Geography Mixed Quiz: Set 17

The correct answer is D, Karnataka. The pre-monsoon thundery showers of Karnataka are called cherry blossom showers or blossom showers because they help the coffee plants of the Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan belt to flower. The same family of pre-monsoon showers is called mango showers in Kerala and coastal Karnataka because it helps mangoes ripen, and the two names are often asked together.

Option A, Gujarat, has no such local shower in the standard list. Option B, Meghalaya, is known for the heaviest rainfall of the country at Mawsynram and Cherrapunji, but that rain comes from the Bay of Bengal branch of the monsoon. Option C, Uttarakhand, receives winter precipitation from western disturbances and monsoon rain in summer, and neither is called a blossom shower.

The correct answer is C, Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest. Tropical dry deciduous forest covers the largest share of India's forest area. It grows in the wide belt that gets roughly 70 to 100 cm of rain a year — much of the peninsular plateau, central India, the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats and parts of the plains — and its trees, teak, sal, sandalwood, bamboo, khair and axlewood, shed their leaves in the dry months to save water. These forests are the most used for timber and were the most cleared for cultivation. Option A, tropical dry evergreen forest, is confined to a narrow strip along the Coromandel coast of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Option B, tropical semi evergreen forest, lies on the wetter margins of the Western Ghats, in the north east and in the Andamans. Option D, Himalayan moist temperate forest, is a mountain type between about 1,500 and 3,000 metres, with oak, deodar and pine. Exam tip: rainfall decides the type — above 200 cm evergreen, 100 to 200 cm moist deciduous, 70 to 100 cm dry deciduous.

The correct answer is B, Peru. El Nino, Spanish for the child, is the warm surface water that appears off the coast of Peru and Ecuador around Christmas in some years, replacing the normally cold Peru or Humboldt current. When it develops strongly the trade winds weaken, the anchovy catch collapses because nutrient-rich cold water stops rising, and Indian monsoon rainfall tends to be below normal.

Option A, Colombia, faces both the Pacific and the Caribbean but lies too close to the equator and is not the coast the phenomenon is named for. Option C, Chile, is washed by the same cold Peru current further south, yet the warming is described and measured off Peru and Ecuador. Option D, Bolivia, is a landlocked country in South America with no sea coast at all, so no ocean current can run along it.

The correct answer is C, A is true, but R is false. Iron and steel is indeed a heavy industry, but not because of light raw materials.

Industries are classified by the weight of the material they handle. A heavy industry uses bulky, heavy raw materials and turns out bulky products, so iron and steel, which consumes iron ore, coking coal, limestone, dolomite and manganese by the tonne, is the classic example. A light industry uses light raw materials and gives light finished goods, and it is here that cotton, rubber, silk and electronics belong. That is why the reason given is false: cotton and rubber are never the inputs of an iron and steel plant.

A is wrong as a choice because the reason is false. B is wrong for the same reason. D is wrong because the assertion about iron and steel being a heavy industry is perfectly true.

Exam tip: Heavy industry - iron and steel, cement, shipbuilding; light industry - cotton textiles, electronics, rubber goods.

The correct answer is B, Karnataka. Jog Falls is in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka.

The Sharavathi river drops about 253 metres here in four separate streams known as Raja, Rani, Rocket and Roarer, which makes Jog one of the highest plunge waterfalls in India. It lies in the Western Ghats, is fed by the monsoon, and the Linganamakki dam upstream supplies the Mahatma Gandhi hydroelectric station, so the flow is strongest in the rains. The falls are also called Gersoppa or Jogada Gundi.

Option A is wrong because Punjab is a flat alluvial plain with no waterfall of this kind. Options C and D are wrong as Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh lie in the Himalayan north, far from the Sharavathi; India's highest waterfall, Kunchikal, is also in Karnataka.

Exam tip: Jog on the Sharavathi and Kunchikal on the Varahi are both in Karnataka; Dudhsagar is in Goa.

The correct answer is C, Mexico. Milpa is the name given to shifting cultivation in Mexico and in the neighbouring parts of Central America, where maize, beans and squash are grown together on a patch cleared from the forest. In shifting cultivation a plot is cleared by cutting and burning the trees, cropped for two or three years until the ash-fed soil loses its fertility, and then left fallow while the farmer moves to a fresh patch. Because the same practice grew up in forest belts across the world, it carries a different local name in each region. A is wrong because in India it is called jhum in the north-east, podu in Andhra Pradesh and bewar or dahiya in Madhya Pradesh. B is wrong because in Malaysia and Indonesia it is known as ladang. D is wrong because in Brazil it is called roca or coivara. Exam tip: milpa in Mexico, ladang in Malaysia, roca in Brazil, chena in Sri Lanka and jhum in north-east India.

