Geography Mixed Quiz: Set 28

The correct answer is B, Kunchikal Falls. Formed by the Varahi river in the Shivamogga district of Karnataka, it is counted as the highest waterfall in India, falling in a long series of steps through rocky terrain; because it lies within the catchment of the Mani dam, its full flow is seen mainly in the monsoon. Option A, Jog Falls on the Sharavathi, is the most famous and most visited waterfall in the country and is often given as the answer by students who confuse fame with height, but it is lower than Kunchikal. Options C and D, Rakim Kund and Kevti, are both falls of the Kaimur range in Bihar and are much smaller. Two more superlatives are worth learning: Nohkalikai in Meghalaya is the tallest plunge waterfall, and Chitrakote on the Indravati in Chhattisgarh is the broadest.

The correct answer is A, B, D and E, that is landslide, tsunami and floods. An earthquake is the shaking of the ground when energy stored along a fault is suddenly released, and that shaking sets off further hazards. On a steep slope the tremor loosens soil and rock and brings down a landslide. Under the sea, a sudden movement of the ocean floor lifts a huge column of water and sends out a tsunami, as in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. Floods follow when the shaking cracks a dam or an embankment, or when a landslide dams a river and the water later bursts through. Option B is wrong because lightning and thundering are weather events born in tall cumulonimbus clouds and have nothing to do with movement inside the earth. Option C is wrong because it keeps only the landslide and leaves out the tsunami. Option D is wrong because it adds floods but still misses the tsunami. Exam tip: earthquake – landslide, tsunami and dam-burst floods; lightning and thunder belong to a thunderstorm.

The correct answer is D, weathering. Weathering is the natural breaking down of rock by temperature, water, wind and living things, and it is the process that makes soil in the first place; it is not a technique that a farmer applies to save soil, so it cannot be a conservation method. Option A is wrong as an answer because intercropping, growing two crops together in alternate rows, keeps the ground covered through the season and reduces the impact of rain on bare soil. Option B is wrong as an answer because mulching covers the bare ground between plants with straw or crop residue, which cuts evaporation and stops the topsoil from being washed or blown away. Option C is wrong as an answer because contour ploughing runs furrows across the slope instead of down it, so each furrow acts as a small barrier to running water.

The correct answer is C, because the Suez Canal has no locks at all. It is a sea level canal: the Mediterranean and the Red Sea stand at almost the same height, so ships sail straight through without being raised or lowered. The canal, about 193 km long, was built under Ferdinand de Lesseps and opened in November 1869 across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, separating Africa from Asia. Egypt nationalised it in 1956. Options A, B and D all state facts, so none of them is the answer: the canal did open in 1869, it does join the Mediterranean to the Red Sea through the Gulf of Suez, and it did shorten the voyage from Europe to India by thousands of kilometres, ending the long route round the Cape of Good Hope. Exam tip: Suez is a lock free canal; the Panama Canal is the one with locks, because Gatun Lake lies well above sea level.

The correct answer is A, Vijayawada. Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh has a large coal based thermal power station on the Krishna river, named after Dr Narla Tata Rao, but no nuclear plant. India’s nuclear stations are run by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, and the other three names in the question are all on that list. B is wrong because Narora, in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh on the bank of the Ganga, has a station with two pressurised heavy water reactors. C is wrong because Tarapur in Palghar district of Maharashtra is the country’s oldest nuclear station, commissioned in 1969 with boiling water reactors built with American help. D is wrong because Rawatbhata in Rajasthan stands on the Chambal near the Rana Pratap Sagar dam and carries the largest number of units of any Indian nuclear station. Kakrapar in Gujarat, Kaiga in Karnataka, and Kalpakkam and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu complete the set. Exam tip: Tarapur was India’s first nuclear power station; Vijayawada is thermal, not nuclear.

The correct answer is C, Europe. The Orient Express ran from Paris in France to Istanbul in Turkey, crossing Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Sofia, so almost the whole of its roughly 3,000 km line lay inside Europe. Only the last stretch at Istanbul touches the edge of Asia, which is why the route is counted as a European trans-continental railway. It began in 1883 and carried cheese, wine, silk and passengers across the continent, and school geography lists it beside the Trans-Siberian, the Canadian Pacific and the Australian Trans-Continental lines. Option A is wrong because the long Asian trans-continental line is the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok. Option B is wrong because the Canadian Pacific and the Union Pacific are the North American lines. Option D is wrong because South America's famous route is the Trans-Andean line linking Buenos Aires with Valparaiso. Exam tip: Orient Express Paris–Istanbul, Europe; Trans-Siberian Moscow–Vladivostok, the longest in the world.

