Geography Quiz or MCQs for UPSC Civil Services

The Roman Warm Period was a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400.
The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) or Medieval Climate Anomaly was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region lasting from about 900–1300 AD.
The Little Ice Age (LIA), climate interval that occurred from the early 14th century through the mid-19th century, when mountain glaciers expanded at several locations, including the European Alps, New Zealand, Alaska, and the southern Andes, and mean annual temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere declined.

# As per a new study by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST); Global climatic events like the Roman Warm Period, Medieval Climate Anomaly, and the Little Ice Age may have had significant impacts on India’s landscape, vegetation, and socio-economic growth, with abrupt shifts in the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) coinciding with these climatic events.

Quasars are extremely remote celestial objects, emitting exceptionally large amounts of energy.
Quasars are believed to produce their energy from supermassive black holes in the center of the galaxies in which the quasars are located. Because quasars are so bright, they drown out the light from all the other stars in the same galaxy.

Sagittarius A* is a bright and very compact astronomical radio source at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. Based on mass and increasingly precise radius limits, astronomers have concluded that Sagittarius A* is the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole.
Nobel Prize 2020 (Physics) winners Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez each lead a group of astronomers that, since the early 1990s, has focused on a region called Sagittarius A* at the centre of our galaxy. Their pioneering work has produced the most convincing evidence yet of a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

Statement 1 is correct. ‘Opposition’ is the event when the Sun, Earth and an outer planet are lined up, with the Earth in the middle. Mars opposition event is when Mars is directly on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun. During this opposition, Mars and Earth are closest to each other in their orbits.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Mars Close Approach was Oct. 6, 2020; that is the point in Mars’ orbit when it comes closest to Earth, this time at about 38.6 million miles (62.07 million kilometers) from our planet, the opposition will happen on October 13.
Close Approach is when Mars and Earth come nearest to each other in their orbits around the sun. Close is a relative term. The minimum distance from Earth to Mars is about 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers). However, that doesn’t happen very often.
In 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years! It won’t be that close again until the year 2287.

Statement 1 is incorrect. A gravitational wave is an invisible (yet incredibly fast) ripple in space. Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). These waves squeeze and stretch anything in their path as they pass by. A gravitational wave is an invisible (yet incredibly fast) ripple in space.
In 2015, scientists detected gravitational waves for the very first time. They used a very sensitive instrument called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory). These first gravitational waves happened when two black holes crashed into one another. The collision happened 1.3 billion years ago.
Statement 2 is incorrect. A black hole is a region of space where matter has collapsed in on itself and the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. Black holes emerge from the explosive demise of certain large stars, but some are truly gargantuan and are billions of times the mass of our Sun.
Black holes are detected from the way they influence their surroundings, they produce observable gravitational waves as they spiral in to each other.
# Scientists from LIGO and Virgo have detected the largest collision between two black holes to date, which appears to have created an “intermediate-mass” black hole.
# LIGO-VIRGO collaboration operates three super-sensitive gravitational wave-detection systems in America and Europe.

The solar cycle is the cycle that the Sun’s magnetic field goes through approximately every 11 years. This means that the Sun’s north and south poles switch places. Then it takes about another 11 years for the Sun’s north and south poles to flip back again.
Statement 1 is incorrect. Recently, scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA announced their predictions about the new solar cycle, called Solar Cycle 25, which they believe has begun.
The Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, an international group of experts co-sponsored by NASA and NOAA, announced that solar minimum occurred in December 2019, marking the start of a new solar cycle. Because our Sun is so variable, it can take months after the fact to declare this event. Scientists use sunspots to track solar cycle progress.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The beginning of a solar cycle is a solar minimum, or when the Sun has the least sunspots. Over time, solar activity and the number of sunspots increase.
The middle of the solar cycle is the solar maximum, or when the Sun has the most sunspots. As the cycle ends, it fades back to the solar minimum and then a new cycle begins.

Statement 1 is correct. Venus has a thick, toxic atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide and it’s perpetually shrouded in thick, yellowish clouds of mostly sulfuric acid that trap heat, causing a runaway greenhouse effect.
It’s the hottest planet in our solar system, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Venus has crushing air pressure at its surface – more than 90 times that of Earth.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The former Soviet Union is the only nation to land on the surface of Venus to date, though the spacecraft did not survive long in the harsh environment.
The Soviet Union’s Venera 13 in 1982 survived the intense heat and crushing pressure of Venus’ surface for around two hours and transmitted color images from the surface of Venus.

Both statements are correct.
Water makes up about 71% of the Earth’s surface, while the other 29% consists of continents and islands.
About 96.5% of all the Earth’s water is contained within the oceans as salt water, while the remaining 3.5% is freshwater lakes and frozen water locked up in glaciers and the polar ice caps. Of that fresh water, 69% of it takes the form of ice.

An Isarithmic map is a type of thematic map that represents a continuous field using line and/or region symbols to connect places of similar value.

 It is sometimes called a heat map, although the term heat map should only be used for one type of isarithmic map that represents density.

 In general, these maps are used to help visualize continuous data sets by utilizing color, especially hue and value.

 There are a number of ways to symbolize isarithmic maps; no matter the design method, the phenomenon being represented must be a quantitative continuous field.

 Contour maps, Isotherm maps and Isobar maps are the examples of isarithm maps.

Kandla port city is the nearest to tropic of cancer in India.

The Indian Standard Meridian passes through mostly 5 states which are

Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh

British India did not adopt the international standard time zones until 1905 when

the meridian passing through Allahabad at 82.5º east (of Greenwich Meridian) longitude

was picked as the central meridian for India, corresponding to a single time zone for the

country at 5 hours and 30 minutes in advance of GMT. This went into force on January 1,

1906. However, Calcutta time was officially maintained as a separate time zone until 1948.

Bombay time was maintained but only informally until about 1955. After independence and

the partition of British India, Pakistan stayed on Indian Standard Time for three years and

adopted Pakistan Standard Time at 5 hours in advance of GMT in 1951.

About 71 per cent of the planetary water is found in the oceans. The

remaining is held as freshwater in glaciers and icecaps, groundwater sources, lakes, soil

moisture, atmosphere, streams and within life.

80* E longitude passes near through Kanpur (UP), Jabalpur (MP), Nellore in

Andhra Pradesh and Chennai in Tamil Nadu.

The Indian Ocean is the world’s third largest ocean and covers 70,560,000

km². Three continents have coastlines on the Indian Ocean; these are Asia, Africa,

and Australia to the north, west, and east respectively. The Indian Ocean meets

the Southern Ocean to the south. The Indian Ocean is home to hundreds of islands. Six

island nations are located in the Indian Ocean, namely Comoros, Madagascar, Maldives,

Mauritius, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka.

An isohyet is also known as isohyetal line, and it is a line on a map which

connects points that have the same amounts of precipitation in a given period or for a particular storm. The method used in estimating average rainfall across a particular area is

known as an isohyetal method.

• Isotherm: a line on a map connecting points having the same temperature at a

given time or on average over a given period.

• Isobar: A line drawn on a weather map connecting points of equal pressure is called

an isobar. The isobars are generated from mean sea level pressure reports and

the pressure values are given in millibars.

Temperature inversion is a reversal of the normal behavior of temperature in

the troposphere, in which a layer of cool air at the surface is overlain by a layer of warmer

air. (Under normal conditions, temperature usually decreases with height).

Ideal Conditions for Temperature Inversion:

• Long nights, so that the outgoing radiation is greater than the incoming radiation.
• Clear skies, which allow unobstructed escape of radiation.
• Calm and stable air, so that there is no vertical mixing at lower levels.

A map is a representation of a selection of real features on the Earth.

 It is designed to record the relationships between features and to allow these relationships to be analyzed.

 A map may be very simple (e.g. a sketch showing the location of plants in your garden) or very complex (e.g. a topographic map of the Australian Alps).

General Maps: These are simple maps showing important physical (natural and man–made) features in an area.

 Their main purpose is to summarize the landscape to aid discovery of locations.

 They are usually easy to read and understand. Most of the early mapping of the Earth falls into this group.

Thematic Maps: These are maps which depict information on a particular topic or theme.

 The detail portrayed on a thematic map may be physical, statistical, measured, or interpreted, and sometimes requires specialist knowledge by the map user.

• Weather, population density and geology maps are examples of thematic maps.

