Geography Mixed Quiz: Set 8

The correct answer is B, the Tropic of Cancer. On 21 June the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, whose rays fall vertically on the Tropic of Cancer at 23.5 degrees north. This is the summer solstice: the longest day and the shortest night of the year in the northern hemisphere, and the day on which the Arctic Circle has continuous daylight.

Option A, the equator, receives vertical rays on 21 March and 23 September, the two equinoxes, when day and night are equal everywhere on the Earth. Option C, the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees south, gets vertical rays on 22 December, the winter solstice for the northern hemisphere. Option D, the Arctic Circle at 66.5 degrees north, never receives vertical rays, since the Sun can be overhead only between the two tropics.

The correct answer is C, Gorges. In its upper course a river flows fast down steep slopes, so it cuts downward into the rock more than it spreads sideways. This vertical erosion makes deep, narrow valleys with steep sides: V-shaped valleys and, where the rock is hard, gorges. Waterfalls and rapids also belong to this young stage of a river. A famous example is the Indus gorge in the Himalayas, and the Narmada flows through a marble gorge at Bhedaghat near Jabalpur. A is wrong because oxbow lakes form in the lower course, when a loop of a meander is cut off from the main channel. B is wrong because meanders, the wide loops of a river, form in the middle and lower course, where the land is gentle and the river swings sideways. D is wrong because floodplains form in the lower course, where the river spreads out and leaves silt during floods. Exam tip: upper course, V-shaped valley, gorge and waterfall; lower course, meander, oxbow lake, floodplain and delta.

The correct answer is B, Satluj. The Beas rises at Beas Kund near the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, flows past Manali, Kullu and Mandi, enters Punjab and meets the Satluj at Harike in Punjab, where the Harike barrage and wetland stand. It is the only one of the five rivers of Punjab that lies entirely within India. The Pong Dam on the Beas in Kangra district is one of the largest earth dams in the country, and the Beas-Satluj link carries its water to the Bhakra system. In ancient times the Beas was the Vipasa, the river beyond which Alexander's army refused to march in 326 BCE. A, the Indus, receives the combined waters of the Punjab rivers only through the Panjnad in Pakistan. C, the Chenab, receives the Jhelum and the Ravi, not the Beas. D, the Ravi, flows to the west of the Beas and joins the Chenab in Pakistan. Exam tip: Punjab rivers from east to west are Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum; the Beas and the Satluj meet at Harike.

The correct answer is C, At the North Pole. The Coriolis force is the apparent force caused by the rotation of the Earth that deflects moving air and water to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere. Its size is proportional to the sine of the latitude, so it is zero at the equator, where the sine of 0 degrees is zero, and greatest at the poles, where the sine of 90 degrees is one. This is why tropical cyclones cannot form within about 5 degrees of the equator, and why winds around a low-pressure system circle anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern. It was described by the French scientist Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis in 1835. A, At the Equator, the effect is zero, not largest. B, At the tropics, at 23.5 degrees, the effect is small. D, At 45 degrees latitude, the effect is only about 71 percent of its value at the poles. Exam tip: the Coriolis force is zero at the equator and maximum at the poles, and it grows with the speed of the moving body.

The correct answer is C, 3 1 2 4. The Steppes are the temperate grasslands of Eurasia, stretching across Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan; the Prairies cover the central plains of the United States and Canada; the Velds are the grassy plateaus of South Africa; and the Downs are the grasslands of south-eastern Australia, famous for sheep rearing and merino wool. All four are temperate grasslands in the interior of continents, where light rainfall, hot summers and cold winters keep trees few and let grass dominate. The Pampas of Argentina and the Canterbury plains of New Zealand belong to the same family, while the Llanos and Campos of South America are tropical grasslands. Option A is wrong because it places the Steppes in South Africa. Option B is wrong because it puts the Steppes in the USA and the Prairies in Australia. Option D is wrong because it sends the Steppes to Australia and the Downs to the USA. Exam tip: Steppes–Russia, Prairies–USA, Velds–South Africa, Downs–Australia, Pampas–Argentina.

The correct answer is B, Wheat. Western disturbances are low-pressure systems that originate over the Mediterranean Sea and travel eastward with the subtropical westerly jet stream in winter, bringing light rain to Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, and snow to the Himalaya, between December and February. Wheat is the main rabi crop, sown in October and November and harvested in March and April, and it needs cool weather and a little rain during its growing period; this winter rain, called mahawat in north India, is described as gold for wheat because it saves a round of irrigation and improves the grain. A, Rice, is a kharif crop that depends on the heavy rain of the south-west monsoon. C, Bajra, is a kharif millet of the dry areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat, grown on monsoon rain. D, Cotton, is also a kharif crop, sown at the start of the monsoon and picked in autumn. Exam tip: western disturbances bring the winter rain of north-west India, which is good for the rabi crops wheat, barley, gram and mustard.

