Geography Mixed Quiz: Set 31

The correct answer is A, Horizontal equal halves. The equator is the latitude of 0 degrees and it runs east to west round the middle of the earth, cutting the globe into two equal halves. These halves are the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere, and each stretches through 90 degrees of latitude up to its pole. The equator is the longest parallel, about 40,075 km round the earth, and every other parallel is shorter than it. Day and night stay nearly equal through the year on the equator, and the sun is overhead there on the two equinoxes, 21 March and 23 September. B is wrong because the equator is not drawn at a slant; it lies at right angles to the earth's axis. C is wrong because the two parts it makes are equal, not unequal. D is wrong because the vertical division is made by the Prime Meridian, which marks off the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Exam tip: the equator divides north from south, the Prime Meridian divides east from west.

The correct answer is A, Insolation. Insolation is the incoming solar radiation actually received by a unit area of the earth's surface, and how much of it a place receives decides how warm that place becomes. Insolation falls off from the equator towards the poles, because the sun's rays strike at a smaller angle there and travel through a thicker slice of atmosphere, which is why the temperature belts of the world run roughly parallel to the latitudes. Altitude, nearness to the sea, ocean currents and winds change this pattern, but they only modify what insolation has already decided. B is wrong because solar radiation is all the energy the sun sends out, while it is the part received at the surface, insolation, that controls surface temperature. C is wrong because terrestrial radiation is the heat the earth gives back, a result of insolation rather than its cause. D is wrong because distance from the sea is only a local, secondary control. Exam tip: insolation means incoming solar radiation, highest at the equator and least at the poles.

The correct answer is C, anticline. When layers of rock are squeezed by compression they bend, and a fold that arches upward is called an anticline. Its limbs dip away from the axis on both sides and the oldest beds lie in the core of the arch, because the layers that were laid down first sit at the bottom and are pushed up in the middle. Folding of this kind built the young fold mountains such as the Himalayas, the Alps and the Andes. Option A is wrong because a graben is not a fold at all but a block that has slipped down between two faults, as in the Narmada and Rhine rift valleys. Option B is wrong because a horst is the block left standing high between two faults, as in the Vosges and the Black Forest. Option D is wrong because a syncline is the downfold, a trough in which the youngest rocks lie at the centre. Exam tip: anticline arches up with old rocks in the middle, syncline sags down, while horst and graben come from faulting.

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, because the largest shadow zone belongs to the S waves, not the P waves. S waves are transverse and cannot pass through the liquid outer core, so a wide belt beyond about 103 degrees from the epicentre receives no S waves at all. P waves, being longitudinal, are only bent by the core, and they reappear beyond about 145 degrees, which leaves them a narrower shadow zone between 103 and 145 degrees. The other three statements are correct and therefore not the answer. Option A is true because P waves are the fastest and reach a seismograph first, which is how they got the name primary waves. Option B is true because longitudinal waves pass through solids, liquids and gases alike. Option C is true because stations beyond 145 degrees do record P waves. Exam tip: P waves travel through all media with a shadow zone from 103 to 145 degrees, while S waves need solids and are absent beyond 103 degrees.

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 D. The polar front jet is strongest in winter, not in summer, so this statement is the incorrect one. A jet stream is a fast, narrow ribbon of westerly wind in the upper troposphere, and its speed depends on the temperature contrast across the front below it. In winter the gap between polar and tropical air is at its widest, the pressure gradient steepens and the polar front jet can cross 300 km per hour; in summer the contrast weakens, the jet slows and shifts poleward. Option A is correct because a jet stream is indeed a narrow band of very high velocity wind, only a few hundred kilometres wide. Option B is correct because jet streams blow just below the tropopause, roughly 8 to 15 km above the surface. Option C is correct because they run as long meandering ribbons stretching thousands of kilometres around the globe. Exam tip: jet streams are strongest in winter, and India's weather turns on the easterly tropical jet in summer.

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 A, Punjab. The south-west monsoon splits over the sea into two arms, and Punjab is one of the few places where both reach. The Arabian Sea branch crosses the Western Ghats, travels north over Gujarat and Rajasthan and arrives in Punjab from the south-west. The Bay of Bengal branch enters through the Ganga plain, is turned west by the Himalayas and sweeps up the plain to Punjab and Haryana, where the two streams meet. Because both arms have already lost most of their moisture by then, Punjab gets only about 50 centimetres of monsoon rain, and the north-west is the last region the monsoon reaches, usually in early July. Option B is wrong because Maharashtra is fed by the Arabian Sea branch alone. Option C is wrong because Meghalaya and the Cherrapunji hills are watered only by the Bay of Bengal branch. Option D is wrong because interior Tamil Nadu lies in a rain shadow in summer and depends on the retreating north-east monsoon. Exam tip: Punjab and Haryana are where the two monsoon branches meet.

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 A, Himalayas. The Himalayas are the youngest mountains in India. They are fold mountains, thrown up where the Indian plate pushed into the Eurasian plate and crumpled the sediments of the old Tethys Sea between them. The collision began roughly fifty million years ago and has not stopped, so the range is still rising a little every year and the region remains prone to earthquakes. Being young, the Himalayas have sharp peaks, steep slopes and deep gorges, unlike the worn down hills of the peninsula. B is wrong because Mount Abu is the highest point of the Aravalli range, among the oldest fold mountains in the world. C is wrong because the Satpura is a block mountain of the ancient peninsular plateau. D is wrong because Anaimudi is a peak of the Western Ghats in Kerala, the highest in South India, and belongs to the old peninsular block. Exam tip: Himalayas youngest and fold; Aravalli oldest; Satpura a block mountain.