Topographic Maps: Like General Reference Maps, Topographic Maps are a summary of the landscape and show important physical (natural and man-made) features in an area. The primary difference is that they show elevation in detail.

Cadastral Maps: The cadastre of a country is its register of property titles and is usually managed by government agencies.

 The information recorded includes an accurate description of the location of a parcel of land and who owns it.

 It may also record what the land can be used for (e.g. residential or not, national park etc) and may also show the location and shape of buildings.

A datum is a system which allows the location of latitudes and longitudes (and heights) to be identified onto the surface of the Earth – i.e. onto the surface of a ’round’ object.

A projection is a process which uses the latitude and longitude which has already been ‘drawn’ on the surface of the Earth using a datum, to then be ‘drawn’ onto a ‘flat piece of paper’ – called a map.

The highest tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada.

 The tidal bulge is 15 – 16 m. Because there are two high tides and two low tides every day (roughly a 24 hour period); then a tide must come in within about a six hour period

• As a rough estimate, the tide rises about 240 cm an hour (1,440 cm divided by 6 hours).

Lucky latitudes are refers to the geographical regions where the practice of domestication of wild plants and animals began to happen for the first time in human history.

 It includes land that lies between the latitudes of 20 and 35 degrees north in the Old World, and 15 degrees south and 20 degrees north in the Americas.

 These regions became more favourable to the rise of civilization when the rise in earth’s temperature ended the last Ice Age around 12,000 years ago

• Consequently, people located in these geographic regions gained a head-start over the rest of the world.

 The term was coined by Ian Morris in his book Why the West Rules — For Now.

Studying debris-laden Himalayan glaciers is important from the point of view of how climate change affects them.

 About 20% of Himalayan glaciers are debris-laden, and their dynamics are very different from the ones without debris cover.

 In glaciers without a debris cover, the rate of melting increases as the elevation decreases.

 However, in glaciers covered with debris, the thick cover partially insulates the glacier from the warm exterior and thereby slows down the melting.

 The thickness of the debris cover, by and large, increases as the glacier flows down.

 This works against the general trend that the lower the elevation, the higher the rate of melting.

 Matters are further complicated because the thickness of the debris cover is not uniform but fluctuates randomly.

Dozens of people will undertake a “funeral march” up a steep Swiss mountainside on September 2019, to mark the disappearance of an Alpine glacier amid growing global alarm over climate change.

 Dressed in black, they will make the solemn two-hour “funeral march” up the side of Pizol mountain in northeastern Switzerland to the foot of the steep and rapidly melting ice formation, situated at an altitude of around 2,700 metres (8,850 feet) near the Liechtenstein and Austrian borders

 The move comes after Iceland made global headlines last month with a large ceremony and the laying of a bronze plaque to commemorate Okjokull, the island’s first glacier lost to climate change.

 The researchers indicated that the Alps’ largest glacier, the mighty Aletsch, could completely disappear over the next eight decades.

In the course of a year, the earth’s revolution round the sun with its axis inclined at 66 ½ to the plane of the ecliptic changes the apparent altitude of the midday sun.

 The sun is vertically overhead at the equator on two days each year. These are usually 21st march and 21st September.

 After the March equinox the sun appears at move north and is vertically overhead at the tropic of cancer on about 21st June.

 By about 22nd December, the sun will be overhead at the tropic of Capricorn.

 The tropics thus mark the limits of the overhead sun, for beyond these, the sun is never overhead at any time of the year.

Stevenson screen: A Stevenson screen (also known as an instrument shelter) is a meteorological screen to shield instruments against precipitation and direct heat radiation from outside sources, while still allowing air to circulate freely around them.

It forms part of a standard weather station.

Beaufort scale: The Beaufort Scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale.

Hygrometer: Hygrometer, instrument used in meteorological science to measure the humidity, or amount of water vapour in the air.

Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the fifth-largest city in the world by population, is considered European, yet it occupies two different continents.

 One part of Istanbul lies in Europe and the other part lies in Asia.

 Istanbul’s European part is separated from its Asian part by the Bosphorus strait, a 31-km-long waterway that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and forms a natural boundary between the two continents.

 Two suspension bridges across the Bosphorus—the Bosphorus Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, also called Bosphorus Bridge II—connect the two sides, yet many tourists prefer to visit the European side of Istanbul because of its historical significance.

• The European side is also the city’s commercial center with banks, stores and corporations and two-third of its population.

 The Asian side feels more relaxed, with wide boulevards, residential neighbourhoods and fewer hotels and tourist attractions.

Methane hydrates consist of molecules of natural gas (the chief constituent of natural gas; methane) enclosed within a solid lattice of water molecules. When brought to the earth’s surface, one cubic meter of gas hydrate releases 164 cubic meters of natural gas.
Gas hydrate deposits are found wherever methane occurs in the presence of water under elevated pressures and at relatively low temperatures, such as beneath permafrost or in shallow sediments along deepwater continental margins.
# In a recent study conducted by researchers at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, have found that the methane hydrate deposits are located in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin are of biogenic origin.

Saranda and Chaibasa — in Jharkhand‘s West Singhbhum district had large iron ore reserves.
• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) will soon form a committee to explore the prospect of opening conservation or no-mining zone in Saranda and Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand for iron ore mining.
• Management Plan for Sustainable Mining (MPSM), which regulates mining in Chaibasa and the Saranda Sal forest area.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

Haryali is a watershed development project sponsored by the Central Government which aims at enabling the rural population to conserve water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and afforestation. The Project is being executed by Gram Panchayats with people’s participation.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

About 95 per cent of total reserves of iron ore are located in the States of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

· In Odisha, iron ore occurs in a series of hill ranges in Sundergarh, Mayurbhanj and Jhar.

· The important mines are Gurumahisani, Sulaipet, Badampahar (Mayurbhaj), Kiruburu (Kendujhar) and Bonai (Sundergarh).

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

Bauxite is the ore, which is used in manufacturing of aluminium. Bauxite is found mainly in tertiary deposits and is associated with laterite rocks occurring extensively either on the plateau or hill ranges of peninsular India and also in the coastal tracts of the country.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

Anthracite is the best quality of coal which carries 80 to 95 per cent carbon content. It ignites slowly with a blue flame. It has the highest calorific value. It is found in small quantity in Jammu and Kashmir.

· Lignite is often brown in colour. It carries 40 to 55 per cent carbon content. It is an intermediate stage which happens during the alteration of woody matter into coal.

· It has high moisture content so it gives smoke when burnt. It is found in Rajasthan, Lakhimpur (Assam), and Tamil Nadu.

· Odisha has the second largest coal reserves in the country and it carries more than 24 per cent of the total coal reserves. It produces about 15 per cent of the total coal production of India.

· Most of the coal deposits of the state are found in Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, and Sundargarh districts.

· Talchar coalfield of Odisha stretch over Dhenkanal and Sambalpur districts covers an area of about 500 sq km.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy and Indian Express

About 71 per cent of the planetary water is found in the oceans. The remaining is held as freshwater in glaciers and icecaps, groundwater sources, lakes, soil moisture, atmosphere, streams and within life.

Source: NCERT – XI Fundamentals of Physical Geography

Hindustan Copper is focusing on re-opening its closed mines and expand existing ones in its quest to increase ore production five times from the current level of 4.1 million tonne (MT) by 2025.

· The Miniratna Company will be reopening the Rakha mine in Jharkhand during this financial year which was closed in 2002 owing to operational reasons. It will also start operations at the Chapri-Sidheswar mines in the same state.

· For the Malanjkhand project in Madhya Pradesh, which holds proven reserves of 245.66 MT and estimated resources of 331.59 MT, the company is expanding the production capacity from the present 2 MT to 8 MT by developing an underground mine below the existing open cast mine at an investment of Rs 2,900crore. It is the copper producer’s largest project.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy and The Hindu

Sugarcane is a tropical plant and grown as cash crop in the world. Sugarcane is the main source of sugar (80%) globally and holds a prominent position as a cash crop.

· It is one of the main crops of earning foreign exchange. The sugar juice is used for making white sugar, brown sugar (khandsari) and jaggery (gur).

· There are two distinct agro-climatic regions of sugarcane cultivation in India, viz., tropical and subtropical.

· Tropical region has about 45% area and contributes 55% of the total sugarcane production in the country.

· Thus, sub-tropical region accounts for 55% area and shares 45% of total production of sugarcane. The average sugarcane yield in the country is about 69.4 t/ha.