The correct answer is C, Jupiter. Ganymede is one of the four large moons of Jupiter first seen by Galileo, the others being Io, Europa and Callisto, and it is larger than the planet Mercury, which makes it the biggest satellite in the solar system. Jupiter, the largest planet, has by far the most striking family of moons among the giant planets.

Option A, Saturn, has Titan, the second largest satellite and the only moon with a thick atmosphere. Option B, Mars, has only two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are captured bodies shaped like potatoes. Option D, Neptune, has Triton, remembered because it moves around its planet in the direction opposite to the planet's rotation. Note also that Mercury and Venus have no satellite at all.

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, Krishna and Tungabhadra. Going south from Gulbarga you first cross the Krishna and then reach the Tungabhadra, on whose south bank Hampi stands. The land between these two rivers is the Raichur Doab, a fertile tract that the Bahmani Sultanate and the Vijayanagara Empire fought over for nearly two centuries. Gulbarga, now Kalaburagi, was the first Bahmani capital from 1347, while Hampi was the capital of Vijayanagara, founded in 1336. The Tungabhadra is itself a tributary of the Krishna and joins it further east, near Kurnool. A is wrong, because the Narmada flows far to the north through central India, and the Godavari also lies north of Gulbarga. B is wrong, because the Mahanadi drains Chhattisgarh and Odisha, far from this region. C is wrong, because the Kaveri flows well south of Hampi and the Periyar is a river of Kerala. Exam tip: the Raichur Doab lies between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra; Hampi is on the Tungabhadra.

The correct answer is C, Bhabar. When rivers leave the Himalayas and reach the plains, their speed drops suddenly and they drop the heaviest load first, pebbles and boulders, in the Bhabar belt. The Bhabar is a narrow strip about 8 to 16 km wide that runs along the foot of the Shiwaliks from the Indus to the Tista. The ground is so porous that most streams sink underground and seem to disappear here. South of it, the water comes up again and creates the wet, marshy Terai, once covered by thick forests full of wildlife. A is wrong, because Khadar is the newer, fine alluvium of the flood plains, renewed almost every year by floods. B is wrong, because Bhangar is the older alluvium on higher ground above flood level, with lime nodules called kankar. D is wrong, because the Terai lies below the Bhabar and has fine, damp soil where the lost streams re-emerge, not boulders. Exam tip: from the hills down, Bhabar (boulders, streams vanish), Terai (streams return, marshy), then Bhangar old and Khadar new alluvium.

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, 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, Second half of the month of June. The longest day in the northern hemisphere is the summer solstice, which falls on 20, 21 or 22 June, usually 21 June. On that day the Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° N), because the North Pole is tilted most towards the Sun. Places north of the equator get their longest daylight and shortest night, and north of the Arctic Circle the Sun stays above the horizon for 24 hours. At the same time the southern hemisphere has its shortest day. The other solstice, around 22 December, puts the Sun over the Tropic of Capricorn and gives the north its shortest day. Option A is wrong because in the first half of June the days are still growing longer. Option C is wrong because by early July the days have started getting shorter. Option D is wrong for the same reason, as the days keep shortening through July. Exam tip: 21 June Tropic of Cancer, 22 December Tropic of Capricorn, 21 March and 23 September equinoxes.

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 A, Yamuna. All three rivers join the Yamuna, the longest tributary of the Ganga, which rises at the Yamunotri glacier in Uttarakhand and meets the Ganga at Prayagraj. The Tons is its largest tributary and joins it in the hills of Uttarakhand. The Hindon rises in the Shivaliks near Saharanpur and joins it near Greater Noida. The Chambal rises near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, flows through the Kota region of Rajasthan with its famous ravines, and joins the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh. Other tributaries to remember are the Betwa, Ken and Sind from the south. B is wrong because the Mahanadi flows east through Chhattisgarh and Odisha and is fed by rivers like the Seonath, Hasdeo and Ib. C is wrong because the Kaveri of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu takes the Hemavati, Kabini and Bhavani. D is wrong because the Tapi flows west from Multai in Madhya Pradesh to the Gulf of Khambhat, with the Purna as a tributary. Exam tip: Yamuna tributaries from the south are Chambal, Sind, Betwa, Ken; from the north, Tons and Hindon.

