in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh. Option A is wrong because it links the Sutlej with the Yamuna and the Chambal with the Indus. Option B is wrong because it also pairs the Kosi with the Brahmaputra and the Teesta with the Ganga. Option D is wrong because it swaps the Kosi and the Teesta. Exam tip: Sutlej-Indus, Kosi-Ganga, Teesta-Brahmaputra, Chambal-Yamuna.

The correct answer is C, Oxbow lake. When a river cuts across the narrow neck of a loop and silt seals both ends, the old loop is left behind as a curved lake. Meanders form in the middle and lower course, where a river flows slowly over flat land, cutting its outer bank and building up its inner bank. Over time the neck of a loop grows thinner until a flood breaks through it and the river takes the shorter path. The abandoned bend is shaped like the U-shaped collar of an ox's yoke, which gives the lake its name; Kanwar Lake (Kabar Tal) in Bihar was left behind in this way by the Burhi Gandak. Option A is wrong because potholes are round holes drilled into a rocky bed by pebbles swirling in a fast upper-course stream. Option B is wrong because levees are raised banks of silt dropped along the river during floods. Option D is wrong because a flood plain is the wide flat land built by repeated floods, not a cut-off loop. Exam tip: meander plus cut-off gives an oxbow lake, a mark of the river's old stage.

The correct answer is B, fissure volcanic rock. Black cotton soil, or regur, formed from the weathering of the Deccan Trap basalt, lava that poured out through long cracks in the crust about 65 million years ago. This fissure eruption spread layer after layer of basalt over Maharashtra, western Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and parts of Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and the soil is found mainly on this plateau. It is rich in iron, lime, magnesium and potash but poor in nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter, and its dark colour comes from titaniferous magnetite and humus. It holds moisture well, swells when wet and cracks deeply when dry, so it is said to 'plough itself', and it suits cotton. Option A is wrong because brown forest soil is itself a soil type, not the parent rock of regur. Option C is wrong because granite and schist weather mainly into red soils. Option D is wrong because shale and limestone are sedimentary rocks, not the source of the Deccan soils. Exam tip: regur means Deccan basalt, cotton and self-ploughing cracks.

The correct answer is C, Bhabar. When rivers leave the Himalayas and reach the plains, their speed drops suddenly and they drop the heaviest load first, pebbles and boulders, in the Bhabar belt. The Bhabar is a narrow strip about 8 to 16 km wide that runs along the foot of the Shiwaliks from the Indus to the Tista. The ground is so porous that most streams sink underground and seem to disappear here. South of it, the water comes up again and creates the wet, marshy Terai, once covered by thick forests full of wildlife. A is wrong, because Khadar is the newer, fine alluvium of the flood plains, renewed almost every year by floods. B is wrong, because Bhangar is the older alluvium on higher ground above flood level, with lime nodules called kankar. D is wrong, because the Terai lies below the Bhabar and has fine, damp soil where the lost streams re-emerge, not boulders. Exam tip: from the hills down, Bhabar (boulders, streams vanish), Terai (streams return, marshy), then Bhangar old and Khadar new alluvium.

The correct answer is B, Satluj. The Beas rises at Beas Kund near the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, flows past Manali, Kullu and Mandi, enters Punjab and meets the Satluj at Harike in Punjab, where the Harike barrage and wetland stand. It is the only one of the five rivers of Punjab that lies entirely within India. The Pong Dam on the Beas in Kangra district is one of the largest earth dams in the country, and the Beas-Satluj link carries its water to the Bhakra system. In ancient times the Beas was the Vipasa, the river beyond which Alexander's army refused to march in 326 BCE. A, the Indus, receives the combined waters of the Punjab rivers only through the Panjnad in Pakistan. C, the Chenab, receives the Jhelum and the Ravi, not the Beas. D, the Ravi, flows to the west of the Beas and joins the Chenab in Pakistan. Exam tip: Punjab rivers from east to west are Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum; the Beas and the Satluj meet at Harike.

The correct answer is D, Jhelum. The Kishanganga rises near Gurez in the Kashmir valley, flows north-west through Bandipora, crosses the Line of Control, where it is called the Neelum, and joins the Jhelum at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. It is the largest tributary of the Jhelum, which itself rises at the Verinag spring and flows through Srinagar and the Wular lake. India's 330 MW Kishanganga hydroelectric project in Bandipora district, opened in 2018, led to a dispute with Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which is why this river appears in exams. A is wrong because the Chenab is formed by the Chandra and Bhaga at Tandi in Himachal Pradesh and does not receive the Kishanganga. B is wrong because the Sutlej rises near Rakshastal in Tibet and is fed by the Beas, not the Kishanganga. C is wrong because the Ravi rises in the Kullu hills near the Rohtang Pass. Exam tip: the Kishanganga (Neelum) meets the Jhelum at Muzaffarabad; the Jhelum rises at Verinag; the Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960.

The correct answer is D, metamorphic. Quartzite is formed when sandstone, a sedimentary rock, is changed by great heat and pressure deep inside the earth. The quartz grains of the sandstone recrystallise and fuse, so quartzite becomes one of the hardest and most weather-resistant rocks, which is why the ridges of the Aravalli range and the Delhi Ridge, made largely of quartzite, have survived for hundreds of millions of years. Such change of an existing rock without melting is called metamorphism. A is wrong because igneous rocks such as granite and basalt form from cooled magma or lava, not from an older rock under pressure. B is wrong because basalt is itself a specific igneous rock, not a class of rock. C is wrong because sedimentary is the parent type; sandstone is sedimentary, but once transformed it is no longer classed that way. Exam tip: sandstone becomes quartzite, limestone becomes marble, shale becomes slate, granite becomes gneiss.