Environment & Ecology Mixed Quiz: Set 12

The correct answer is C, Union Carbide. On the night of 2 and 3 December 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, killing thousands of people and injuring many more. The disaster directly led Parliament to pass the Environment (Protection) Act in 1986 and later the Public Liability Insurance Act of 1991.

Option A, Exide, is a battery manufacturer and had no plant involved in the leak. Option B, Bharat Rasayan Limited, is an agrochemical company but is unconnected with Bhopal. Option D, UPL Limited, is another agrochemical firm and is likewise unrelated to the tragedy. For the examination, remember the chain: Union Carbide, methyl isocyanate, Bhopal, December 1984, and the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 that followed it.

The correct answer is C, Garhwal Himalayas. The Chipko movement began in 1973 in the Garhwal Himalayas, in Chamoli district of what is now Uttarakhand, when villagers hugged trees to stop contractors from felling them. Its name comes from the Hindi word chipko, to cling. Chandi Prasad Bhatt led the first protest at Mandal village, Gaura Devi led the women of Reni village in 1974, and Sunderlal Bahuguna carried the message across the hills with the slogan that the soil, water and pure air are the real produce of a forest. The movement led to a fifteen-year ban on green felling above 1,000 metres in the Himalayan forests of Uttar Pradesh in 1980. Option A is wrong because Patna in Bihar has no link with it. Option B is wrong because Thrissur is in Kerala, far from the movement. Option D is wrong because Jammu was never its centre. Exam tip: Chipko 1973, Garhwal; Appiko 1983, Karnataka.

The correct answer is C, Peroxyacetyl nitrate. A secondary pollutant is never emitted from a source; it is manufactured in the atmosphere itself when primary pollutants react with one another or with sunlight. Peroxyacetyl nitrate, usually written PAN, is formed in sunlight from oxides of nitrogen and unburnt hydrocarbons, and along with ground-level ozone it is the standard example of a secondary pollutant. Option A is wrong because sulphur dioxide comes straight out of chimneys that burn sulphur-bearing coal and oil. Option B is wrong because carbon monoxide is released directly by the incomplete burning of fuel, chiefly in vehicle engines. Option D is wrong because particulate matter is emitted directly by combustion, construction, road dust and industry, which makes all three of them primary pollutants. The quickest test for such a question is to ask whether the substance can come out of a chimney or an exhaust pipe as it is; if it can, it is primary.

The correct answer is C, methane and carbon dioxide. Biogas is produced when cattle dung, crop waste and sewage are broken down by bacteria in a closed tank without air, a process called anaerobic digestion. The gas that collects is about 55 to 70 per cent methane and most of the rest is carbon dioxide, with small traces of hydrogen sulphide and water vapour. Methane is the part that burns, which is why biogas gives a clean blue flame and is used for cooking and lighting in villages; the slurry left behind is a good manure. A gobar gas plant thus turns waste into fuel and fertiliser at the same time. A is wrong because hydrogen is not a major part of biogas. B is wrong because helium is an inert gas that no bacteria produce. D is wrong because nitrogen is present only in traces and does not burn. Exam tip: biogas is mainly methane with carbon dioxide, made by anaerobic digestion, and its slurry is used as manure.

The correct answer is D, Stratosphere. The ozone layer lies in the stratosphere, roughly 15 to 35 km above the ground, with the thickest concentration near 20 to 25 km, and that belt is sometimes called the ozonosphere. Ozone is a molecule of three oxygen atoms, and it forms there when ultraviolet light splits oxygen molecules and the free atoms join other oxygen molecules. It absorbs harmful ultraviolet-B radiation and so shields life from skin cancer, cataracts and crop damage, and because it takes in this energy the temperature in the stratosphere rises with height, which makes the layer stable and good for jet flight. Chlorofluorocarbons from refrigerators and aerosols destroy it, so the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987 to phase them out, and 16 September is marked as World Ozone Day. Option A is wrong because the troposphere is the lowest layer, where all weather happens. Option B is wrong because the mesosphere lies above the stratosphere and is where meteors burn up. Option C is wrong because the exosphere is the outermost, almost airless layer. Exam tip: troposphere, stratosphere with ozone, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere, in that order going up.

