With reference to the water on the planet Earth, consider the following statements : 1. The amount of water in the rivers and lakes is more than the amount of groundwater. 2. The amount of water in polar ice caps and glaciers is more than the amount of groundwater. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- A.1 only
- B.2 only
- C.Both 1 and 2
- D.Neither 1 nor 2
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, 2 only. Ice caps and glaciers hold more water than groundwater, while rivers and lakes hold far less than groundwater.
About 97 per cent of the Earth's water is salty ocean water, and only about 2.5 to 3 per cent is fresh. Of that fresh water, close to 69 per cent is locked in ice caps, glaciers and permanent snow, mainly in Antarctica and Greenland. Groundwater makes up about 30 per cent. Surface fresh water in lakes, rivers, swamps and the soil is only about 1 per cent of the fresh water, and rivers alone hold a tiny share of that. So the order from largest to smallest store of fresh water is ice, then groundwater, then surface water.
A is wrong because rivers and lakes hold much less water than the ground does. C is wrong because statement 1 is false. D is wrong because statement 2 is true.
Exam tip: fresh water by store: ice and glaciers about 69%, groundwater about 30%, lakes and rivers about 1%.
Practice Questions
View allConsider the following statements : 1. Areas where rainfall exceeds 250 cm 2. Annual temperature 25°C - 27°C 3. Average humidity exceeds 75% 4. Trees do not shed the leaves To which one of the following types of vegetation does the above represent ?
- A.Tropical wet evergreen
- B.Tropical semi evergreen
- C.Tropical moist deciduous
- D.Tropical dry evergreen
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Very heavy rainfall, high and steady temperature, humidity above 75 per cent and trees that stay green all year are the marks of tropical wet evergreen forests.
Read the full explanation →In shifting cultivation, the ash of the burnt vegetation serves mainly as
- A.A pesticide
- B.A manure that supplies nutrients to the soil
- C.A weedicide that kills the forest roots
- D.A means of levelling the slope
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In slash-and-burn farming the felled trees and undergrowth are dried and burnt on the spot, and the ash left behind is rich in potash and other mineral nutrients, which the cultivator depends on because no chemical fertiliser or farmyard manure is used.
Read the full explanation →Mediterranean agriculture is particularly famous for which activity?
- A.Viticulture
- B.Dairy farming
- C.Shifting cultivation
- D.Commercial grain farming
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The Mediterranean climate, with its hot dry summer and mild wet winter, suits the vine better than almost any other region, and the lands around the Mediterranean sea, together with California, central Chile, the Cape region of South Africa and parts of southern Australia, are the world's great wine-producing areas…
Read the full explanation →The 'kolkhoz' of the former Soviet Union was an example of
- A.Cooperative farming
- B.Collective farming
- C.Plantation agriculture
- D.Market gardening
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The kolkhoz was the collective farm of the former Soviet Union, in which land, implements, livestock and labour were pooled and the farm worked under state direction with production targets fixed by the plan; the state farm, worked wholly by wage earners, was called the sovkhoz.
Read the full explanation →Intensive subsistence agriculture, marked by very small holdings, heavy use of manure and a high yield per hectare, is characteristic of
- A.The prairies of North America
- B.The monsoon lands of Asia
- C.The steppes of Eurasia
- D.The pampas of South America
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Where population is dense and holdings have been divided by inheritance over generations, as in India, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia, the farmer puts in abundant labour, manure and irrigation water on a tiny field and takes more than one crop a year.
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