Geography Mixed Quiz: Set 22

The correct answer is B, the Ten Degree Channel. It runs roughly along the ten degree north parallel, which is where it gets its name, and it divides Little Andaman in the north from Car Nicobar in the south, separating the two halves of the union territory.

Option A, the Duncan Passage, is a smaller strait within the Andaman group itself, between South Andaman and Little Andaman. Option C, the Nine Degree Channel, belongs to the other island group altogether: it separates Minicoy from the main Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea, while the Eight Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the Maldives. Option D, the Palk Strait, lies between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka and has nothing to do with the islands. Keeping the degree channels tied to the right group is the point of the question.

The correct answer is C, Loess. Loess is a deposit of fine silt and dust carried by the wind and dropped far from where it was picked up, so it is the classic wind made or aeolian soil. It is loose, porous, pale yellow and stands in steep walls when cut, and because it holds nutrients well it is very fertile. The largest spread in the world is the Loess Plateau of northern China, formed from dust blown out of the Gobi desert, and it also covers parts of central Europe, Central Asia and the Mississippi valley. Option A is wrong because loam is a balanced mixture of sand, silt and clay and is not defined by the wind. Option B is wrong because marl is a clay rich in lime, laid down in water. Option D is wrong because podsol is the ash grey, acidic and leached soil of cold coniferous forest lands. Exam tip: loess means wind blown silt, and the Huang He carries it, which is why the river is called the Yellow River.

The correct answer is C, Young fold mountains. The Himalayas were raised when the northward-moving Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate and the sediments of the shallow Tethys Sea between them were compressed into great folds and thrust upward. The process continues, so the range is still rising and the belt remains earthquake-prone. Option A is wrong because block mountains, such as the Vosges and the Black Forest, are formed when a block of land stands up between two faults. Option B is wrong because volcanic mountains, such as Mount Kilimanjaro or Barren Island in the Andamans, are built of erupted material. Option D is wrong because residual or relict mountains, such as the Aravalli and the Nilgiris in India, are worn-down remains of much older ranges rather than young structures.

The correct answer is B, Polar Region. The Eskimos, who call themselves Inuit, live in the polar region, that is the Arctic lands of Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska and eastern Siberia. Their home is cold tundra where the ground stays frozen for most of the year, so no crops grow and they live by hunting seal, walrus and caribou and by fishing. They travel by dog sledge and kayak, wear clothes of skin and fur, and in winter build the igloo, a dome of snow blocks whose thick walls trap the warmth inside. Their summer shelter is a tent of animal skin called a tupik. A is wrong because the arid region is home to desert people such as the Bedouins of Arabia. C is wrong because the savanna grassland of Africa is home to the Masai herders. D is wrong because the tropical rainforest is home to the Pygmies of the Congo basin. Exam tip: Inuit and tundra, Bedouin and desert, Masai and savanna, Pygmy and equatorial forest.

The correct answer is B, Great Nicobar. Indira Point stands at the southern tip of Great Nicobar Island, the largest of the Nicobars, and it is the southernmost point of the territory of India. It was earlier called Pygmalion Point and was badly damaged by the tsunami of December 2004.

Option A, Kanyakumari, is the southernmost point of mainland India, which is a different thing and the commonest trap in this question; candidates who miss the word territory pick it. Option C, Minicoy, is the southernmost island of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea, but it lies well north of Great Nicobar. Option D, Rameswaram, is an island off the Tamil Nadu coast in the Gulf of Mannar, famous for the Ramanathaswamy temple and the Pamban bridge, and is not a southern extremity at all.

The correct answer is C, Salem - Tamil Nadu. The Salem Steel Plant lies in Salem district of Tamil Nadu, so this is the only correctly matched pair. It is a SAIL unit set up in 1981 and is known for stainless steel cold-rolled coils and sheets rather than ordinary construction steel. The other three pairs name the wrong state. A is wrong because the Bokaro Steel Plant, built with Soviet help in the 1960s, stands in Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar in 2000. B is wrong because the Durgapur Steel Plant, built with British help, is in West Bengal and not in Odisha. D is wrong because the Rourkela Steel Plant, India's first public sector integrated plant and built with West German help, is in Odisha and not in West Bengal. Exam tip: Rourkela-Germany-Odisha, Durgapur-Britain-West Bengal, Bhilai-Russia-Chhattisgarh, Bokaro-Russia-Jharkhand.