The correct answer is C, Rachel Carson. Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist and writer, published Silent Spring in 1962. She showed how synthetic pesticides, above all DDT, were killing birds, fish and insects far beyond the fields where they were sprayed, and how these chemicals build up in food chains, becoming more concentrated at each level, a process now called biomagnification. The title imagines a spring with no birdsong because the birds have been poisoned. The book stirred public opinion and helped lead to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and a ban on most uses of DDT in the USA in 1972. Option A is wrong because Carolyn Merchant is an environmental historian known for The Death of Nature (1980). Option B is wrong because Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto, works on economics and politics. Option D is wrong because no writer of that name is linked to this book. Exam tip: Silent Spring 1962 (Rachel Carson, DDT), The Limits to Growth 1972 (Club of Rome), Our Common Future 1987 (Brundtland Report).

The correct answer is B, Turns to steam at high pressure. This describes geothermal energy. Molten rock pushed up from deep inside the Earth collects as hot spots at shallower depths, and groundwater trapped near them is heated until it becomes steam under high pressure. When a pipe is sunk into such a hot spot the trapped steam rushes up, and its pressure is used to turn the turbine of a generator, giving electricity without any fuel. New Zealand, Iceland and the United States use this source on a large scale, and in India the Puga valley in Ladakh and Tattapani in Chhattisgarh are the best known sites. A is wrong because heat cannot turn water to ice. C is wrong because water near hot rocks is heated, not cooled. D is wrong because water merely flowing out would carry no pressure to drive a turbine. Exam tip: geothermal energy is renewable and comes from the Earth's internal heat; Puga valley, Ladakh.

The correct answer is D, 2010. The National Green Tribunal was set up on 18 October 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. It is a special court for cases about environmental protection, forests and other natural resources, and it is required to dispose of an application within six months. India was the third country in the world, after Australia and New Zealand, to create such a body. Its principal bench sits in New Delhi, with zonal benches at Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai, and it is headed by a retired Supreme Court judge. Option A is wrong because 2007 is the year the Tribunal was first proposed, not created. Option B is wrong because 2008 saw no such law. Option C is wrong because 2009 is the year the Ministry of Environment moved the bill, which became law only in 2010. Exam tip: NGT Act 2010, tribunal from 18 October 2010, principal bench New Delhi.

The correct answer is A, Kerala. Ashtamudi is a backwater lake in Kollam district of Kerala and the second largest estuarine system in the state after Vembanad. Its name means eight braids, because the lake spreads out in several arms before meeting the Arabian Sea at Neendakara. It was declared a Ramsar site in 2002 for its mangroves, migratory birds and the short necked clam fishery, which became the first fishery in India to get Marine Stewardship Council certification. The lake also carries the houseboat route to Alappuzha. B is wrong because Karnataka's noted wetlands include Ranganathittu and Magadi. C is wrong because Tamil Nadu's Ramsar wetlands include Point Calimere and Pallikaranai. D is wrong because Assam has Deepor Beel near Guwahati. Exam tip: Kerala's Ramsar sites are Ashtamudi, Vembanad Kol and Sasthamkotta, the last being the largest freshwater lake in the state.

The correct answer is D, air pollution. Lichens are used as bio-indicators of air quality because they are extremely sensitive to sulphur dioxide and other gases in the air. A lichen is a partnership of a fungus and an alga (or cyanobacterium) living together; it has no roots and takes water and minerals straight from the air, so pollutants build up in it quickly. That is why lichens grow well on trees and rocks in clean hill areas but disappear from the centres of polluted cities, and scientists map their presence to judge how clean the air is. A is wrong because gas pollution is not a separate category; the gases concerned are part of air pollution. B is wrong because water pollution is judged with indicators such as coliform bacteria, BOD and algal blooms. C is wrong because soil pollution is tracked through earthworms and soil tests, not lichens. Exam tip: lichen equals sulphur dioxide equals air pollution indicator.

