Contour lines on a topographical map join points of equal:
- A.Height above sea level
- B.Depth of water
- C.Rainfall
- D.Temperature
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, height above sea level. A contour, whose technical name is isohypse, joins all points standing at the same height above sea level and is the chief means of showing relief on a topographical sheet; contours drawn close together mean a steep slope, contours far apart a gentle slope, and contours that merge indicate a cliff or a waterfall, while a hill is shown by closed contours with values increasing inward. Option B is wrong because equal depth of water is shown by isobaths, the mirror image of contours below the datum line. Option C is wrong because equal rainfall is shown by isohyets on a rainfall distribution map. Option D is wrong because equal temperature is shown by isotherms, which are drawn after reducing temperature to sea level so that altitude does not distort them.
Read the full article: Geographical Terms and Isolines: Isobar to Isohyet
Practice Questions
View allLines drawn on a map joining places that receive equal amounts of rainfall are called:
- A.Isobars
- B.Isohyets
- C.Isohels
- D.Isotherms
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The word comes from the Greek hyetos, meaning rain, so an isohyet joins all places on a map that receive the same amount of rainfall in a given period; rainfall distribution maps of India, which show the 200 centimetre and 50 centimetre lines, are drawn with isohyets.
Read the full explanation →An isohel is a line on a map joining places having equal:
- A.Cloudiness
- B.Duration of sunshine
- C.Humidity
- D.Salinity
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An isohel, from the Greek helios for the sun, joins places that receive sunshine for an equal number of hours, and such maps are used in studies of solar energy potential and of crop seasons.
Read the full explanation →Lines joining points of equal depth of water in an ocean or a lake are known as:
- A.Isobars
- B.Isobaths
- C.Isopachs
- D.Isohypses
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The Greek bathos means depth, so isobaths are the depth contours of a bathymetric chart; the 200 metre isobath is conventionally taken as the outer edge of the continental shelf.
Read the full explanation →Isoseismal lines on a map are drawn to show equal:
- A.Intensity of an earthquake
- B.Thickness of rock strata
- C.Travel time from a place
- D.Wind speed
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Isoseismal lines join points at which the shaking of an earthquake was felt with the same intensity, and because intensity falls away from the source, they are drawn as roughly concentric closed curves around the epicentre, the point of the surface vertically above the focus.
Read the full explanation →The line joining places where the magnetic declination is zero is called the:
- A.Isogonic line
- B.Agonic line
- C.Isoclinic line
- D.Aclinic line
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Magnetic declination is the angle between true north and magnetic north, and along the agonic line that angle is zero, so a compass needle there points to true north.
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