India & world geography Test 1

Solution: c)

The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), also known as the Indian Niño, is an irregular oscillation of sea-surface temperatures in which the western Indian Ocean becomes alternately warmer and then colder than the eastern part of the ocean.

A 2009 study by Ummenhofer et al. at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Climate Change Research Centre has demonstrated a significant correlation between the IOD and drought in the southern half of Australia, in particular the south-east. Every major southern drought since 1889 has coincided with positive-neutral IOD fluctuations including the 1895–1902, 1937–1945 and the 1995–2009 droughts.

Solution: c)

The Kaveri river basin covers three states and a Union Territory as follows: Tamil Nadu, 43,856 square kilometres (16,933 sq mi); Karnataka, 34,273 square kilometres (13,233 sq mi); Kerala, 2,866 square kilometres (1,107 sq mi), and Puducherry, 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi)

Narmada river runs through Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat.

Solution: c)

The Bay of Bengal occupies an area of 2,172,000 square kilometres (839,000 sq mi). A number of large rivers flow into the Bay of Bengal: the Ganges, the Padma, the Jamuna, the Meghna, the Irrawaddy, the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Brahmani, the Baitarani, the Krishna and the Kaveri. Among the important ports are Chennai, Chittagong, Colombo, Kolkata, Mongla, Paradip Port, Port Blair, Tuticorin, Visakhapatnam and Yangon. Among the smaller ports are Dhamra, Kakinada and Payra.

Mundra Port is the largest private port of India located on the north shores of the Gulf of Kutch near Mundra, Kutch district, Gujarat.

Solution: b)

The Brahmani is a major seasonal river in the Odisha state of Eastern India. The Brahmani is formed by the confluence of the Sankh and South Koel rivers, and flows through the districts of Sundargarh, Deogarh, Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Jajapur and Kendrapara.[1] Together with the rivers Mahanadi and Baitarani, it forms a large delta before emptying into the Bay of Bengal at Dhamra.

Solution: c)

Chabahar Port is a seaport in Chabahar located in southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman. It serves as Iran’s only oceanic port, and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each of which has five berths.

It is operated by India Ports Global Private Limited (IPGPL) and Aria Banader Iranian.

Solution: c)

The subtropical ridge, also known as the subtropical high or horse latitudes, is a significant belt of atmospheric high pressure situated around the latitudes of 30°N in the Northern Hemisphere and 30°S in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the product of the global air circulation cell known as the Hadley Cell. The subtropical ridge is characterized by mostly calm winds, which act to reduce air quality under its axis by causing fog overnight, and haze during daylight hours as a result of the stable atmosphere found near its location. The air descending from the upper troposphere flows out from its center at surface level toward the upper and lower latitudes of each hemisphere, creating both the trade winds and the westerlies. The subtropical ridge moves poleward during the summer, reaching its most northern latitude in early fall, before moving equatorward during the cold season. The El Niño southern climate oscillation (ENSO) can displace the northern hemisphere subtropical ridge, with La Niñas allowing for a more northerly axis for the ridge, while El Niños show flatter, more southerly ridges. The change of the ridge position during ENSO cycles changes the tracks of tropical cyclones that form around their equatorward and western peripheries. As the subtropical ridge varies in position and strength, it can enhance or depress monsoon regimes around their low-latitude periphery. The term “horse latitudes” refers to and is synonymous with the subtropical ridge or subtropical high. Many of the world’s deserts are caused by these climatological high-pressure areas.

Solution: b)

Tropical savanna climates have monthly mean temperatures above 18 °C (64 °F) in every month of the year and typically a pronounced dry season, with the driest month having precipitation less than 60 mm and also less than 100 – [total annual precipitation {mm}/25] of precipitation.[1]:200–1 This latter fact is in direct contrast to a tropical monsoon climate, whose driest month sees less than 60 mm of precipitation but has more than 100 – [total annual precipitation {mm}/25] of precipitation. In essence, a tropical savanna climate tends to either see less rainfall than a tropical monsoon climate or have more pronounced dry seasons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_savanna_climate

Solution: a)

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), known by sailors as the doldrums, is the area encircling Earth near the Equator, where the northeast and southeast trade winds converge.

Tropical cyclogenesis depends upon low-level vorticity as one of its six requirements, and the ITCZ fills this role as it is a zone of wind change and speed, otherwise known as horizontal wind shear. As the ITCZ migrates more than 500 kilometres (300 mi) from the equator during the respective hemisphere’s summer season, increasing Coriolis force makes the formation of tropical cyclones within this zone more possible. Surges of higher pressure from high latitudes can enhance tropical disturbances along its axis.[7] In the north Atlantic and the northeastern Pacific oceans, tropical waves move along the axis of the ITCZ causing an increase in thunderstorm activity, and under weak vertical wind shear, these clusters of thunderstorms can become tropical cyclones.