The correct answer is B, Wular Lake. It lies in the Kashmir valley, is fed by the Jhelum, and is the largest freshwater lake in India; it acts as a natural flood absorber for the valley and is a designated wetland of international importance. Option A, Chilika in Odisha, is the largest brackish water lagoon in the country, not a freshwater lake, and the words brackish and freshwater are the whole trick of this question. Option C, Sambhar in Rajasthan, is the largest inland saline lake and a major source of common salt. Option D, Vembanad in Kerala, is the longest lake in India and part of the backwater system, but its water mixes with the sea and it is not classed as a freshwater lake. Keep the four superlatives apart: largest freshwater, largest brackish lagoon, largest saline and longest.

The correct answer is C, 1 and 2 only. Statement 3 is wrong because the Kaleshwaram project is built on the Godavari, not the Krishna. The scheme takes its name from Kaleshwaram in Telangana, near the point where the Pranhita joins the Godavari, and it was inaugurated in June 2019, which makes statement 1 correct. It is described as the world's largest multi-stage, multi-purpose lift irrigation project, so statement 2 is correct: water is raised through a long chain of pump houses, barrages, tunnels, canals and reservoirs to fields that lie far above the river, and it is meant to serve lakhs of hectares in north Telangana as well as drinking water and industry. Option A is wrong and option D is wrong because both accept statement 3 and its Krishna River claim. Option B is wrong because it leaves out the correct statement 2. Exam tip: Kaleshwaram is on the Godavari in Telangana, while Polavaram is on the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.

The correct answer is C, the right mix of minerals and organic matter. Fertility needs mineral nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from the weathered rock, and organic matter, that is humus from decayed plants and animals, which holds water, feeds soil organisms and releases nutrients slowly. Option A is wrong because an excess of acid lowers the availability of nutrients and harms root growth, which is why lime is added to strongly acidic fields. Option B is wrong because it leaves out organic matter and mentions only inorganic material; a soil of pure mineral grains, such as desert sand, is not fertile however rich its minerals. Option D is wrong because high salt content is the mark of saline or usar land, which is among the least productive soil in the country and has to be reclaimed with gypsum and drainage before it can be cropped.

The correct answer is A, Rill erosion. Water erosion of soil moves through a fixed sequence: raindrops first loosen the soil, that is splash erosion; the water then takes off a thin even layer of topsoil, which is sheet erosion; the flow soon gathers into small finger-like channels called rills; and when those rills are cut deeper and wider by running water until a plough can no longer cross them, they become gullies. So a gully is a grown up rill, the advanced stage of rill erosion. The ravines along the Chambal in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are the classic Indian example of badlands made by gully erosion. B is wrong because splash erosion is the first step, the impact of raindrops. C is wrong because sheet erosion comes before rills and removes soil in a uniform layer. D is wrong because wind erosion is a separate agent that lifts dry loose soil, not the parent of a gully. Exam tip: splash, then sheet, then rill, then gully.

The correct answer is C, Odisha. Chilika lies along the coast of Odisha, separated from the Bay of Bengal by a long sand bar, and its mixture of fresh and sea water supports one of the largest wintering grounds for migratory birds in the subcontinent as well as a population of Irrawaddy dolphins. It was the first Indian wetland to be placed on the Ramsar list. Option A, Andhra Pradesh, shares Pulicat, the next largest lagoon, with Tamil Nadu and also has Kolleru between the Krishna and Godavari deltas. Option B, West Bengal, has the Sundarbans wetlands but no lagoon of this kind. Option D, Tamil Nadu, holds the southern part of Pulicat, and the confusion between Chilika and Pulicat is the usual reason a student loses this mark.

The correct answer is D, Tundra. In Koppen’s classification the group of cold climates, marked E, holds two types, the tundra climate and the ice cap climate. The tundra belt lies mainly north of the Arctic Circle along the northern edges of North America, Europe and Asia. Its summers are short and cool, the average temperature of the warmest month stays below ten degrees Celsius, the subsoil stays frozen as permafrost, and the plant cover is limited to mosses, lichens and low shrubs, with no trees. A is wrong because the humid subtropical type belongs to the warm temperate group, which covers northern India, southern China and the south eastern United States. C is wrong because the humid continental type falls in the cold snow forest group, one step milder than the polar group. B is wrong because highland climate is kept as a separate group, where conditions change with altitude rather than with latitude. Exam tip: Koppen’s groups are A tropical, B dry, C warm temperate, D cold snow forest, E cold or polar and H highland.

