Geography Mixed Quiz: Set 5

The correct answer is C. The axis of the Earth is tilted about 23.5 degrees from the vertical and keeps pointing in the same direction throughout the year. As the Earth revolves, each hemisphere is therefore turned towards the Sun for part of the year, receiving more direct rays and longer days, and away from it for the other part, which gives summer and winter.

Option A is the commonest trap. The Earth is actually closest to the Sun in early January, when the northern hemisphere has winter, so distance cannot explain the seasons. Option B, rotation, causes day and night, not the seasons. Option D, the pull of the Moon, is the main cause of tides in the oceans. A useful way to remember it: rotation gives day and night, revolution with tilt gives the seasons and the year.

The correct answer is B, fissure volcanic rock. Black cotton soil, or regur, formed from the weathering of the Deccan Trap basalt, lava that poured out through long cracks in the crust about 65 million years ago. This fissure eruption spread layer after layer of basalt over Maharashtra, western Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and parts of Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and the soil is found mainly on this plateau. It is rich in iron, lime, magnesium and potash but poor in nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter, and its dark colour comes from titaniferous magnetite and humus. It holds moisture well, swells when wet and cracks deeply when dry, so it is said to 'plough itself', and it suits cotton. Option A is wrong because brown forest soil is itself a soil type, not the parent rock of regur. Option C is wrong because granite and schist weather mainly into red soils. Option D is wrong because shale and limestone are sedimentary rocks, not the source of the Deccan soils. Exam tip: regur means Deccan basalt, cotton and self-ploughing cracks.

The correct answer is B, 3 p.m. Places east of Greenwich are ahead in time, and every degree of longitude adds 4 minutes. The Earth turns through 360° in 24 hours, so it covers 15° in one hour, or 1° in 4 minutes. For 45° East the difference is 45 × 4 = 180 minutes, which is 3 hours. Because the place lies east of Greenwich, we add these 3 hours to 12 noon and get 3 p.m. The short rule is 'East gains, West loses'. A is wrong because 9 a.m. comes from subtracting 3 hours, which would be right only for 45° West. C is wrong because 10 a.m. would be the time at a place 30° West of Greenwich. D is wrong because 2 p.m. would be the time at a place only 30° East of Greenwich. Exam tip: 1° = 4 minutes and 15° = 1 hour; add time going east, subtract going west. India's Standard Meridian at 82½° E is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich.

The correct answer is C, Neither I nor II. Both pairs are reversed: in Punjab rice is a commercial crop, while in Odisha it is a subsistence crop. The same crop can be commercial in one state and subsistence in another; it depends on why the farmer grows it. A subsistence crop feeds the farmer's own family, and a commercial crop is grown mainly for sale. Punjab and Haryana farmers do not eat much rice, yet they grow it on irrigated land with high-yielding seeds and sell almost all of it to the government at the minimum support price. In Odisha, West Bengal and Assam rice is the staple food, grown mostly on small rain-fed plots for the family's own kitchen. A is wrong because Punjab rice is sold, not eaten at home, so it is commercial. B is wrong because Odisha rice is largely eaten by the growers, so it is subsistence. D fails because neither pair is correct. Exam tip: NCERT line to remember, rice is commercial in Punjab and Haryana but subsistence in Odisha.

The correct answer is B, Pacific and Indian Ocean. The Southern Oscillation is a see-saw in air pressure between the tropical eastern Pacific and the Indian Ocean: when pressure is high over one, it is low over the other. Sir Gilbert Walker, head of the India Meteorological Department, identified it in the 1920s while trying to forecast the monsoon, and it is measured by the pressure difference between Tahiti in the Pacific and Darwin in northern Australia. When pressure over the eastern Pacific becomes lower than over the Indian Ocean, El Niño tends to develop and the Indian monsoon often weakens, which is why the two are studied together as ENSO, the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Option A is wrong because the partner of the Pacific in this see-saw is the Indian Ocean, not the Atlantic. Option C is wrong because the Pacific, the key player, is missing from this pair. Option D is wrong because option B describes the pattern correctly. Exam tip: Southern Oscillation, Pacific and Indian Ocean, Tahiti–Darwin pressure, found by Gilbert Walker.