· In world, sugarcane is grown, between the latitude 36.7° N and 31.0° S of the equator extending from tropical to subtropical zones.

· There is no country where sugar is not being used and produced by sugarcane or sugar beet crops only.

· About 80% of sugar is obtained from sugarcane and the remaining 20% is produced through sugar beet. An average person consumes about 24 kg of sugar every year.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

The main ore of lead is galena. It is found in the sedimentary rocks of limestone and sandstone.

· Rajasthan is the richest state in terms of availability and variety of minerals in the country and produces about 57 different minerals.

· Rajasthan is the sole producer of lead & zinc ores, selenite and wollastonite.

· The Zawar area (Udaipur) of Rajasthan is famous for the production of Lead.

Source: NCERT – XII India People and Economy

coal reserves in India.
Statement 1 is correct: Anthracite is the best quality of coal which carries 80 to 95 per
cent carbon content. It ignites slowly with a blue flame. It has the highest calorific value.
It is found in small quantity in Jammu and Kashmir.
Statement 2 is incorrect: Lignite is often brown in colour. It carries 40 to 55 per cent
carbon content. It is an intermediate stage which happens during the alteration of woody
matter into coal. It has high moisture content so it gives smoke when burnt. It is found
in Rajasthan, Lakhimpur (Assam), and Tamil Nadu.
Statement 3 is correct: Odisha has the second largest coal reserves in the country
and it carries more than 24 per cent of the total coal reserves. It produces about 15
per cent of the total coal production of India. Most of the coal deposits of the state are
found in Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, and Sundargarh districts. Talchar coalfield of Odisha
stretch over Dhenkanal and Sambalpur districts covers an area of about 500 sq km.

Hindustan Copper is focusing on re-opening its closed mines and expand
existing ones in its quest to increase ore production five times from the current level of 4.1
million tonne (MT) by 2025.
•The Miniratna Company will be reopening the Rakha mine in Jharkhand during
this financial year which was closed in 2002 owing to operational reasons. It will
also start operations at the Chapri-Sidheswar mines in the same state.
•For the Malanjkhand project in Madhya Pradesh, which holds proven reserves of
245.66 MT and estimated resources of 331.59 MT, the company is expanding the
production capacity from the present 2 MT to 8 MT by developing an underground
mine below the existing open cast mine at an investment of Rs 2,900crore. It is the
copper producer’s largest project.

The main ore of lead is galena. It is found in the sedimentary rocks of limestone and sandstone.
• Rajasthan is the richest state in terms of availability and variety of minerals in the country and produces about 57 different minerals.
• Rajasthan is the sole producer of lead & zinc ores, selenite and wollastonite.
• The Zawar area (Udaipur) of Rajasthan is famous for the production of Lead.

Geographical Survey of India (GSI) provided estimates for the amount of gold that can be extracted from a site in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.
The gold resource is located near a village called Mahuli, around 70 km from Sonbhadra district, the land is mainly forest area and inhabited mostly by tribal and members of backward classes.

Rare earth elements are a group of seventeen chemical elements that occur together in the periodic table.
• The group consists of yttrium and the 15 lanthanide elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium).
• Scandium is found in most rare earth element deposits and is sometimes classified as a rare earth element.
• The rare earth elements are all metals and the group is often referred to as the “rare earth metals.”
• These metals have many similar properties, and that often causes them to be found together in geologic deposits.
• They are also referred to as “rare earth oxides” because many of them are typically sold as oxide compounds.
• A large number of alloys are made more durable by the addition of rare earth metals.
• Glass, granite, marble, and gemstones are often polished with cerium oxide powder. Many motors and generators contain magnets made with rare earth elements.
• Phosphors used in digital displays, monitors, and televisions are created with rare earth oxides. Most computer, cell phone, and electric vehicle batteries are made with rare earth metals.

Manganese is not found as a free element in nature. It is often found in combination with iron. The most important manganese ore is pyrolusite. Manganese is primarily used in iron and steel industry.
Andhra Pradesh: 13% of India’s manganese production comes from this state. Cuddapah, Vijayanagaram and Guntur are other manganese producing districts.
Karnataka: 6 per cent of India’s manganese comes from this state. Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Bellary, Chitradurg and Tumkur districts are manganese producing districts.
Madhya Pradesh: It produces about 27.59 per cent of India’s manganese ore. The main belt extends in Balaghat and Chhindwara districts. It is just an extension of the Nagpur Bhandara belt of Maharashtra.

India is critically deficient in the reserve and production of copper.
• Being malleable, ductile and a good conductor, copper is mainly used in electrical cables, electronics and chemical industries.
• The Balaghat mines in Madhya Pradesh produce 52 per cent of India’s copper.
• The Singbhum district of Jharkhand is also a leading producer of copper.
• The Khetri mines in Rajasthan are also famous.

Mica is a mineral made up of a series of plates or leaves. It splits easily into thin sheets.
• These sheets can be so thin that a thousand can be layered into a mica sheet of a few centimeters high.
• Mica can be clear, black, green, red yellow or brown. Due to its excellent di-electric strength, low power loss factor, insulating properties and resistance to high voltage, mica is one of the most indispensable minerals used in electric and electronic industries.
• Mica deposits are found in the northern edge of the Chota Nagpur plateau. Koderma Gaya – Hazaribagh belt of Jharkhand is the leading producer.
• In Rajasthan, the major mica producing area is around Ajmer. Nellore mica belt of Andhra Pradesh is also an important producer in the country.

Australia is the largest producer of bauxite in the world.
• It is a leading producer of gold, diamond, iron ore, tin and nickel. It is also rich in copper, lead, zinc and manganese.

•Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie areas of Western Australia have the largest deposits of gold.

Some of the Minor Industrial regions of India are:
•Kanpur-Lucknow Industrial Region: Cotton, woollen and jute textiles, leather
goods, fertilisers, chemical, drugs, pharmaceuticals, electric goods, and light
machinery.
•Assam Valley Industrial Region: This region has the industries of petro-chemical,
jute and silk textiles, tea-processing industry, paper, plywood, match, and food
processing industries. Important industrial centres are: Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh,
Digboi, Guwahati, Noonmati, and Tinsukia
•Darjeeling-Siliguri Industrial Region: Tea-processing industry and tourism.
•North Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh Industrial Region: Sugar, cement, glass,
jute, fertilisers, locomotive, paper, and food processing are the main industries of this region. The main industrial centres are Allahabad, Dalmianagar (Bihar),
Gorakhpur, Patna, Sultanpur, and Varanasi.
•Indore-Ujjain Industrial Region: Main industries are cotton textile, chemicals,
drugs, electronic and engineering goods, and food processing.
•Amritsar-Jalandhar-Ludhiana Industrial Region: Sports goods, cotton and
woollen, textiles, hosiery, food-processing, and tourism are the main industries of
this region.
•Nagpur-Wardha Industrial Region: Textiles, engineering, chemicals, and food
processing are the main industries of this region.

In ancient India, cotton textiles were produced with hand spinning and handloom weaving techniques.
• After the 18th century, power-looms came into use. Our traditional industries suffered a setback during the colonial period because they could not compete with the mill-made cloth from England.
• The first successful textile mill was established in Mumbai in 1854. The two world wars were fought in Europe, India was a British colony.
• There was a demand for cloth in U.K. hence; they gave a boost to the development of the cotton textile industry.
• The first jute mill was set up near Kolkata in 1859 at Rishra.
• After Partition in 1947, the jute mills remained in India but three-fourth of the jute producing area went to Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan

The regions where farmers specialize in vegetables only, the farming is known as truck farming. The distance of truck farms from the market is governed by the distance that a truck can cover overnight, hence the name truck farming.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

A pack animal is a type of animal used by humans to carry heavy loads. These animals carry goods and supplies upon their backs across long distances or difficult terrain.

They are not to be confused with draft animals, which pull weight on a cart or sled. The use of animals to carry cargo dates as far back as 3500 BC.

Historical evidence suggests that donkeys have served as pack animals for longer than any other species. Other types of common pack animals include camels, yaks, horses, llamas, oxen, and water buffalos.

Mules are preferred in the mountainous regions; while camels are used for caravan movement in deserts. In India, bullocks are used for pulling carts.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

In ancient India, cotton textiles were produced with hand spinning and handloom weaving techniques.

