Gully erosion is an advance stage of?

The correct answer is D, Zoji La. Zoji La, usually written Zojila, is the pass on the Srinagar–Kargil–Leh highway at about 3,528 metres in the Zanskar range, and it is the only road link between the Kashmir valley and Ladakh. Heavy snow shuts it for much of winter, which is why the Zojila tunnel is being built to keep the route open all year. Option A is wrong because Nathu La lies in Sikkim on the old trade route to Tibet. Option B is wrong because Bara-lacha-La is in Himachal Pradesh on the Manali–Leh road, which reaches Ladakh from the other side. Option C is wrong because Jelep La is also in Sikkim and leads to the Chumbi valley. Exam tip: Srinagar to Leh is Zojila; Manali to Leh crosses Rohtang, Baralacha La, Lachung La and Tanglang La.

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 C, Western Ghats. Tropical evergreen forests need more than 200 cm of annual rainfall with a short dry season, and in India the western slopes of the Western Ghats get exactly that from the south-west monsoon. Such forests also grow in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in Assam and along the upper Assam hills. Because there is no season without moisture, the trees shed leaves at different times and the forest never looks bare; it is layered, dense and hard to walk through, with rosewood, mahogany, ebony and aini among its trees. Option A is wrong because Punjab, with low rainfall and heavy cultivation, carries only thorn and scrub vegetation. Option B is wrong because the Sunderbans is tidal or mangrove forest of the delta, dominated by the salt-tolerant sundari tree. Option D is wrong because Rajasthan's dry climate supports desert thorn forest such as khejri and cactus. Exam tip: evergreen needs rainfall above 200 cm — Western Ghats, Andaman and Nicobar, north-east India.

The correct answer is D, placer deposits. Minerals that are washed out of their parent rock and settle in the sand and gravel of a river bed, flood plain or valley floor are called placer deposits. Running water carries the lighter material away and drops the heavy, non-corrodible grains, so placers are rich in gold, platinum, tin and tungsten. Panning for gold in the sands of the Subarnarekha river, and the monazite-bearing beach sands of Kerala, are Indian examples. Option A is wrong because manganese nodules are potato-sized lumps lying on the deep ocean floor, not in valleys. Option B is wrong because a bulk deposit only means ore mined in large tonnages and says nothing about how it formed. Option C is wrong because vein deposits are minerals that fill cracks and fissures inside solid rock, which is exactly the source a placer is eroded from. Exam tip: placer = heavy minerals in river or beach sand; veins = cracks in rock; nodules = ocean floor.

The correct answer is B, Rajasthan. Rajasthan supplies most of India's gypsum and almost all of its silver ore.

Gypsum in Rajasthan is mined mainly in Bikaner, Nagaur, Jaisalmer and Barmer, where it occurs in the dry sedimentary beds of the Thar region; it is used to make cement and plaster of Paris and to treat alkaline soil. Silver comes from the Zawar mines in Udaipur district, where it is won along with the lead and zinc ores, since silver in India is mostly a by product of lead and zinc smelting rather than a mineral mined on its own. Rajasthan is also the leading state for lead, zinc, marble and rock phosphate.

Option A is wrong because Bihar is known for mica and limestone. Option C is wrong because Jharkhand leads in coal, iron ore and copper. Option D is wrong because Odisha leads in iron ore, bauxite, manganese and chromite.

Exam tip: Rajasthan for gypsum, silver, lead, zinc and marble; Odisha for iron ore, bauxite and chromite.