The correct answer is B, September - October. Kharif crops are the monsoon crops: they are sown with the onset of the south-west monsoon in June and July and harvested in September and October, when the rains withdraw. They need heat and plenty of water, and the group includes rice, maize, jowar, bajra, ragi, arhar, moong, urad, cotton, jute, groundnut and soybean. The rabi season follows, with sowing from October to December and harvesting in March and April — wheat, barley, gram, peas, mustard and linseed. Between the two comes the short zaid season from March to June, which gives watermelon, muskmelon, cucumber and fodder crops. Option A is wrong because July and August are the growing months of the kharif crop, not the harvest. Option C is wrong because March and April are when rabi crops are cut. Option D is wrong because January and February fall in the middle of the rabi season. Exam tip: kharif sown June-July and cut September-October; rabi sown October-December and cut March-April.

The correct answer is A, Zanskar Range. Zoji La, or the Zojila pass, lies in the Zanskar range of the Himalayas at a height of about 3,528 metres. It is on the Srinagar to Leh highway between Sonamarg in the Kashmir valley and Drass in the Kargil district, and it is the gateway to Ladakh. Heavy snow closes it in winter, which is why the Zojila tunnel is being built to keep the route open through the year and give the armed forces year-round access to Ladakh. Option B is wrong because the Ladakh range holds the Khardung La and Chang La passes. Option C is wrong because the eastern Karakoram range holds the Karakoram pass and Saser La on the old trade route to Central Asia. Option D is wrong because the Dhauladhar range runs through Himachal Pradesh above Dharamshala and Kangra. Exam tip: Zoji La in the Zanskar range for Kashmir to Ladakh, Khardung La in the Ladakh range beyond Leh.

The correct answer is A, Red Sindhi. Red Sindhi is an indigenous Indian dairy breed of cattle, while the other three are Indian dog breeds.

Red Sindhi cattle take their name from the Sindh region and are reddish-brown, hardy and able to bear heat, which is why they have been used to improve milk yield in many tropical countries. Sahiwal, Gir, Tharparkar and Deoni are the other well-known indigenous milch breeds, while Amritmahal, Hallikar and Kangayam are draught breeds. Under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission the government works to conserve and develop such native breeds.

B is wrong: Chippiparai is a sight hound dog breed of Tamil Nadu. C is wrong: Kanni is also a dog breed from southern Tamil Nadu. D is wrong: Kombai is a Tamil Nadu hunting dog breed, not cattle.

Exam tip: Indigenous milch cattle - Red Sindhi, Sahiwal, Gir, Tharparkar, Deoni; Chippiparai, Kanni and Kombai are dog breeds.

The correct answer is A, Dang. Dang is not a South Indian tribe. The name belongs to the Dangs district of southern Gujarat, whose tribal people are mainly Bhil, Warli and Konkana, all of western India. The other three are communities of the Nilgiri hills, where Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka meet. The Toda are pastoralists known for their barrel-shaped huts and their buffalo-centred rituals. The Badaga are farmers of the Nilgiri plateau who speak a tongue close to Kannada. The Irula, a Scheduled Tribe of Tamil Nadu, are known for snake catching and for collecting forest produce. Option B is wrong because the Toda are the best known tribe of the Nilgiris. Option C is wrong because the Badaga live on the same plateau, around Udhagamandalam. Option D is wrong because the Irula are spread across Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Exam tip: remember Toda, Kota, Kurumba, Badaga and Irula as the five main Nilgiri tribes, and place Bhil, Warli and the Dangs in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The correct answer is B, the monsoon trough. The monsoon trough is the belt of low pressure that lies across the northern plains during the rainy season and guides the depressions that bring rain. As the sun appears to move south of the equator after the September equinox, the land cools, the low pressure weakens and the trough is replaced by high pressure. That retreat of the trough is what is called the withdrawal or retreat of the monsoon, and it begins from north-west India in early September.

Option A, an upper level trough, belongs to the upper air circulation and is not the feature described here. Option C, a lee trough, forms on the sheltered side of a mountain and is a local feature. Option D, an inverted trough, is a name used for a monsoon trough that extends into the Bay of Bengal in a particular shape, not the plains feature that weakens in October.

The correct answer is D, Sikkim. Sikkim does not touch Myanmar. Its neighbours across the border are Nepal to the west, China in the north and east, and Bhutan to the south-east. Only four Indian states share the border with Myanmar - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram - and that border runs for about 1,643 km. Option A is wrong because Arunachal Pradesh meets Myanmar along its south-eastern edge. Option B is wrong because Mizoram has a long stretch of the Myanmar border besides its border with Bangladesh. Option C is wrong because Manipur meets Myanmar on the east, and Moreh in Manipur is the main trading town on that border. Sikkim is India's least populated state and shares borders with three countries, but Myanmar is not one of them. Exam tip: remember the Myanmar border states as A-N-M-M - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

The correct answer is A, the Pacific. The Ring of Fire is a horseshoe-shaped belt running around the rim of the Pacific Ocean, from the Andes up the west coast of the Americas, across the Aleutians and down through Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia to New Zealand. It holds the majority of the world's active volcanoes and is the source of most large earthquakes, because it follows the lines along which oceanic plates are being subducted.