After the 18th century, power-looms came into use. Our traditional industries suffered a setback during the colonial period because they could not compete with the mill-made cloth from England.

The first successful textile mill was established in Mumbai in 1854. The two world wars were fought in Europe, India was a British colony.

There was a demand for cloth in U.K. hence; they gave a boost to the development of the cotton textile industry.

The first jute mill was set up near Kolkata in 1859 at Rishra.

After Partition in 1947, the jute mills remained in India but three-fourth of the jute producing area went to Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan).

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

A geographer, Griffith Taylor introduced another concept which reflects a middle path (Madhyam Marg) between the two ideas of environmental determinism and possibilism. He termed it as Neo-determinism or stop and go determinism.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

Pastoral nomadism is associated with three important regions.

The core region extends from the Atlantic shores of North Africa eastwards across the Arabian Peninsula into Mongolia and Central China.

The second region extends over the tundra region of Eurasia.

In the southern hemisphere there are small areas in South-West Africa and on the island of Madagascar.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

Rearing of animals in ranching is organized on a scientific basis. The main emphasis is on breeding, genetic improvement, disease control and health care of the animals.

New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay and United States of America are important countries where commercial livestock rearing is practiced.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

The vegetation is usually cleared by fire, and the ashes add to the fertility of the soil.

Shifting cultivation is thus, also called slash and burn agriculture. It is prevalent in tropical region in different names, e.g., Jhuming in North eastern states of India, Milpa in Central America and Mexico and Ladang in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

Viticulture or grape cultivation is a specialty of the Mediterranean region.

Best quality wines in the world with distinctive flavors are produced from high quality grapes in various countries of this region.

The inferior grapes are dried into raisins and currants. This region also produces olives and figs.

The advantage of Mediterranean agriculture is that more valuable crops such as fruits and vegetables are grown in winters when there is great demand in European and North American markets.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

The Ruhr Coal-field, Germany has been one of the major industrial regions of Europe for a long time.

Coal and iron and steel formed the basis of the economy, but as the demand for coal declined, the industry started shrinking.

Even after the iron ore was exhausted, the industry remained, using imported ore brought by waterways to the Ruhr.

The Ruhr region is responsible for 80 per cent of Germany’s total steel production.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

Tourism is travel undertaken for purposes of recreation rather than business.

It has become the world’s single largest tertiary activity in total registered jobs (250 million) and total revenue (40 per cent of the total GDP).

Besides, many local persons are employed to provide services like accommodation, meals, transport, entertainment and special shops serving the tourists.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamental of Human Geography

Statement 1 is incorrect. In Ensemble Forecasting, instead of running just a single forecast, the computer model is run a number of times from slightly different starting conditions. The complete set of forecasts is referred to as the ensemble, and individual forecasts within it as ensemble members.
Statement 2 is correct. Various countries have migrated to ensemble weather forecasting for optimal results. A forecast is an estimate of the future state of the atmosphere. It is created by estimating the current state of the atmosphere using observations, and then calculating how this state will evolve in time using a numerical weather prediction computer model.
The ensemble forecasts give the forecaster a much better idea of what weather events may occur at a particular time. By comparing these different forecasts, the forecaster can decide how likely a particular weather event will be.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Cyclones are characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate about a zone of low pressure. As the storm system rotates faster and faster, an eye forms in the center. It is very calm and clear in the eye, with very low air pressure. Higher pressure air from above flows down into the eye.
Statement 2 is correct. The warm, moist air over the ocean rises upward from near the surface. Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land, because they are no longer being “fed” by the energy from the warm ocean waters. However, they often move far inland, dumping many inches of rain and causing lots of wind damage before they die out completely.

Statement 1 is correct. LPA of rainfall is the rainfall recorded over a particular region for a given interval (like month or season) average over a long period like 30years, 50-years etc.
Current LPA of all India south west monsoon rainfall based on the average rainfall over the period 1961 -2010 is 880.6mm.
Statement 2 is incorrect. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has revised the normal onset and withdrawal dates based on recent data. The normal dates of onset are revised based on data during 1961-2019 and normal dates of withdrawal are revised based on data during 1971-2019.
Monsoon onset over Kerala remains the same, i.e., 1 June. However, new monsoon advance dates over the states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Telegana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh are delayed by 3-7 days compared to existing normal dates. However, over extreme northwest India, the monsoon arrives now little earlier, on 8th July compared to the existing date of 15th July. There are however appreciable changes in the monsoon withdrawal dates, especially over Northwest and Central India. Monsoon withdraws from NW India almost 7-14 days later from the existing dates. There is no change in the final withdrawal date over south India, i.e., 15th October.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The term El Niño refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to a periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific.
La Nina episodes represent periods of below-average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Equatorial Pacific. Global climate La Niña impacts tend to be opposite those of El Niño impacts. In the tropics, ocean temperature variations in La Niña also tend to be opposite those of El Niño.
Statement 2 is correct. La Nina results in heavy or better monsoon rains in India, droughts in Peru and Ecuador, heavy floods in Australia, and high temperatures in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific.
# According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the La Nina weather phenomenon is back in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean after nearly a decade’s absence.

Typhoon Vamco is currently an active Category 1-equivalent typhoon in northwest Pacific region around Philippines. Vamco originated as a tropical depression northwest of Palau, where it slowly continued its northwest track.
The storm was given the name Vamco by the Japanese Meteorological Agency, but is referred to as Ulysses in the Philippines.

Statement 1 is correct. The Indian southwest monsoon (SWM) season of June to September is the chief rainy season for India and about 75% of the country’s annual rainfall is realized during this season.
Subsequent to the withdrawal of SWM, the northeast monsoon (NEM), a small-scale monsoon confined to parts of southern peninsular India occurs.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The rainfall from the NEM is mostly confines to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal, Kerala & Mahe, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and South Interior Karnataka regions.
The northeast monsoon derives its name from the direction in which it travels – from the northeast to the southwest. The normal date of setting in of easterlies over the southeastern peninsular India is 14th October.

Option 1 is incorrectly matched. Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan was a powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone in Bay of Bengal that caused widespread damage in Eastern India, specifically West Bengal, and also Bangladesh in May 2020.
Option 2 is correctly matched. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast the development of a cyclone in the Southwest region of the Bay of Bengal, off Tamil Nadu coast.
The Met department has said that it will strengthen into a cyclone. Once intensified, it would acquire its name ‘Nivar’, proposed by Iran.

There are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) across the globe to monitor cyclogenesis, issue advisories and name cyclones.
IMD’s RSMC in New Delhi is one among them that provide advisories to 13 countries in the north Indian Ocean basin: Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. RSMC, New Delhi is also responsible for naming cyclones over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
In 2020, a new list of cyclone names was issued by IMD, following WMO guidelines. The new list comprises 13 names of cyclones each for the 13 member countries, totalling to 169. The names for India include Gati, Tej, Murasu, Aag, Vyom, Jhar, Probaho, Neer, Prabhanjan, Ghurni, Ambud, Jaladhi and Vega.
Cyclone Nivar’s name is among the names submitted by Iran.

Statement 1 is incorrect. 2019 was the 2nd warmest year on record. The past five years have been the hottest five.

Statement 2 is incorrect. About 29 percent of the solar energy that arrives at the top of the atmosphere is reflected back to space by clouds, atmospheric particles, or bright ground surfaces like sea ice and snow. About 23 percent of incoming solar energy is absorbed in the atmosphere by water vapor, dust, and ozone, and 48 percent passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed by the surface. Thus, about 71 percent of the total incoming solar energy is absorbed by the Earth system.
# New Zealand’s government will decide next week if a climate emergency should be declared in the country or not.

The Fujiwhara effect refers to tendency of two nearby tropical cyclones to rotate cyclonically about each other.

When two hurricanes spinning in the same direction pass close enough to each other, they begin an intense movement around their common center. If one hurricane is a lot stronger than the other, the smaller one will orbit it and eventually come crashing into its vortex to be absorbed.

Two storms closer in strength can gravitate towards each other until they reach a common point and merge, or merely spin each other around for a while before shooting off on their own paths. In rare occasions, the effect is additive when the hurricanes come together, resulting in one larger storm instead of two smaller ones.

# Two tropical storms named Marco and Laura forming in the western Atlantic Ocean at nearly the same time are likely to impact the Gulf of Mexico sparking concerns of the rare Fujiwhara effect.