The correct answer is D, Manipur. Nepal touches five Indian states: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim. Manipur lies far to the east in the North-East and shares its international border only with Myanmar. Bihar has the longest border with Nepal, and the India-Nepal border is an open border of about 1,750 km along which people move without a visa. Two easy memory hooks: the Kali river separates Uttarakhand from Nepal, and the Siliguri corridor of West Bengal lies between Nepal and Bangladesh. A is wrong because Sikkim lies between Nepal and Bhutan and shares its western border with Nepal. B is wrong because Bihar has the longest boundary with Nepal among all states. C is wrong because the Darjeeling district of West Bengal borders eastern Nepal. Exam tip: Nepal's five neighbours are Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim; Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal touch Myanmar.

The correct answer is C, western disturbance. Western disturbances are low-pressure systems that start over the Mediterranean Sea and are carried east towards India by the westerly jet stream in winter. They bring light rain to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh, and snowfall to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. This small winter rain, locally called 'mahawat', is very useful for rabi crops, especially wheat. A is wrong because the south-west monsoon brings rain from June to September, not in winter. B is wrong because the north-east monsoon gives winter rain mainly to the Tamil Nadu coast, not to the north-west. D is wrong because the retreating monsoon of October and November mostly affects the east coast and the south, and brings cyclones in the Bay of Bengal. Exam tip: winter rain in the north-west comes from western disturbances from the Mediterranean; winter rain in Tamil Nadu comes from the north-east monsoon.

The correct answer is A, Borneo. Of the four islands listed, Borneo has the largest area; it is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. The world's top islands by area run Greenland, New Guinea, Borneo, Madagascar, Baffin and Sumatra, with Australia counted as a continent rather than an island. Borneo lies in South-East Asia and is the only island shared by three countries: Indonesia, whose part is called Kalimantan, Malaysia, with Sabah and Sarawak, and the small nation of Brunei. Option B is wrong because Great Britain, though the largest island in Europe, ranks only around ninth in the world. Option C is wrong because Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, is the fourth-largest, just behind Borneo. Option D is wrong because Sumatra, also in Indonesia, is sixth, well behind Borneo. Exam tip: remember the top four as Greenland, New Guinea, Borneo, Madagascar, and that Borneo belongs to three countries.

The correct answer is C, Mizoram. The NCERT Class 11 geography book describes Mizoram as the 'Molassis basin', made up of soft, unconsolidated deposits. Molasse is a geologists' word for soft sediments washed down from rising mountains and laid down in a basin; in Mizoram these young rocks were later folded into the north–south ridges of the Purvanchal hills that run along India's eastern border. Because the rocks are soft, the hills of Mizoram are prone to landslides in the monsoon. The Purvanchal also includes the Patkai hills, the Naga hills and the Manipur hills, and the Barak is an important river of Manipur and Mizoram. A is wrong because Tripura is not the state given this name. B is wrong because Assam is mostly the flat Brahmaputra valley. D is wrong because the Meghalaya plateau, with the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills, is an old block of hard rock that belongs to the Peninsular plateau. Exam tip: NCERT line: Mizoram = 'Molassis basin'; Meghalaya = detached part of the Peninsular plateau.

The correct answer is A, Orange River. The Orange River is the longest river of South Africa, about 2,200 km long. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains of Lesotho, flows west across South Africa and falls into the Atlantic Ocean at Alexander Bay. For part of its course it forms the border between South Africa and Namibia. Its main tributary is the Vaal, and the Augrabies Falls lie on the Orange. The Limpopo is the other big river of South Africa, flowing east into the Indian Ocean. B is wrong because the Nile, the longest river in the world, flows north through countries such as Uganda, Sudan and Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea. C is wrong because the Congo flows through Central Africa, crosses the Equator twice and enters the Atlantic. D is wrong because the Niger flows through West Africa (Guinea, Mali, Niger and Nigeria) into the Gulf of Guinea. Exam tip: South Africa = Orange and Limpopo; Nile = north-east Africa; Congo = crosses the Equator twice; Niger = West Africa; Zambezi = Victoria Falls.