The correct answer is B, black soil. Black soil, called regur, formed from the lava of the Deccan trap and is so closely tied to this one crop that it is popularly called black cotton soil. Its fine clayey texture holds moisture deep in the profile, so the crop survives the long dry spell between showers without irrigation. Option A is wrong because laterite soil is leached of lime and silica and is poor in organic matter and nitrogen; it carries plantation crops such as tea, coffee and cashew on hill slopes rather than cotton. Option C is wrong because arid soil is sandy, saline and low in humus and needs irrigation even for bajra and barley. Option D is wrong because peaty soil is waterlogged and highly organic, found in Kuttanad in Kerala and coastal Odisha, and is used mainly for rice.

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 Bhagirathi. The Tehri dam stands in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, just below the point where the Bhilangana joins the Bhagirathi, and it is the tallest dam in India; it supplies power, drinking water and irrigation, and its construction submerged the old town of Tehri. Option A, the Alaknanda, is the other headstream of the Ganga and meets the Bhagirathi at Devprayag, but the dam is not on it. Option C, the Mandakini, joins the Alaknanda at Rudraprayag and is associated with Kedarnath rather than with any large dam. Option D, the Yamuna, carries other projects such as the Lakhwar and the Tajewala headworks. Remember the sequence of superlatives: Tehri the tallest, Hirakud among the longest and Bhakra the highest gravity dam.

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 C, bhangar. Bhangar is the older alluvium of the northern plains, lying above the flood level on slightly raised terraces, coarser in texture and marked by nodules of calcium carbonate known as kankar, which lower its fertility and hinder the movement of water. Option A is wrong because khadar is exactly the opposite, the newer alluvium of the active floodplain, finer in texture, renewed by fresh silt at every flood and therefore more fertile. Option B is wrong because regur is another name for black soil of the Deccan lava region and is not an alluvial deposit at all. Option D is wrong because usar is the popular name for saline and alkaline land, which carries an excess of sodium and other salts and has to be treated with gypsum before it can be cultivated.

The correct answer is A, Loktak Lake. Loktak in Manipur is covered with phumdis, floating mats of soil and decaying vegetation thick enough to walk on, and the southern part of the lake was declared Keibul Lamjao National Park, the only floating national park in the world and the last natural home of the sangai or brow-antlered deer. Option B, Kolleru in Andhra Pradesh, lies between the Krishna and Godavari deltas and is important for birds but has no such formation. Option C, Ashtamudi in Kerala, is a backwater lagoon named for its eight arms and is a Ramsar site. Option D, Pangong Tso, is a high-altitude brackish lake in Ladakh that extends across the Line of Actual Control into Tibet. Loktak also carries a hydroelectric project, which has changed the lake’s water level and affected the phumdis.

The correct answer is B, tea, coffee and cashew. Laterite soil forms on hill slopes of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Assam under heavy rain and high temperature, and after manuring it carries these plantation crops well; cashew in particular does well on the laterite of the Kerala and Karnataka coast. Option A is wrong because wheat and sugarcane belong to the deep alluvial soil of the northern plains, which holds more nitrogen-fixing humus once manured and has assured irrigation. Option C is wrong because cotton and jowar belong to the black soil of the Deccan trap. Option D is wrong because rice and jute need soil that holds standing water and a large supply of silt, which is the alluvial and deltaic land of the Ganga and Brahmaputra plains rather than the leached slopes where laterite forms.

The correct answer is B, the Bhakra Dam. Bhakra is built across the Sutlej at the Bhakra gorge on the border of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, is the highest straight gravity dam in India, and the lake it holds is named Gobind Sagar after Guru Gobind Singh. With the Nangal barrage downstream it forms the Bhakra Nangal project, which supplies power and canal water to Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Option A, Hirakud on the Mahanadi in Odisha, is among the longest dams in the world and its reservoir carries its own name. Option C, Nagarjuna Sagar on the Krishna, holds the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir, named after the Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna. Option D, the Rihand dam in Uttar Pradesh, impounds Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, the largest man-made lake in India by area, and the similar names make this the trap of the question.