Statement 1 is correct. LPA of rainfall is the rainfall recorded over a particular

region for a given interval (like month or season) average over a long period like 30years,

50-years etc.

Current LPA of all India south west monsoon rainfall based on the average rainfall over the

period 1961 -2010 is 880.6mm.

Statement 2 is incorrect. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has revised the normal

onset and withdrawal dates based on recent data. The normal dates of onset are revised

based on data during 1961-2019 and normal dates of withdrawal are revised based on data

during 1971-2019.

Monsoon onset over Kerala remains the same, i.e., 1 June. However, new monsoon

advance dates over the states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh,

Telegana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh are

delayed by 3-7 days compared to existing normal dates. However, over extreme northwest

India, the monsoon arrives now little earlier, on 8th July compared to the existing date of

15th July. There are however appreciable changes in the monsoon withdrawal dates,

especially over Northwest and Central India. Monsoon withdraws from NW India almost 7-

14 days later from the existing dates. There is no change in the final withdrawal date

over south India, i.e., 15th October.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Cyclones are characterized by inward spiraling

winds that rotate about a zone of low pressure. As the storm system rotates faster and

faster, an eye forms in the center. It is very calm and clear in the eye, with very low air

pressure. Higher pressure air from above flows down into the eye.

Statement 2 is correct. The warm, moist air over the ocean rises upward from near the

surface. Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land, because they are no longer

being “fed” by the energy from the warm ocean waters. However, they often move far inland,

dumping many inches of rain and causing lots of wind damage before they die out

completely.

Storm Surge.

• Storm surge is the abnormal rise in seawater level during a storm, measured as

the height of the water above the normal predicted astronomical tide.

• The surge is caused primarily by a storm’s winds pushing water onshore.
• The amplitude of the storm surge at any given location depends on the orientation

of the coast line with the storm track;

• The intensity, size, and speed of the storm; and the local bathymetry.

All clouds are made up of basically the same thing: water droplets or ice

crystals that float in the sky.

But all clouds look a little bit different from one another, and sometimes these differences

can help us predict a change in the weather.

• Cirrus clouds are delicate, feathery clouds that are made mostly of ice crystals.

Their wispy shape comes from wind currents which twist and spread the ice crystals

into strands.

• Altocumulus clouds have several patchy white or gray layers, and seem to be made

up of many small rows of fluffy ripples. They are lower than cirrus clouds, but still

quite high. They are made of liquid water, but they don’t often produce rain.

• Cumulus clouds look like fluffy, white cotton balls in the sky. They are beautiful

in sunsets, and their varying sizes and shapes can make them fun to observe!

• Stratocumulus clouds are patchy gray or white clouds that often have a dark

honeycomb-like appearance.

The prefix “nimbo-” or the suffix “-nimbus” are low-level clouds that have their bases below 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) above the Earth.

 Clouds that produce rain and snow fall into this category. (“Nimbus” comes from the Latin word for “rain.”) Two examples are the nimbostratus or cumulonimbus clouds.

 Nimbostratus clouds bring continuous precipitation that can last for many hours. These low-level clouds are full of moisture.

 Cumulonimbus clouds are also called thunderheads. Thunderheads produce rain, thunder, and lightning.

 Many cumulonimbus clouds occur along cold fronts, where cool air is forced under warm air.

 They usually shrink as evening approaches, and moisture in the air evaporates. Cumulonimbus clouds gradually become stratocumulus clouds, which rarely produce rain.

The Roaring Forties take shape as warm air near the equator rises and moves toward the poles.

 Warm air moving pole-ward (on both sides of the equator) is the result of nature trying to reduce the temperature difference between the equator and at the poles created by uneven heating from the sun.

 This process sets up global circulation cells, which are mainly responsible for global-scale wind patterns.

 The air descends back to Earth’s surface at about 30 degrees’ latitude north and south of the equator. This is known as the high-pressure subtropical ridge, also known as the horse latitudes.

 Here, as the temperature gradient decreases, air is deflected toward the poles by the Earth’s rotation, causing strong westerly and prevailing winds at approximately 40 degrees. These winds are the Roaring Forties.

 The Roaring Forties in the Northern Hemisphere don’t pack the same punch that they do in the Southern Hemisphere.

 This is because the large land masses of North America, Europe, and Asia obstructing the airstream, whereas, in the southern hemisphere, there is less land to break the wind in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

 While the Roaring Forties may be fierce, 10 degrees south are even stronger gale-force winds called the Furious Fifties.

 And 10 degrees south of the Furious Fifties lay the Screaming Sixties! We can thank the intrepid sailors of yore for these wildly descriptive terms

The hot deserts lie astride the Horse Latitudes or the sub-tropical high pressure belts where the air is descending, a condition is least favourable for precipitation of any kind to take place.

The periodical rise and fall of the sea level, once or twice a day, mainly due to the attraction of the sun and the moon, is called a tide.

Movement of water caused by meteorological effects (winds and atmospheric pressure changes) is called surges. Surges are not regular like tides.

The term monsoon has been derived from the Arabic word mausin or from the Malayan word monsin meaning ‘season’.

Monsoons are seasonal winds (Rhythmic wind movements – Periodic Winds) which reverse their direction with the change of season.

Factors affecting monsoon in India–

 The differential heating of the landmass of Asia and the Indian Ocean.

 The existence of the Himalayan ranges and the Tibetan Plateau.

 The occurrence of heavy-light snow over the Tibetan Plateau

• The existence and circulation of the upper air jet stream in the troposphere.

 Changes in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean have been known to have an inverse relationship with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. This means if there is a cold phase in the Atlantic, it can bring more rainfall to India and vice versa.

The effects of climate change are at our doorsteps.

 Cyclones such as Thane, Vardah, Ockhi and Gaja have affected Tamil Nadu in recent times;

 Chennai saw terrible floods in 2015.

• Floods wreaked havoc in Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar this year, and Mumbai received record monsoon rains.

 Kerala witnessed floods for the second consecutive year.

 Cyclone Fani devastated Odisha, Cyclone Vayu ravaged Gujarat this year. All these are because of climate change.

All waters in nature, whether rain water or ocean water, contain dissolved
mineral salts. Salinity is the term used to define the total content of dissolved salts in sea
water. Factors affecting ocean salinity are mentioned below:
•The salinity of water in the surface layer of oceans depends mainly on evaporation
and precipitation.
•Surface salinity is greatly influenced in coastal regions by the fresh water flow from
rivers, and in Polar Regions by the processes of freezing and thawing of ice.
•Wind, also influences salinity of an area by transferring water to other areas.
•The ocean currents contribute to the salinity variations. Salinity, temperature and
density of water are interrelated. Hence, any change in the temperature or density
influences the salinity of water in an area.

Oceanic and atmospheric Rossby waves — also known as planetary waves —
naturally occur largely due to the Earth’s rotation. These waves affect the planet’s weather
and climate.
•Waves in the ocean come in many different shapes and sizes.
•Slow-moving oceanic Rossby waves are fundamentally different from ocean
surface waves.
•Unlike waves that break along the shore, Rossby waves are huge, undulating
movements of the ocean that stretch horizontally across the planet for
hundreds of kilometers in a westward direction.
•They are so large and massive that they can change Earth’s climate conditions.
•Along with rising sea levels, King Tides, and the effects of El Niño, oceanic Rossby
waves contribute to high tides and coastal flooding in some regions of the world

In 1865, the Danish geologist and mineralogist Johan Georg Forchhammer,
with the help of naval and civilian collaborators, collected numerous samples of seawater from the Northern Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. He wanted to determine why the
salinity (or “saltiness”) of seawater varies in different areas of the ocean.
•Forchhammer put the samples through a detailed series of chemical analyses and
found that the proportions of the major salts in seawater stay about the same
everywhere.
•This constant ratio is known as Forchhammer’s Principle, or the Principle of
Constant Proportions.
•In addition to this principle, Forchhammer is credited with defining the
term salinity to mean the concentration of major salts in seawater.
•Forchhammer’s discovery helped scientists understand that salinity levels in
seawater vary due to the addition or removal of fresh water, rather than differing
amounts of salt minerals in the water.
•The principle is still applied today in marine research, and provides a simple way to
estimate salinity and trace the mixing of water masses in the global ocean.