The correct answer is A, Pir Panjal. The Pir Panjal is the longest and most important range of the Lesser or Himachal Himalaya, running from the Jhelum through Jammu and Kashmir towards Himachal Pradesh and separating the Kashmir valley from the Jammu plains. The Banihal pass, through which the Jammu-Srinagar road runs, crosses it. Option B is wrong because the Dhauladhar is also part of the Lesser Himalaya but is a shorter range, lying mainly in Himachal Pradesh above the Kangra valley. Option C is wrong because the Zaskar range belongs to the Trans-Himalayan system north of the Greater Himalaya. Option D is wrong because the Ladakh range lies still further north, between the Zaskar and the Karakoram, with the Indus flowing along its southern side. A useful check in the exam hall is that any name carrying Zaskar, Ladakh or Karakoram belongs to the Trans-Himalayas, while Pir Panjal, Dhauladhar and Mahabharat belong to the Lesser Himalaya.

The correct answer is B, Tropical Deciduous Forests. These are called monsoon forests because they grow where rainfall comes with the monsoon, between about 70 and 200 centimetres a year, and the trees shed their leaves for six to eight weeks in the dry season to save water. They are the most widespread forests of India, covering much of the northern plains, the Deccan plateau and the lower Himalayan slopes. The moist type, with over 100 centimetres of rain, gives teak, sal, shisham, sandalwood and bamboo, while the drier type gives teak, axlewood and bel. Option A is wrong because montane forests are the belts of oak, deodar, pine and fir that change with height in the mountains. Option C is wrong because tropical evergreen forests grow in very wet areas above 200 centimetres of rain and never shed all their leaves together. Option D is wrong because mangrove forests are tidal forests of deltas and coasts. Exam tip: monsoon forest means tropical deciduous, and sal and teak are its trees.

The correct answer is B, the Brahmaputra. Majuli lies in the braided channel of the Brahmaputra in Assam, where the river splits into many arms and deposits enormous quantities of silt. The island is a centre of Vaishnava culture, with satras founded in the tradition of Srimanta Sankardeva, and it loses land steadily to erosion each flood season.

Option A, the Ganga, carries islands and sandbanks but nothing on the scale of Majuli. Option C, the Godavari, is the largest peninsular river and builds a large delta on the eastern coast, but the question is about a river island, not a delta. Option D, the Mahanadi, drains Chhattisgarh and Odisha and also builds a delta, and its best known feature in exams is the Hirakud dam rather than any island. The braided Brahmaputra is the answer to look for whenever a question mentions river islands or shifting channels.

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 B, Brahmaputra. Majuli lies in the Brahmaputra in Assam and is counted the largest river island in the world. The Brahmaputra carries an enormous load of silt from a young, rapidly eroding basin, and because its channel is braided and shifts often, it has built large islands and sandbars called chars. Majuli is also a centre of Assamese Vaishnavite culture, with its satras or monasteries. Option A is wrong because the Ganga's delta holds Sagar Island and the Sundarbans, which are delta islands rather than the largest river island. Option C is wrong because the Godavari is a peninsular river with a delta on the east coast but no island of this size. Option D is wrong because most of the Indus basin lies outside India today.

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, the Karakoram. The Trans-Himalayan ranges, the Karakoram, the Ladakh and the Zaskar, lie north of the Greater Himalaya and belong structurally to the Tibetan block rather than to the Himalayan fold belt. The Karakoram carries some of the world's largest glaciers outside the polar regions, among them the Siachen.

Option A, the Pir Panjal, is the longest range of the Lesser Himalaya and encloses the vale of Kashmir on the south. Option C, the Dhauladhar, is another Lesser Himalayan range, rising above Dharamshala and the Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh. Option D, the Shiwalik, is the outermost and youngest range of all, made of loose sediment brought down by rivers and separated from the Lesser Himalaya by the flat duns. Only the Karakoram lies beyond the Himalaya proper.

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 D, Aravalli Hills. The Purvanchal or Eastern Hills are the southward continuation of the Himalayas beyond the eastern bend of the Brahmaputra, and they are made up of the Patkai Bum, the Naga Hills, the Manipur Hills and the Mizo or Lushai Hills. They are lower than the main Himalayan ranges and are composed largely of soft sandstone. The Aravalli, by contrast, is one of the oldest fold mountain systems in the world, a residual range running north-east from Gujarat through Rajasthan to Delhi, with Guru Shikhar on Mount Abu as its highest point. Option A is wrong because the Patkai Bum lies along the Arunachal Pradesh border with Myanmar. Option B is wrong because the Naga Hills are in Nagaland, and Option C is wrong because the Mizo Hills are in Mizoram.