The correct answer is C, Kali and Teesta. The Himalayas, about 2,400 km long, are divided from west to east into regions marked by river valleys, and the Nepal Himalayas lie between the Kali in the west and the Teesta in the east. This is the highest stretch of the whole range and holds Mount Everest as well as Kanchenjunga on the Nepal–Sikkim border. The Kali forms the border between Uttarakhand and Nepal, and the Teesta flows through Sikkim before entering West Bengal. Option A is wrong because the Sutlej and the Dihang together cover almost the whole range and do not mark any single section. Option B is wrong because the land between the Sutlej and the Kali is the Kumaon Himalayas. Option D is wrong because the land between the Teesta and the Dihang is the Assam Himalayas. West of the Sutlej, up to the Indus, lie the Punjab Himalayas, also called the Kashmir and Himachal Himalayas. Exam tip: Indus–Sutlej Punjab, Sutlej–Kali Kumaon, Kali–Teesta Nepal, Teesta–Dihang Assam.

The correct answer is B, Geology. Geology is the science of the solid Earth: the rocks it is made of, how it formed and changed over time, and the minerals, coal, oil and gas found inside it. The word comes from the Greek geo (earth) and logos (study). A geologist reads rock layers to date events, studies earthquakes and volcanoes, and maps where iron ore, coal or petroleum lie. In India this work is done by the Geological Survey of India, founded in 1851 at Kolkata, one of the oldest such bodies in the world. A is wrong because geophysics uses physics, such as gravity, magnetism and seismic waves, to probe the Earth's interior; it is a branch within the earth sciences, not the broad study asked here. C is wrong because geography studies the Earth's surface, its climate, people and places, not the rocks and resources beneath. D is wrong because geometry is the mathematics of shapes, lines and angles and has nothing to do with the Earth. Exam tip: geo-logy = rocks and resources, geo-graphy = surface and people, geo-physics = physics of the interior.

The correct answer is B, Nilgiri Hills. The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats meet in the Nilgiri Hills, near the point where Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka come together. The Western Ghats run as an almost unbroken wall along the west coast, while the Eastern Ghats are broken into separate hills by rivers such as the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri that flow into the Bay of Bengal. The Nilgiris hold Doddabetta (2,637 m), their highest peak, and the hill station of Udhagamandalam (Ooty). The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, set up in 1986, was India's first biosphere reserve. Option A is wrong because the Cardamom Hills lie further south, along the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border, and belong to the Western Ghats alone. Option C is wrong because Mudumalai is a national park and tiger reserve on the slopes of the Nilgiris, not the meeting point. Option D is wrong because the correct answer, the Nilgiri Hills, is among the options. Exam tip: the two Ghats meet at the Nilgiris; the highest peak of peninsular India is Anamudi (2,695 m) in the Anaimalai Hills.

The correct answer is D, 1, 2 and 3. All three statements are true. Statement 1: the size of an eruption is rated on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, a scale from 0 to 8 based on the volume of material thrown out and the height of the eruption column; each step up means roughly ten times more material. Statement 2: Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where two plates move apart, and the Philippines lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, so both were built by volcanic activity. Statement 3: volcanic ash and lava weather into deep, mineral-rich soils, which is why Java in Indonesia supports dense farming and the Deccan's black soil, formed from basalt lava, grows cotton so well. A is wrong, because it leaves out statement 3, which is true. B is wrong, because it drops statement 1, and the index is the standard measure. C is wrong, because it drops statement 2, though both Iceland and the Philippines are volcanic. Exam tip: VEI runs from 0 to 8; Iceland sits on a ridge, the Philippines on the Ring of Fire; basalt gives black soil.