On December 11, 2019, the South Pacific Archipelago of Bougainville voted
to become independent of Papua New Guinea.
•Around 98% of 1,81,067 voters voted to get independent from Papua New Guinea. It
is the largest island of the Solomon Islands Archipelago.
•The island has the world’s largest copper deposits. The most widely spoken language
in the country is Halia.
•The country is yet to prove its recognition in the United Nations.

The Great Lakes are, from west to east: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and
Ontario.
•They are a dominant part of the physical and cultural heritage of North America.
•Shared with Canada and spanning more than 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) from
west to east, these vast inland freshwater seas provide water for consumption,
transportation, power, recreation and a host of other uses.
•The Great Lakes are one of the world’s largest surface freshwater ecosystems.

There are four main types of estuaries, based on how they were formed.
•Bar-built estuaries form when a shallow lagoon or bay is protected from the ocean
by a sand bar, delta or island.
•Coastal plains estuaries are formed when the rising sea fills existing river
valleys.
•Tectonic estuaries are caused by the folding of land surfaces due to volcanic
activity.
•Fjord and Ria estuaries are drowned river valleys where the river valley was
originally formed by glacial action.

According to the scientists, including those from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US, a sea-water current called the Beaufort Gyre keeps the polar environment in balance by storing fresh water near the surface of the Arctic Ocean.
• Wind blows the gyre in a clockwise direction around the western Arctic Ocean, north of Canada, where it naturally collects fresh water from the melting of glaciers, and river runoff.
• The researchers said this fresh water is important in the Arctic since it floats above the warmer, salty water, and helps protect the sea ice from melting – in turn regulating the Earth’s climate.
• As the fresh water is slowly released by the gyre into the Atlantic Ocean over a period of decades, it allows the Atlantic Ocean currents to carry it away in small amounts.
• However, since the 1990s, the researchers said, the gyre has accumulated a large amount of fresh water – 8,000 cubic kilometres – or almost twice the volume of Lake Michigan in the US.
• According to the new study, the cause of this gain in freshwater concentration is the loss of sea ice in summer and autumn.
• Due to this decades-long decline of the Arctic’s summertime ice cover, the Beaufort Gyre is more exposed to the wind, which has spun the gyre faster, trapping the fresh water in its current.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a large system of ocean currents that carry warm water from the tropics northwards into the North Atlantic.
• The AMOC is a large system of ocean currents, like a conveyor belt, driven by differences in temperature and salt content – the water’s density.
• As warm water flows northwards it cools and some evaporation occurs, which increases the amount of salt.
• Low temperature and a high salt content make the water denser, and this dense water sinks deep into the ocean.
• The cold, dense water slowly spreads southwards, several kilometres below the surface (As that water cools and sinks it drives a slow circulation of the oceans that is critical to global climate, affecting the location of droughts and frequency of hurricanes).
• Eventually, it gets pulled back to the surface and warms in a process called “upwelling” and the circulation is complete.
• This global process makes sure that the world’s oceans are continually mixed, and that heat and energy are distributed around the earth. This, in turn, contributes to the climate we experience today.
• As that water cools and sinks it drives a slow circulation of the oceans that is critical to global climate, affecting the location of droughts and frequency of hurricanes.
• It also stores heat-trapping carbon dioxide deep in the ocean.

THE KUROSHIO IS a warm northeasterly ocean current off the coast of Japan. This current is also called the gulf stream of the Pacific or Japan Current.
• Kuroshio means “the black stream” in Japanese, named after the deep ultramarine color of the high salinity water, which is found flowing north of the current’s axis.
• The system includes the following branches: Kuroshio, up to 35 degrees N; Kuroshio extension, extending eastward into two branches up to 160 degrees E longitude;
• North Pacific current, a further eastward continuation, which throws branches to the south as far as 150 degrees W;
• Tsushima current, branches of the main current that run into the Japan Sea, along the west coast of JAPAN;
• And Kuroshio counter-current, the large swirl or eddy on the east and south east of the Kuroshio.

About 71 per cent of the planetary water is found in the oceans. The remaining is held as freshwater in glaciers and icecaps, groundwater sources, lakes, soil moisture, atmosphere, streams and within life. Nearly 59 per cent of the water that falls on land returns to the atmosphere through evaporation from over the oceans as well as from other places. The remainder runs-off on the surface, infiltrates into the ground or a part of it becomes glacier.

The ocean floors can be divided into four major divisions:

 The Continental Shelf;

 The Continental Slope;

• The Deep Sea Plain;

 The Oceanic Deeps.

Besides, these divisions there are also major and minor relief features in the ocean floors like ridges, hills, sea mounts, guyots, trenches, canyons, etc.

Scientists estimate that 50-80% of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean.

 The majority of this production is from oceanic plankton — drifting plants, algae, and some bacteria that can photosynthesize.

 One particular species, Prochlorococcus, is the smallest photosynthetic organism on Earth.

 But this little bacteria produces up to 20% of the oxygen in our entire biosphere.

 That’s a higher percentage than all of the tropical rainforests on land combined.

 It’s important to remember that although the ocean produces at least 50% of the oxygen on Earth, roughly the same amount is consumed by marine life.

 Like animals on land, marine animals use oxygen to breathe, and both plants and animals use oxygen for cellular respiration.

 Oxygen is also consumed when dead plants and animals decay in the ocean.

A massive “dead zone” in the Arabian Sea is the largest in the world, a new study reveals.

 Dead zones are oxygen-starved ocean regions where few organisms can survive.

 They emerge in ocean depths ranging from 650 to 2,600 feet (200 to 800 meters), when influxes of chemical nutrients — typically from human pollution — spur algae growth, which sucks up oxygen.

 A significant oxygen-deprived region has bloomed in the Gulf of Oman for decades, but it was last surveyed in the 1990s.

 The Gulf of Oman, which spans 70,000 square miles (181,000 square kilometers), connects the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf.

 It has long been off-limits to researchers because of the region’s political instability and the threat of ocean piracy.

 For eight months, these AUVs gathered data on oxygen levels, and then transmitted their readings to the scientists via satellite.

• Researchers then used computer models to visualize the ocean currents that circulated oxygen around the gulf from the Arabian Sea.

 They found that the oxygen-poor region had grown dramatically, and the scant oxygen formerly held in the depleted zone — based on data from the 1990s — had drained significantly, leaving bigger areas with no oxygen at all.

Namib Desert: the Namib Desert is a direct result of the Benguela Current.

 Seamounts near to the coastline beneath the Atlantic’s surface cause the icy Benguela River to flow very close to the Namibian coast.

 This causes a harsh coastal climate with very little rainfall.

Atacama Desert: Cold ocean currents contribute to the formation of coastal deserts.

 Air blowing toward shore, chilled by contact with cold water, produces a layer of fog. This heavy fog drifts onto land.

 The Atacama Desert, on the Pacific shores of Chile, is a coastal desert.

 Some areas of the Atacama are often covered by fog. But the region can go decades without rainfall. In fact, the Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth.

Gobi Desert: Interior deserts, which are found in the heart of continents, exist because no moisture-laden winds reach them.

 By the time air masses from coastal areas reach the interior, they have lost all their moisture. Interior deserts are sometimes called inland deserts.

 The Gobi Desert, in China and Mongolia, lays hundreds of kilometers from the ocean. Winds that reach the Gobi have long since lost their moisture.

 The Gobi is also in the rain shadow of the Himalaya Mountains to the south

Sedimentary rocks are formed by the accumulation of sediments. There are
three basic types of sedimentary rocks.
•Clastic sedimentary rocks such as breccia, conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone,
and shale are formed from mechanical weathering debris.
•Chemical sedimentary rocks, such as rock salt, iron ore, chert, flint,
some dolomites, and some limestone, form when dissolved materials precipitate
from solution.
•Organic sedimentary rocks such as coal, some dolomites, and some limestone,
form from the accumulation of plant or animal debris.

Dharwar system is later than the Archean system but older than the other systems.
• The Dharwar period of rock formation has been largely fixed from 2500 million years ago to 1800 million years ago.
• Dharwar Rock System is special because it is the first metamorphic sedimentary rocks in India.
• They are named Dharwar system because they were first studied in Dharwar region of Karnataka.
• But they are also found in Aravallis, Tamil Nadu, Chota-nagpur plateau, Meghalaya, Delhi, and the Himalayas region.
• The Dharwar rocks are rich in iron ore, manganese, lead, zinc, gold, silver etc.