The correct answer is C, Jaisalmer. A khadin is a long earthen embankment built across the lower end of a sloping field, so that rainwater running off the higher rocky ground collects behind it. The water soaks into the soil during the monsoon, and in winter crops such as wheat and gram are grown on the moist bed without any further irrigation, while wells below the bund also get recharged. The system is credited to the Paliwal Brahmins of Jaisalmer, who developed it around the 15th century, and it suits the district's stony, sloping land and very low rainfall. It is one of the best examples of runoff farming in the Thar. Option A is wrong because Nagaur is not the home of the khadin system. Option B is wrong because Bikaner is known for other rainwater structures, such as the kund and the kui. Option D is wrong because Pali, on the eastern side of the Luni basin, is not where khadins developed. Exam tip: khadin, Paliwal Brahmins, Jaisalmer; kund and tanka store rainwater; kui taps seepage water.

The correct answer is B, Odisha. Chilika lies on the eastern coastal plain south of the Mahanadi delta, separated from the Bay of Bengal by a long sandbar, and it is the largest brackish water lagoon in the country and a Ramsar wetland famous for migratory birds and the Irrawaddy dolphin.

Option A, Andhra Pradesh, has the Kolleru freshwater lake and shares Pulicat lake with Tamil Nadu, but not Chilika. Option C, Tamil Nadu, holds the southern part of Pulicat, the second largest brackish lagoon, which is the usual distractor here. Option D, Kerala, has the backwater lagoons of the western coast, of which Vembanad is the longest lake in India, but these are on the other side of the peninsula and are formed by a submerged coast rather than by a sandbar on an emergent one.

The correct answer is D, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka. The Nilgiri Hills, the 'Blue Mountains', rise where the borders of these three states meet, at the junction of the Western and Eastern Ghats. Their highest peak is Doddabetta (2,637 m), near Ooty (Udhagamandalam) in Tamil Nadu. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, set up in 1986, was India's first biosphere reserve and covers parts of all three states. The hills are home to the Toda tribe and the Nilgiri tahr. A is wrong because Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh lie in the Himalayas, which are young fold mountains far to the north. B is wrong because the Gujarat-Rajasthan-Haryana belt is the region of the Aravallis, among India's oldest fold mountains, but they are not the Nilgiris. C is wrong because Assam, Nagaland and Tripura are in the north-east, far from these southern hills. Exam tip: the Nilgiris join the Western and Eastern Ghats at the Tamil Nadu-Kerala-Karnataka tri-junction; the highest peak is Doddabetta.

The correct answer is C, Doab. Doab, from the Persian words for two and water, is the name for the tract of land between two rivers. The Punjab plains, built by the Indus and its tributaries, are divided into such tracts, among them the Bari doab between the Beas and the Ravi, the Bist doab between the Beas and the Satluj, the Rachna doab between the Ravi and the Chenab and the Chaj doab between the Chenab and the Jhelum. Option A is wrong because a Dun is a longitudinal valley between the Shiwaliks and the Lesser Himalaya. Option B is wrong because Bhabar is the pebble belt at the foot of the Shiwaliks. Option D is wrong because Karewas are the lake deposits of the Kashmir valley on which saffron is grown.

The correct answer is D, Brahmaputra river. National Waterway 2 is the Brahmaputra from Dhubri to Sadiya in Assam, a stretch of 891 km declared in 1988. It carries cargo and passengers through the Brahmaputra valley and connects with Bangladesh through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route. National Waterway 1, the Ganga–Bhagirathi–Hooghly system from Haldia to Prayagraj, is the longest at 1,620 km. The waterways are developed and run by the Inland Waterways Authority of India, headquartered at Noida. A is wrong because the West Coast Canal with the Champakara and Udyogmandal canals in Kerala is National Waterway 3. B is wrong because the East Coast Canal with the Matai river, in Odisha and West Bengal, is part of National Waterway 5. C is wrong because the Kakinada canal belongs to National Waterway 4, which links the Godavari and Krishna rivers with canals from Kakinada to Puducherry. Exam tip: NW-1 Ganga (Haldia–Prayagraj), NW-2 Brahmaputra (Dhubri–Sadiya), NW-3 West Coast Canal (Kerala).