Option B, the Indian Ocean, does have the seismic Sunda arc on its eastern edge, but that arc is counted as part of the Pacific ring and the ocean as a whole has no such belt. Option C, the Atlantic, is widening rather than closing, so its activity is concentrated along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and is mostly gentle. Option D, the Arctic, is tectonically quiet apart from the slow spreading ridge that continues from the Atlantic.

The correct answer is C, Pisciculture. The Blue Revolution means the rapid rise in fish production, so it belongs to pisciculture, the rearing of fish. In India it began with the Fish Farmers Development Agency set up in the early 1970s, and Dr Hiralal Chaudhuri, who worked out induced breeding in carp, is called its father. The effort continued through the Neel Kranti Mission and then the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, and India today is among the largest fish producers in the world, with inland fisheries giving most of the catch. Option A is wrong because floriculture, the growing of flowers, comes under the Golden Revolution in horticulture. Option B is wrong because sericulture is the rearing of silkworms for silk. Option D is wrong because horticulture, the growing of fruit and vegetables, is linked to the Golden Revolution. Exam tip: Blue for fish, White for milk, Yellow for oilseeds, Green for food grains.

The correct answer is B, Uttarakhand. The Tehri Dam stands on the Bhagirathi in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, just below the point where the Bhilangana joins the river. At about 260 metres it is the tallest dam in India and among the tallest in the world, an earth and rock fill dam that supplies power, irrigation water and drinking water as far as Delhi. The Bhagirathi itself rises at Gaumukh, the snout of the Gangotri glacier, and meets the Alaknanda at Devprayag, where the two become the Ganga. Building the reservoir submerged the old town of Tehri, and the residents were moved to New Tehri. Option A is wrong because the big dam of Himachal Pradesh is Bhakra on the Sutlej. Option C is wrong because Uttar Pradesh has the Rihand dam, on the Rihand river in Sonbhadra. Option D is wrong because Sikkim has projects on the Teesta, not the Bhagirathi. Exam tip: Bhagirathi plus Bhilangana at Tehri, India's tallest dam.

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 B, Maize. Maize is the crop grown both as food and as fodder, needing 21°C to 27°C and old alluvial soil.

Maize is a kharif crop sown with the onset of the monsoon, though in Bihar and a few other states it is also raised in the rabi season. Its output rose with high-yielding seeds, fertilisers and irrigation under the Green Revolution. Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Maharashtra are among the leading producers, and the grain also feeds the poultry and starch industries.

A is wrong: sesamum, or til, is an oilseed, a kharif crop in the north and a rabi crop in the south. C is wrong: bajra grows on sandy soils and shallow black soil in dry areas. D is wrong: ragi is a hardy millet of dry regions, grown on red, black, sandy and shallow soils.

Exam tip: Maize - kharif, 21°C to 27°C, old alluvial soil, food and fodder both.

The correct answer is B, isohyet. An isohyet is a line drawn on a map through all the places that receive the same amount of rainfall in a given period. Rainfall maps of India are drawn with isohyets, and the crowding of these lines along the Western Ghats shows how sharply rainfall falls from the windward coast to the rain shadow of the plateau.

Option A, an isobar, joins places of equal atmospheric pressure and is used on weather charts to locate depressions and anticyclones. Option C, an isotherm, joins places of equal temperature and is used on temperature maps. Option D, an isohaline, joins places of equal salinity and belongs to the study of the oceans. All four terms carry the Greek prefix iso, meaning equal, and examiners rely on a candidate confusing them.

The correct answer is B, 97.2 percent. Textbooks describing the distribution of water on earth give about 97.2 per cent as ocean water, roughly 2 per cent locked in ice caps and glaciers, and well under 1 per cent as groundwater, lakes, rivers, soil moisture and water vapour together. This is why fresh water is described as a scarce resource even though the planet looks blue from space.

Option A, 94 per cent, option C, 90.2 per cent, and option D, 92.2 per cent, are all too low and would leave an impossibly large share of the planet's water as fresh water. The safe way to remember the set is that the oceans take a little over 97 per cent, the frozen ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland take most of what is left, and everything that human beings actually use comes out of the small remainder.

The correct answer is B, neither I nor II, which means that both the pairs given are correct and none of them is wrong. In the Koeppen classification as applied to India, the semi-arid steppe climate marked BShw covers parts of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and the drier interior of the peninsula, where rainfall is low but not as low as in a true desert. The monsoon type with a dry summer, marked As, covers the Coromandel coast of Tamil Nadu, which stays dry in the south-west monsoon months and receives its rain from the retreating monsoon in winter.

Options A and C each reject one of the two correct pairs, and option D rejects both. The trap lies in expecting every statement in such a question to contain an error.