Igneous Rocks – produced by solidification of molten magma from the mantle. Magma that solidifies at the Earth’s surface conceives extrusive or volcanic igneous rocks.
When magma cools and solidifies beneath the surface of the earth intrusive or plutonic igneous rocks are formed
Characteristics of Igneous rocks are:
• Formed by the cooling and solidification of lava.
• Hard in nature.
• Consists of crystals, hence also called as crystalline rock.
• Examples are Granite and Basalt. These rocks are formed inside as well as on the earth.
• Fossils are not present in this rock.
• Igneous rocks are of two types : a. Extrusive rocks b. Intrusive rocks
• It is non porous rock.

NOTE: Sedimentary rocks are most widespread on the surface of the earth and constitute about 75% of the surface area of globe.

Sedimentary rocks are formed by the accumulation of sediments. There are three basic types of sedimentary rocks.
• Clastic sedimentary rocks such as breccias, conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, loess and shale are formed from mechanical weathering debris.
• Chemical sedimentary rocks, such as rock salt, iron ore, chert, flint, some dolomites, and some limestone, form when dissolved materials precipitate from solution.
• Organic sedimentary rocks such as coal, some dolomites, and some lime stones, form from the accumulation of plant or animal debris.

The Crust is the outermost solid part of the earth. It is brittle in nature. The thickness of the crust varies under the oceanic and continental areas.
• Oceanic crust is thinner as compared to the continental crust. The mean thickness of oceanic crust is 5 km whereas that of the continental is around 30 km.
• The continental crust is thicker in the areas of major mountain systems. It is as much as 70 km thick in the Himalayan region.
• The average density of oceanic crust is 3.0 g/cm3, while continental crust has an average of 2.7 g/cm3.

Igneous rocks may be subdivided on the basis of mineral composition.
• When they contain a high proportion of silica they are said to be acid.
• Acid igneous rocks, such as granite, are less dense and are lighter in colour than basic rocks.
• These contain a greater proportion of basic oxides, e.g. of iron, aluminum or magnesium, and are thus denser and darker in colour.

Kilauea is the youngest and most active Hawaiian shield volcano, located on the southern part of the Island of Hawai’i, known as Big Island. Since 1952, Kīlauea has erupted 34 times. From 1983 to 2018 eruptive activity was nearly continuous along the volcano’s East Rift Zone.
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted 20th December 2020. The eruption occurred within the Halema’uma’u crater. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake followed the eruption.

The Bureau of Indian Standards has classified regions in India into four seismic zones on the basis of historical seismic activity.
• These are zones II, III, IV and V. Among these, Zone V is the most seismically active region and zone II is the least active.
• According to Modified Mercalli scale, the seismic zone intensity is/are classified as zone II (low intensity zone), zone III (moderate intensity zone), zone IV (severe intensity zone) and zone V (very severe intensity zone).

According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences:

•Zone V includes entire northeastern India, parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, parts of North Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
• Zone-IV includes the remaining parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Delhi-NCR region, Sikkim, northern parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, parts of Gujarat and small portions of Maharashtra near the west coast and Rajasthan also fall in this zone.
• Regions under zone III are Goa, Kerala, Lakshadweep, and remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka.
• The remaining portion of the country falls under zone II.

The main geographic sections of the Kashmir Himalayan range are the Pir
Panjal, Kashmir Valley, Zanskar, Ladakh and Karakoram

The Himalayas bend sharply to the south beyond the Dihang gorge and move
outwards to form a covering the eastern boundary of the country. They are known as ‘the
Eastern or Purvanchal Hills’.
•Daffla Hills: It is situated to the north of the Tezpur and North Lakhimpur, and is
bounded on the west by the Aka Hills and on the east by the Abor Range.
•Mishmi Hills: These hills are located in the southward extension of the Great
Himalayan ranges and its northern and eastern parts touches China.
•Mikir Hills: It is located to the south of the Kaziranga National Park. It is part of the
Karbi Anglong Plateau. Radial drainage pattern is the best characteristic of this
region where Dhansiri and Jamuna being the main rivers.
•Jaintia Hills: It is located further to the east from the Khasi Hills.

Statement 1 is correct. An aquifer is a body of saturated rock through which water can easily move. Groundwater enters an aquifer as precipitation seeps through the soil. It can move through the aquifer and resurface through springs and wells.
Aquifers must be both permeable and porous and include such rock types as sandstone, conglomerate, fractured limestone and unconsolidated sand and gravel. Fractured volcanic rocks such as columnar basalts also make good aquifers.
Statement 2 is correct. An artesian well is simply a well that doesn’t require a pump to bring water to the surface. This occurs when there is enough positive pressure in the aquifer to bring the water to the surface.
Groundwater in aquifers between layers of poorly permeable rock, such as clay or shale, may be confined under pressure. If such a confined aquifer is tapped by a well, water will rise above the top of the aquifer and may even flow from the well onto the land surface. Water confined in this way is said to be under artesian pressure, and the aquifer is called an artesian aquifer.
# A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed recently between Central Ground Water Board and CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad for geophysical survey and other scientific studies in North-Western India under the Aquifer Mapping Programme.

Both statements are incorrect.
Recently the Foreign Ministers of Nepal and China jointly certified the elevation of Mount Everest at 8,848.86 metres above sea level — 86 cm higher than what was recognised since 1954.
The elevation of 8,848 m was determined by Survey of India in 1954. In 1999, a US team put the elevation at 29,035 feet (nearly 8,850 m). This survey was sponsored by the National Geographic Society, US.

Atlas Mountain Range: The Atlas Mountains are a mountain chain located in
North Africa.
•The Atlas mountain chain stretches across North Africa through Algeria, Tunisia,
and Morocco.
•The mountains formed over millions of years, gaining their present-day shape when
the African continent collided with the Iberian peninsula, in what is known as
a convergent plate boundary.
•Because of their extensive range, the Atlas Mountains are divided into seven
different sub-regions, each with their own unique ecosystem.
•Overall, however, the Atlas can be categorized as a semi-arid mountain range
between the tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean/Mediterranean and the
massive Sahara Desert.
•The highest mountain in the Atlas is Mount Toubkal. Mount Toubkal measures
nearly 14,000 feet, and is located in southwestern Morocco.
New England Range: New England Range, also called New England Tableland, or Northern
Tableland, section of the Eastern Highlands, or Great Dividing Range, northeastern New
South Wales, Australia.
•The range extends 200 mi (320 km) north from the Moonbi Range (near Tamworth)
to the Queensland border and 80 mi from east to west (10–50 mi inland from the
coast).
•It is Australia’s largest plateau, having 9,000 sq mi (23,000 sq km) above an
elevation of 3,000 ft (900 m).
Cantabrian Mountain: The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range are one of the
main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. They stretch for over 300 km across northern
Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the Galician Massif in Galicia, along the
coast of the Cantabrian Sea. Their easternmost end meets the Sistema Ibérico.

Fold Mountains are created through a process called orogeny. An orogenic
event takes millions of years to create a fold mountain.
•When a tectonic plate gets pressure from two sides, it gets folded. Some of its
portion becomes elevated and forms the mountains.
•The depressions form the valleys. The Himalayas, the Rockies, the Andes and the
Alps are examples of Fold Mountain.
•They are the young mountains of the world and hence they have some of the highest
peaks of the world.

A caldera is a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and
collapses.
•During a volcanic eruption, magma present in the magma chamber underneath the
volcano is expelled, often forcefully.
•When the magma chamber empties, the support that the magma had provided
inside the chamber disappears.
•As a result, the sides and top of the volcano collapse inward. Calderas vary in size
from one to 100 kilometers (0.62 to 62 miles) in diameter.
•Some calderas form a lake as the bowl-shaped depression fills with water. A famous
example is Crater Lake, in Oregon.
•This caldera formed about 7,000 years ago when a stratovolcano, Mt. Mazama,
violently erupted.
•For several thousand years after this eruption, smaller volcanic eruptions continued
inside the caldera.
•One of these eruptions was so large it formed an island in Crater Lake named
Wizard Island.

Indus Tsangpo suture is a tectonic suture in southern Tibet and across the
north margin of the Himalayas which resulted from the collision between the Indian plate
and the Eurasian plate.
Himalayas are known to be made up of north dipping thrusts like the Main Central
Thrust (MCT), the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), and the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT).
As per the established models, all of these thrusts except MFT are locked, and overall
deformation in Himalaya is being accommodated only along with the MFT.
Recently, a group of Scientists from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG),
Dehradun have observed that suture zone of the Himalayas or the Indus Suture Zone (ISZ) in the Ladakh region where Indian and Asian Plates are joined has been found to be
tectonically active, as against current understanding that it is a locked zone.