The correct answer is D, B, C and D. Mulching means covering the bare ground between plants with straw, dry leaves or crop waste, so that the soil holds moisture and raindrops cannot beat the topsoil loose. Contour barriers are stones, grass or soil bunds laid along the contour of a slope; water collects in trenches in front of them and runs off slowly instead of carrying soil downhill. Shelter belts are rows of trees planted across the direction of the wind, and they cut the wind's speed so that it cannot lift loose soil, a method used with success in the sandy western parts of India. Statement A is not a conservation method at all: heavy use of chemical fertilizers over the years makes the soil acidic or salty, kills the organisms that keep it fertile and damages its structure. A, B and C are wrong because each of them includes statement A. Exam tip: mulching, contour barriers, terrace farming, shelter belts and rock dams conserve soil.

The correct answer is D, Turbidity of water. NTU stands for Nephelometric Turbidity Unit. A nephelometer shines a beam of light through a water sample and measures how much of it is scattered sideways by suspended particles such as clay, silt, algae and microbes; the more the scattering, the more turbid, or cloudy, the water is. Turbidity is a key test for drinking water because the particles can shield germs from chlorine and other disinfectants, so water supply agencies try to keep it very low before the water reaches homes. High turbidity in a river or lake also cuts off sunlight for aquatic plants. Option A is wrong because water pressure is measured in units such as the pascal or the bar. Option B is wrong because temperature is measured in degrees Celsius or in kelvin. Option C is wrong because acidity is shown on the pH scale, where 7 is neutral and values below 7 are acidic. Exam tip: NTU = turbidity (cloudiness); pH = acidity; BOD = organic pollution, in milligrams per litre.

The correct answer is D, Space Research. Space research is not one of the Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations General Assembly adopted seventeen such goals in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with 169 targets to be met by 2030; they replaced the Millennium Development Goals, which ran from 2000 to 2015. The seventeen cover poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, clean water, energy, decent work, industry, inequality, cities, responsible consumption, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace and justice, and partnerships. Option A is wrong because Gender Equality is Goal 5. Option B is wrong because Zero Hunger is Goal 2. Option C is wrong because Good Health and Well-being is Goal 3. In India NITI Aayog tracks state progress on the goals through its SDG India Index. Exam tip: 17 goals, 169 targets, adopted 2015, target year 2030; Goal 1 is No Poverty and Goal 17 is Partnerships for the Goals.

The correct answer is B, acid rain. Rain with a pH below 5.6 is called acid rain. Even clean rain is slightly acidic, with a pH of about 5.6, because carbon dioxide from the air dissolves in it to form weak carbonic acid; that is why 5.6, not 7, is the dividing line. Rain turns more acidic when sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from coal-fired power plants, factories and vehicles mix with water vapour and form sulphuric and nitric acids. Acid rain corrodes marble and metal, kills fish in lakes and harms soil and forests. In India the best-known example is the damage to the Taj Mahal's white marble, often called 'marble cancer'. A is wrong because alkaline rain would have a pH above 7. C is wrong because 'mineral rain' is not a scientific term. D is wrong because hard water means water with dissolved calcium and magnesium salts; it is not a measure of how acidic rain is. Exam tip: rain pH below 5.6 = acid rain; culprits SO₂ and NOₓ; victim marble, as in the Taj Mahal.

The correct answer is B, IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Founded in 1948 and based in Switzerland, it maintains the Red List of Threatened Species, which grades species as least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild or extinct. It is the standard reference used by governments and by examiners.

Option A, the United Nations Organisation, is the parent body of many agencies but does not itself compile the list; its environment arm, the United Nations Environment Programme, works with IUCN rather than replacing it. Option C, the World Health Organisation, deals with human health and disease. Option D, the World Wide Fund for Nature, is a conservation organisation known for its panda emblem and for the Living Planet Report, and it is the commonest wrong choice here because it works in the same field, but the Red List belongs to IUCN.