The correct answer is A, Irula. The Irula, also written Irular, are one of the main tribal communities of Tamil Nadu and live mostly in the Nilgiri hills and in the districts along the border with Kerala. They speak Irula, a Dravidian tongue close to Tamil, and are known across the country as expert snake and rat catchers; their cooperative society in Chennai supplies the venom from which antivenom is made. They are counted among the particularly vulnerable tribal groups of the state, along with the Toda, Kota and Kurumba of the same hills. Option B is wrong because no tribe of that name is recorded in Tamil Nadu. Option C is wrong because the Garo are a major tribe of Meghalaya in the north east and live in the Garo hills. Option D is wrong because the Khond, written here in a shortened form, are a tribe of Odisha known for hill cultivation. Exam tip: Irula and Toda with Tamil Nadu, Garo and Khasi with Meghalaya, Khond with Odisha.

The correct answer is D, Beas. Vipasha is the Sanskrit name of the Beas, the river the Greeks called Hyphasis and the one at whose bank Alexander's army refused to march further east in 326 BC. The Beas rises at Beas Kund near the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, flows past Manali, Kullu and Mandi, enters Punjab and joins the Sutlej at Harike, where a famous wetland and bird sanctuary lie. The Pong dam stands on it, and its waters are India's to use under the Indus Waters Treaty. Option A is wrong because the Sutlej was called Shatadru or Shutudri. Option B is wrong because the Ravi was Parushni or Iravati, the river of the battle of ten kings. Option C is wrong because the Chenab was Askini or Chandrabhaga. Exam tip: the Vedic names run Vitasta for Jhelum, Askini for Chenab, Parushni for Ravi, Vipasha for Beas and Shatadru for Sutlej.

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, the Forest Survey of India. It works under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has its headquarters at Dehradun, maps the forest and tree cover of the country with satellite imagery and field checks, and brings out the India State of Forest Report once every two years. Option A, the Wildlife Institute of India, is also at Dehradun but trains wildlife managers and carries out research on species and habitats rather than mapping forest cover. Option C, the Botanical Survey of India, has its headquarters at Kolkata and surveys and documents the plant wealth of the country, including rare and endangered species. Option D, the National Biodiversity Authority, sits at Chennai and administers the Biological Diversity Act, regulating access to biological resources and benefit sharing. Only the Forest Survey of India issues the cover assessment.

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, they fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. Pulses are leguminous plants whose roots carry nodules containing Rhizobium bacteria. These bacteria convert nitrogen from the air into compounds the plant can use, and part of that nitrogen stays in the soil after harvest, so the cereal that follows needs less fertiliser. This is why pulses are called soil-restoring crops.

Option A is wrong because although most pulses are hardy, low water demand is a convenience and not the reason for rotation. Option C is wrong because speed of growth is not the purpose of a rotation, which is designed to restore fertility and break pest cycles. Option D is wrong because pulses have their own serious pests, such as the pod borer and the aphid, so they resist nothing of the kind.

The correct answer is D, anthracite. It is the hardest and most lustrous coal, holds the highest percentage of carbon, gives the greatest heat and burns almost without smoke. In India it is found only in small quantities in Jammu and Kashmir, which is why the country imports coking coal for some uses.

Option A is wrong because peat is the first stage in the making of coal, with a very high moisture content and a low heat value, closer to wood than to coal. Option B is wrong because lignite is soft brown coal of middling quality, mined at Neyveli in Tamil Nadu. Option C is wrong because bituminous, though the most widely used variety and the one valued in metallurgy, stands below anthracite in carbon content. Learn the order as peat, lignite, bituminous and anthracite, rising in carbon at each step.

The correct answer is D, the assertion is false but the reason is true. Ahmedabad is a very large cotton textile centre and is called the Manchester of India, but it is not the largest in the country; that place belongs to Mumbai, the old Cottonopolis, which grew first because of its port, its mills and its capital, and Maharashtra remains ahead of Gujarat in the industry. The reason, however, is a correct statement in itself: Ahmedabad lies in the black soil tract of Gujarat where cotton is grown in quantity, so raw material has never been a constraint there. Options A and B both treat the assertion as true, which it is not. Option C reverses the position by calling the reason false, although Gujarat is indeed a leading cotton-growing state.

The correct answer is C, Kolkata. The Kolkata port, now named Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, stands on the Hooghly river about 200 kilometres inland from the Bay of Bengal, which makes it the only riverine major port in the country. Opened in 1870, it is also the oldest operating major port in India and serves a vast hinterland covering eastern India, Nepal and Bhutan. Its handicap is the silt the Hooghly carries: the channel must be dredged all the time, and because large modern ships still cannot reach the city, the Haldia Dock Complex was built downstream to take them. Option A is wrong because Mormugao in Goa is a coastal natural harbour at the mouth of the Zuari, famous for iron ore exports. Option B is wrong because Deendayal port, formerly Kandla, is a tidal sea port in the Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat. Option D is wrong because Paradip in Odisha is an artificial deep water sea port on the coast. Exam tip: Kolkata is the only riverine major port, on the Hooghly, with Haldia as its deep water partner.