The correct answer is B, Sahyadri Range. The Krishna rises near Mahabaleshwar in the Satara district of Maharashtra, at about 1,337 metres in the Sahyadri, which is the local name of the Western Ghats. It is the second longest peninsular river after the Godavari, about 1,400 km long, and flows east through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the Bay of Bengal near Vijayawada. Its main tributaries are the Bhima, Tungabhadra, Koyna, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha and Musi, and the Almatti, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar dams stand on it. Option A is wrong because the Satpura range is the source of the Tapi, which rises at Multai. Option C is wrong because the Vindhya range feeds northward rivers like the Betwa and Ken, not the Krishna. Option D is wrong because the Eastern Ghats are where the Krishna ends its journey, not where it begins. Exam tip: three great east-flowing rivers rise in the Western Ghats, Godavari at Trimbakeshwar, Krishna at Mahabaleshwar, Kaveri at Talakaveri.

The correct answer is B, North Atlantic Ocean. The Sargasso Sea lies in the middle of the North Atlantic and is the only sea in the world with no coastline. Instead of land, it is bounded by four ocean currents that circle clockwise around it: the Gulf Stream on the west, the North Atlantic Current on the north, the Canary Current on the east and the North Atlantic Equatorial Current on the south. Because it sits in the calm centre of this gyre, its water is warm, clear and very salty. It is named after sargassum, a brown seaweed that floats on its surface in huge mats, and it is the breeding ground of the American and European eels. Option A is wrong because the Arctic Ocean lies around the North Pole, far from this sea. Option C is wrong because the Sargasso Sea is north of the equator, not in the South Atlantic. Option D is wrong because the Indian Ocean is on the other side of Africa. Exam tip: Sargasso Sea means North Atlantic, no coastline, walled by currents, named after floating seaweed.

The correct answer is D, Chambal. Rana Pratap Sagar Dam stands on the Chambal at Rawatbhata in the Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan. It is one of the four structures of the Chambal Valley Project: Gandhi Sagar Dam upstream in Madhya Pradesh, then Rana Pratap Sagar, Jawahar Sagar and the Kota Barrage in Rajasthan. The dam was completed in 1970 and has a hydropower station of 172 MW, and the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station also stands at Rawatbhata. The Chambal rises in the Janapav hills near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh and joins the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh. A is wrong because the Ganga is known for the Farakka Barrage, not this dam. B is wrong because the Jhelum carries projects such as Uri in Jammu and Kashmir. C is wrong, and is the usual trap, because the Pong Dam on the Beas in Himachal Pradesh has a reservoir called Maharana Pratap Sagar. Exam tip: Rana Pratap Sagar = Chambal (Rajasthan); Maharana Pratap Sagar = Pong Dam on the Beas.

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).

The correct answer is D, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal. According to Census 2011, these were India's four most populous states in exactly this order. Uttar Pradesh had about 19.98 crore people, which was 16.5 per cent of India's total population of about 121 crore. Maharashtra came second with about 11.24 crore, Bihar third with about 10.41 crore and West Bengal fourth with about 9.13 crore. The ranking by density is different: Bihar was the most densely populated state, with 1,106 persons per square kilometre, followed by West Bengal. The least populous state was Sikkim, with about 6.1 lakh people. Option A is wrong because it puts Bihar above Maharashtra. Option B is wrong because it puts West Bengal in second place, when it was fourth. Option C is wrong because it puts West Bengal above Bihar. Exam tip: Census 2011 top four by population are UP, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal; by density, Bihar comes first.

The correct answer is B, Meghalaya. Shillong is the capital of Meghalaya, the hill state whose name means abode of the clouds. Meghalaya was carved out of Assam and became a full state on 21 January 1972, the same day as Manipur and Tripura. Before that, Shillong had been the capital of undivided Assam, and its pine hills and cool weather earned it the name Scotland of the East. The state is home to the Khasi, Garo and Jaintia hills, and Mawsynram and Cherrapunji (Sohra) in the Khasi hills are among the wettest places on Earth. A is wrong because the capital of Tripura is Agartala. C is wrong because the capital of Nagaland is Kohima. D is wrong because Assam moved its capital from Shillong to Dispur, in Guwahati, after Meghalaya was formed. Exam tip: Shillong = Meghalaya, Kohima = Nagaland, Agartala = Tripura, Dispur = Assam, Imphal = Manipur, Aizawl = Mizoram, Itanagar = Arunachal Pradesh.