The correct answer is A, Carbon captured by oceans and coastal ecosystems. Blue carbon is the carbon stored by marine and coastal ecosystems, especially mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass meadows. These plants take in carbon dioxide, and because their waterlogged soils have little oxygen, dead matter decays slowly and the carbon stays locked in the sediment for hundreds or even thousands of years. Area for area, they can store several times more carbon than tropical forests, which is why protecting the Sundarbans and India's seagrass beds counts as climate action. When these habitats are cleared, the stored carbon goes back into the air. Option B is wrong because carbon held in forest biomass and farm soils is called green carbon. Option C is wrong because carbon in petroleum and natural gas is fossil carbon, which is released as carbon dioxide when burnt. Option D is wrong because carbon dioxide in the air is simply atmospheric carbon, not stored carbon. Exam tip: blue carbon means coasts and oceans, green carbon means forests and soils.

The correct answer is B, Ozone. Photochemical smog, also called Los Angeles smog, forms in warm, dry, sunny weather when oxides of nitrogen from vehicle exhaust and unburnt hydrocarbons react under ultraviolet light. Its chief oxidising components are ground-level ozone, peroxyacetyl nitrate and aldehydes, which is why it is described as oxidising smog and why it irritates the eyes and the throat. Option A is wrong because sulphur dioxide is the marker of classical or London smog, which is reducing and forms in cold, humid air. Option C is wrong because methane is a greenhouse gas from paddy fields, cattle and landfills, not a smog component. Option D is wrong because carbon dioxide drives global warming but is not a constituent of smog. Note the reversal that papers like to set: ozone in the stratosphere shields the earth from ultraviolet radiation, while the same gas at ground level is a harmful secondary pollutant.

The correct answer is B. Mulching means covering the bare soil between plants with a layer of organic matter such as straw, dry leaves, husk or grass clippings. The cover shades the ground, so less water evaporates and the soil stays moist and cool, and it also softens the blow of falling rain, which would otherwise loosen the topsoil and wash it away. As the mulch rots it adds humus to the field, and by cutting off light it keeps weeds down. Farmers use it widely in orchards and vegetable plots, and in dry regions it is one of the cheapest ways to hold moisture. A is wrong because raising barriers of stone, grass and soil along the contours is contour barrier work. C is wrong because growing different crops in alternate rows is strip cropping. D is wrong because piling up rocks to slow the flow of water describes a rock dam. Exam tip: mulching covers the soil, strip cropping alternates rows, terracing cuts steps into a hillside.

The correct answer is B, 2001. The Stockholm Convention was adopted in 2001 and came into force in 2004. It aims to eliminate or restrict persistent organic pollutants, chemicals such as some pesticides and industrial compounds that resist breaking down, travel long distances, accumulate in fatty tissue and harm human health; the original list was known as the dirty dozen. India is a party to the convention.

Option A, 2000, is the year of the Cartagena Protocol on biosafety, made under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and is easy to confuse. Option C, 1998, is the year of the Rotterdam Convention on prior informed consent for hazardous chemicals in trade, which is a related but separate treaty. Option D, 1999, has no major chemical convention attached to it. The chemical trio worth memorising is Basel in 1989 on hazardous waste, Rotterdam in 1998 on trade in chemicals, and Stockholm in 2001 on persistent organic pollutants.

The correct answer is A, combines with haemoglobin to form carboxyhaemoglobin. Carbon monoxide binds to the haemoglobin of the blood roughly two hundred times more readily than oxygen does, and the carboxyhaemoglobin so formed cannot carry oxygen. Tissues are therefore starved of oxygen, which causes headache, giddiness and, in a closed room with a burning coal fire or a running engine, unconsciousness and death. Option B is wrong because it is sulphur dioxide and the oxides of nitrogen that dissolve and oxidise to give sulphuric and nitric acid in rain. Option C is wrong because chlorofluorocarbons and halons deplete stratospheric ozone. Option D is wrong because settling in the alveoli describes fine particulate matter such as PM2.5, not a gas. Remember that carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless, which is why it gives no warning of its presence, and that a well-ventilated room is the simplest protection against it.