The correct answer is D, Titanium. Ilmenite (FeTiO3) and rutile (TiO2) are the main ores of titanium, and India has large deposits of them in its beach sands. These heavy mineral sands occur mainly along the coasts of Kerala (Chavara), Tamil Nadu (Manavalakurichi) and Odisha (Chhatrapur), often together with monazite, zircon and garnet. Titanium is light, strong and does not rust, so it is used in aircraft, spacecraft and medical implants, while titanium dioxide is the white pigment in paints, paper and toothpaste. Option A is wrong because aluminium comes from bauxite, found mainly in Odisha and Jharkhand. Option B is wrong because copper comes from ores like chalcopyrite, mined at Khetri in Rajasthan and Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh. Option C is wrong because iron is taken from haematite and magnetite; ilmenite does contain iron, but it is mined for its titanium. Exam tip: ilmenite and rutile give titanium, monazite gives thorium and rare earths, and all three come from the black sands of the south-west and east coasts.

The correct answer is A, Mohana and Lilajan rivers. The Lilajan and the Mohana meet a few kilometres below Bodh Gaya, and from there the combined stream is called the Phalgu. The Lilajan is the old Niranjana, on whose bank the Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. The Phalgu then flows past the city of Gaya, where the Vishnupad temple stands on its bank and Hindus offer pind-daan to their ancestors. For much of the year its bed looks like dry sand, with water flowing beneath it, so it is often called an underground river. Option B is wrong because the Son is a large separate tributary of the Ganga that rises at Amarkantak and joins the Ganga near Patna. Option C is wrong for the same reason, as the Son plays no part in forming the Phalgu. Option D is wrong because only one pair, the Lilajan and the Mohana, forms it. Exam tip: Lilajan plus Mohana make the Phalgu, flowing from Bodh Gaya to Gaya.

The correct answer is D, Kosi - Magadh. Neither the Kosi division nor the Magadh division touches the Ganga, while every other division named in the options does. The Ganga enters Bihar near Chausa in Buxar, where the Karmanasa meets it, and flows west to east, splitting the State into North Bihar and South Bihar. The Kosi division, with Saharsa, Supaul and Madhepura, lies well north of the river and is drained by the Kosi. The Magadh division, with Gaya, Nawada, Aurangabad, Jehanabad and Arwal, lies to the south on the plateau edge and is drained by rivers such as the Phalgu and the Punpun. Option A is wrong because the Ganga touches Samastipur in Darbhanga division and flows past Munger. Option B is wrong because the Ganga flows through Bhagalpur and along Katihar in Purnea division. Option C is wrong because the Ganga touches Vaishali in Tirhut division and Saran district in Saran division. Exam tip: Kosi is north of the Ganga's reach and Magadh is south of it, so neither division sits on the river.

The correct answer is B, Sutlej. Trans-Himalayan rivers rise beyond the Great Himalaya, on the Tibetan side, and are older than the mountains themselves. As the Himalaya rose, they kept cutting down through it, which is why they flow through deep gorges; geographers call them antecedent rivers. There are three: the Indus, the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra, all rising near Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar. The Sutlej begins at Rakas Tal in Tibet, enters India through the Shipki La pass in Himachal Pradesh, and is dammed at Bhakra. Option A is wrong because the Jhelum rises at the Verinag spring in the Kashmir valley, south of the Great Himalaya. Option C is wrong because the Ganga begins as the Bhagirathi at the Gangotri glacier inside the Indian Himalaya. Option D is wrong because the Ravi rises near the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh. Exam tip: the three trans-Himalayan rivers are the Indus, the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra; remember them as the rivers that come from Tibet.

The correct answer is A, Devprayag. At Devprayag in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, the Bhagirathi, coming from the Gangotri glacier, meets the Alaknanda, and from this confluence onwards the river is called the Ganga. Devprayag is the last of the five sacred confluences on the Alaknanda, known as the Panch Prayag. Going downstream, the Alaknanda meets the Dhauliganga at Vishnuprayag, the Nandakini at Nandprayag, the Pindar at Karnaprayag, the Mandakini at Rudraprayag and finally the Bhagirathi at Devprayag. Setters often mix up these pairs, so learning them in order helps. Option B is wrong because Vishnuprayag is where the Dhauliganga joins the Alaknanda. Option C is wrong because Rudraprayag is where the Mandakini, flowing down from Kedarnath, joins the Alaknanda. Option D is wrong because Karnaprayag is where the Pindar joins the Alaknanda. Exam tip: Vishnu, Nand, Karna, Rudra, Dev is the Panch Prayag order from upstream to downstream, ending with the Bhagirathi at Devprayag.