The Nazca plate is an oceanic tectonic plate in the southeastern Pacific Ocean that shares both convergent and divergent boundaries, corners multiple triple junctions, contains three seamount chains, overrides four hotspots, and is responsible for the creation of the Andean orogeny.
• Over the last half-century, it has garnered much attention from the scientific and political community due to the hazards it poses to the populated west coast of South America.
• With oblique subduction underneath the South American plate, this active convergent margin is the longest subduction zone in the world, stretching 7500 km and produced the largest earthquake ever recorded on earth, the M 9.5 Valdivia earthquake.

Earthquake waves are basically of two types — body waves and surface waves. Body waves are generated due to the release of energy at the focus and move in all directions travelling through the body of the earth. Hence, the name body waves.
• The body waves interact with the surface rocks and generate new set of waves called surface waves. These waves move along the surface.
• The velocity of waves changes as they travel through materials with different densities. The denser the material, the higher is the velocity.
• Their direction also changes as they reflect or refract when coming across materials with different densities.
• There are two types of body waves. They are called P and S-waves. P-waves move faster and are the first to arrive at the surface. These are also called ‘primary waves’.
• The P-waves are similar to sound waves. They travel through gaseous, liquid and solid materials.
• S-waves arrive at the surface with some time lag. These are called secondary waves. An important fact about S-waves is that they can travel only through solid materials.

Anamudi is a mountain located in the Indian state of Kerala.

 It is the highest peak in the Western Ghats and South India, at an elevation of 2,695 metres.

 Its parental hills are Anaimalai hills.

 Doda beta is the highest peak of nilgiri hills while Guru Shikhar is the highest peak of Aravali Range located in Rajasthan.

The White Island Volcano, also called Whakaari, in New Zealand has recently erupted.

 White Island is New Zealand’s most active cone volcano.

 About 70% of the volcano lies under the sea.

 It is the country’s most active volcano situated in the east coast in the Bay of Plenty.

Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden or 79N is roughly 80km long by 20km wide and is the floating front end of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream – where it flows off the land into the ocean to become buoyant.

At its leading edge, the glacier splits in two, with a minor offshoot turning directly north. It’s this offshoot, or tributary, called Spalte Glacier, that has now disintegrated.

The ice feature was already heavily fractured in 2019; this summer’s warmth has been its final undoing. Spalte Glacier has become a flotilla of icebergs.

When the soil is completely saturated with water the individual particles are

almost suspended in the water and move easily over one another and over the underlying

rock. The soil acts like a liquid and a soil-flow occurs.

In areas of peat soils, the peat absorbs much moisture. However if saturation point is

reached the peaty soil may flow down-slope. In Ireland such flows are known as bogbursts.

The costal land forms of east and west coasts of the Nation contain significantly important placer mineral deposits.

 The minerals like ilmenite, rutile, garnet, zircon, monazite and sillimanite are occurring in these deposits.

 The controls like source rock geology, coastal geomorphology effective drainage network and favorable climatic conditions favored the formation of rich placer deposits in coastal environments.

 Important deposits occur in the coastal environments of Kerala (Chavara), Tamil Nadu (Manavalakurichi, Midalam, Vayakallur), Andhra Pradesh (Kakinada, Pentakota, Bhimunipatnam, Konada – Kandivalasa – Mukumpeta – Bendi creek – Donkar), (Sanaekasangi – Gopalpur, Chatrapur, Bajarkot, Satpara and Puri) and Maharastra (Kalbadevi, Newre and Malgund).

M-Sand (Manufacured) is sand produced by crushing rocks, quarry stones or larger aggregates pieces into sand-sized particles. It is used for construction purposes in cement or concrete.
M-sand differs from natural river sand in its physical and mineralogical properties.
To bar the unregulated sale of sub-standard M-sand, Tamil Nadu government is to implement a policy with a legal framework for itsproduction and sale.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Yellow dust refers to sand from Mongolian and Chinese deserts that blow into North and South Korea at certain times of the year. It is intermingled with toxic dust that for years has raised health concerns in both countries.
Statement 2 is incorrect. WHO has not issued any such advisory.
North Korea has though warned its citizens to stay indoors over fears that “yellow dust” which blows in from China could bring coronavirus with it.
# The US Centres for Disease Control has said coronavirus can remain suspended in the air “for hours”. However, it also says it is extremely rare for someone to be infected this way – especially outdoors. The main way people get infected is from standing in close proximity to someone who is infected who then coughs, sneezes or talks, spreading the virus through droplets.

Red soils.
Statement 1 is correct: Red soil develops on crystalline igneous rocks in areas of low
rainfall in the eastern and southern part of the Deccan Plateau. Along the piedmont zone of
the Western Ghat, long stretch of area is occupied by red loamy soil. Yellow and red soils
are also found in parts of Odisha and Chattisgarh and in the southern parts of the middle
Ganga plain.
Statement 2 is correct: The soil develops a reddish colour due to a wide diffusion of iron
in crystalline and metamorphic rocks. It looks yellow when it occurs in a hydrated form.
Statement 3 is incorrect: The fine-grained red and yellow soils are normally fertile,
whereas coarse-grained soils found in dry upland areas are poor in fertility. They are
generally poor in nitrogen, phosphorous, Potassium and humus.

Aridisols are largest single soil order occurs in dry regions of the world.
•These soils occupy nearly 19 per cent of the earth’s land surface.
•Pale and light near the surface, deficit in moisture.
•These soils are lack in organic matter.
•Salinisation is the main problem of these soils.
•Salinisation complicates farming in Aridisols.

Geographically, black soils are spread over 5.46 lakh sq km (i.e. 16.6 per
cent of the total geographical area of the country) encompassed between 15°N to 25°N
latitudes and 72°E to 82°E longitudes.
•This is the region of high temperature and low rainfall. It is, therefore, a soil group of
the dry and hot regions of the Peninsula.
•These soils are mainly found in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, parts of Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
•The black colour of this soil may even be derived from crystalline schists and basic
gneisses such as in Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh.
•The black soil is very retentive of moisture. It swells greatly and becomes sticky
when wet in rainy season. Under such conditions, it is almost impossible to work on
such soil because the plough gets stuck in the mud.
•However, in the hot dry season, the moisture evaporates, the soil shrinks and is
seamed with broad and deep cracks, often 10 to 15 cm wide and upto a meter deep.
This permits oxygenation of the soil to sufficient depths and the soil has
extraordinary fertility.
•Remarkably “self ploughed” by loosened particles fallen from the ground into the
cracks, the soil “swallows” itself and retains soil moisture. This soil has been used
for growing a variety of crops for centuries without adding fertilizers and manures,
or even fallowing with little or no evidence of exhaustion.
•Because of their high fertility and retentivity of moisture, the black soils are widely
used for producing several important crops.
•Some of the major crops grown on the black soils are cotton, wheat, jowar, linseed,
Virginia tobacco, castor, sunflower and millets.
•Rice and sugarcane are equally important where irrigation facilities are available.
Large varieties of vegetables and fruits are also successfully grown on the black
soils.

The Soils can be classified on the basis of dominating factors:
Zonal Soil – These soils occur in broad geographical areas or zones.
• They are influenced more by the climate and vegetation of the area rather than the rock-type.
• They are mature, as a result of stable conditions over a long period of time.
• For example – red soils, black soils, laterite soils, desert soils etc.

Azonal Soil – It is that soil which has been developed by the process of deposition by the agents of erosion.
• It means that it has been made by the fine rocky particles transported from the far-off regions.
• These are immature soils and lack well-developed soil profiles.
• This may be due to the non-availability of sufficient time for them to develop fully or due to the location on very steep slopes which prohibits profile development.
• For Example – alluvial and loess soils.

Intrazonal Soil – These soils occur within other zonal soils.
• It is a well-developed soil reflecting the influence of some local factor of relief, parent material, or age rather than of climate and vegetation.
• For example, calcareous soil (soils which develop from limestone), peat soil.

Latosols are soils found under tropical rainforests which have a relatively high content of iron and aluminum oxides. They are typically classified as oxisols or ferralsols