Solution: c)

Dew point, the temperature at which the atmosphere is saturated with water vapour, when it is cooled without changing its pressure or vapour content. A given volume of air containing much water vapour has a higher dew point than the same volume of drier air; thus the dew point gives an indication of the humidity. In meteorology the dew point is applied, for example, in predicting the height of the base of certain types of clouds.

Solution: a)

River Kaveri tributaries:

Harangi River, Hemavati River, Lakshmana Tirtha, Kabini River, Shimsha River, Bhavani River, Sarabanga River, Noyyal River, Amaravati River

Indravati and Vamsadhara are

Solution: d)

Plateau of Tibet, also called Tibetan Highlands or Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, vast high plateau of southwestern China. It encompasses all of the Tibet Autonomous Region and much of Qinghai province and extends into western Sichuan province and southern Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang.

Solution: d)

From the Pamirs of Tajikistan, Kunlun runs east along the border between Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions to the Sino-Tibetan ranges in Qinghai province.[3] It stretches along the southern edge of what is now called the Tarim Basin, the infamous Takla Makan or “sand-buried houses” desert, and the Gobi Desert. A number of important rivers flow from it including the Karakash River (‘Black Jade River’) and the Yurungkash River (‘White Jade River’), which flow through the Khotan Oasis into the Taklamakan Desert.

Solution: a)

The Golden Crescent is the name given to one of Asia’s two principal areas of illicit opium production (with the other being the Golden Triangle), located at the crossroads of Central, South, and Western Asia. This space overlaps three nations, Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, whose mountainous peripheries define the crescent.

Solution: b)

Siachen Glacier, one of the world’s longest mountain glaciers, lying in the Karakoram Range system of Kashmir near the India–Pakistan border, extending for 44 mi (70 km) from north-northwest to south-southeast. It has a number of fast-flowing surface streams and at least 12 medial moraines. It is the source for the 50-mi-long Nubra River, a tributary of the Shyok, which is part of the Indus River system.

Solution: a)

Nanga Parbat forms the western anchor of the Himalayan Range and is the westernmost eight-thousander. It lies just south of the Indus River in the Diamer District of Gilgit–Baltistan in Pakistan. Not far to the north is the western end of the Karakoram range.

Nanga Parbat, also called Diamir, one of the world’s tallest mountains, 26,660 feet (8,126 metres) high, situated in the western Himalayas 17 miles (27 km) west-southwest of Astor, in the Pakistani-administered sector of the Kashmir region. The mountain’s steep south wall rises nearly 15,000 feet (4,600 metres) above the valley immediately below, and the north side drops about 23,000 feet (7,000 metres) to the Indus River.

Solution: d)

The Rushikulya River is one of the major rivers in the state of Odisha and covers entire catchment area in the districts of Kandhamal and Ganjam district of Odisha. The Rushikulya originates at an elevation of about 1000 metres from Daringbadi hills of the Eastern Ghats range.

In 1993, biologists from the Odisha Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India learned that large scale nesting of Olive Ridley turtles was taking place near the mouth of the Rushikulya river. This area is the location of one of the largest mass nesting (arribada) sites of olive ridley sea turtles in India.[1] The villages near the mouth are Pali Bandha, Puruna Bandha, Gokhara Kuda and Kantia Pada, where one can find the nesting sites of the olive ridley turtles. These villages basically are fishermen’s villages.

https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/odisha/turtle-arrival-record-212051

Solution: d)

Daringibadi is a hill station in Odisha state of eastern India. It is widely known as “Kashmir of Odisha”[2] , situated at a height of 3000 ft or 915 m in Kandhmal district,the place has pine jungles, coffee gardens and beautiful valleys. Daringbadi is set in a beautiful spot surrounded by thick rain forests with wild animals, and is a popular summer resort. Back in the days of the British rule, there was a British officer named Daring Saheb who was in charge of this place. Over the years, this place was named after him, which spelled “DaringBadi with Badi meaning village. More than 50% of the population here constitutes ST community of aboriginal tribal races or indigenous residents who have been living since the time immemorial. The climatic conditions have earned this place the sobriquet- The Kashmir of Odisha.

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/daringbadi-phulbani-coldest-place-in-odisha/1225634

Solution: b)

The Kashmir Valley, also known as the Vale of Kashmir, is a valley in the portion of the Kashmir region administered by India. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and on the northeast by the main Himalayas range. It is approximately 135 km long and 32 km wide, and is drained by the Jhelum River

Solution: c)

In the plains, its left bank tributary is the Panjnad which itself has five major tributaries, namely, the Chenab, Jhelum, the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej. Its principal right bank tributaries are the Shyok, the Gilgit, the Kabul, the Gomal, and the Kurram.

Solution: d)

The Indus river dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) is a subspecies of freshwater river dolphin found in theIndus river (and its Beas and Sutlej tributaries) of India and Pakistan. This dolphin was the first discovered side-swimming cetacean. It is patchily distributed in five small, sub-populations that are separated by irrigation barrages. The Indus dolphin does not form easily defined groups who interact. Instead, they’re typically found in loose aggregations.