1. The soil that exhibits the characteristic of self-ploughing is ______
Black soil
Alluvial soil
Red Soil
Laterite soil
2. Consider the following statements:
Block mountains are formed by the faulting of earth’s crust.
Mountain ranges Satpura and Vindhya are an example of block mountain in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2
3. What is ‘hydrological drought’?
Prolonged inadequate rainfall with mal-distribution of rainfall.
Soil moisture stress causing crop failure.
Fall in productivity of the ecosystem due to water shortage.
Tremendous reduction in the availability of water in storages and reservoirs.
4. Which of the following is/are the reason(s) for landslides in the Western Ghats?
Tectonically active region
Comprises of unconsolidated deposits
Mechanical weathering due to temperature changes in this region
Heavy rainfall over a short period
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
1 and 2 only
3 and 4 only
2 and 3 only
1, 2, 3 and 4
5. Consider the following statements regarding Himalayan and the Peninsular Rivers:
Himalayan Rivers are old and mature while Peninsular Rivers are youthful in activity.
Unlike Peninsular Rivers, Himalayan Rivers show meandering activity in the plains.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
1 only
2 only
Both 1 & 2
Neither 1 nor 2
6. Consider the following statements:
Thickness of the troposphere is greatest at the equator.
Temperature at the tropopause over the equator is less than that at the poles.
In stratosphere temperature increases with the increase in altitude.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3
7. Consider the following statements regarding Monsoon:
Monsoon Break refers to the year with severe drought in a decade.
It occurs due to lack of rain-bearing storms along the ITCZ over northern India.
Which of the statements given above is/are not correct?
1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2
8. Consider the following statements:
The east coast of India is a low sedimentary coast while the west coast is a high rocky coast.
Erosional landforms dominate the east coast of India while depositional landforms dominate the west coast.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2
9. Consider the following statements regarding differences between Richter and Mercalli Scale:
While the Richter Scale is used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake, the Mercalli Scale is used for measuring the magnitude of an earthquake.
While the Richter Scale has no upper limit for measurement, there is a limit for the Mercalli Scale.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2
10. The Big Splat event is associated with the formation of:
Moon
Sun
Planets
Earth’s atmosphere
A - Black soil is known for its self ploughing nature because it is a clayey soil and has much moisture in it. It also develops cracks during summers which exposes it to sunlight and water from rains. Thus it becomes easy to plough it.
C - Block mountains are created because of faulting on a large scale (when large areas or blocks of earth are broken and displaced vertically or horizontally). Block mountains are also called fault-block mountains since they are formed due to faulting as a result of tensile and compressive forces. In India specifically the mountain ranges Satpura and Vindhya found in the central- western part of the Indian sub-continent are block-mountains, having formed through cracks in the earth's crust, these ranges rose while the block of earth known as the Rift Valley depressed.
D - Hydrological Drought results when the availability of water in different storages and reservoirs like aquifers, lakes, reservoirs, etc. falls below what the precipitation can replenish.
B - Himalayan region sees a lot of landslides because the Himalayas are the youngest mountain range. The sediments are not yet compacted; they are loose. Rainfall and mechanical weathering are reasons for the landslide in the Western Ghats.
B - Himalayan rivers flow across the young fold mountains and are still in a youthful stage, while Peninsular rivers have been flowing in one of the oldest plateaus of the world and have reached maturity. When Himalayan rivers enter the plains, there is a sudden reduction in the speed of flow of water which forms meanders and shifts their beds. While, in case of Peninsular rivers, the hard rock surface and non-alluvial character of the plateau permits little scope for the formation of meanders. As such, the rivers of the Peninsular Plateau follow more or less straight courses.
C - Thickness of the troposphere is greatest at the equator because heat is transported to great heights by strong convectional currents. The air temperature at the tropopause is about minus 800 degree Celsius over the equator and about minus 45 degree Celsius over the poles. Temperature in the stratosphere rises with increasing altitude, because the ozone layer absorbs the greater part of the solar ultraviolet radiation.
B - Break of monsoons is the break in the monsoonal rainfall. It typically happens in the month of August. During this period, Monsoon trough shifts closer to the foothills of Himalayas, which leads to sharp decrease in rainfall over most parts of the country. These dry spells are quite common during the rainy season. These breaks occurring in different regions are due to different reasons: In northern India, rains are likely to fail if the rain-bearing storms are not very frequent along the monsoon trough or the ITCZ over this region.
A - The west coast of our country is a high rocky retreating coast. Erosional forms dominate in the west coast. The east coast of India is a low sedimentary coast. Depositional forms dominate in the east coast.
B - The magnitude scale is known as the Richter scale. The magnitude relates to the energy released during the quake. The intensity scale is named after Mercalli, an Italian seismologist. In theory, the Richter scale has no upper limit, but, in practice, no earthquake has ever been registered on the scale above magnitude 8.6 (That was the Richter magnitude for the Chile earthquake of 1960). The range of intensity (Mercalli) scale is from 1-12.
A - The Big Splat is an examination of the modern theory that an object the size of Mars collided with the early Earth to create the Moon, but the book reaches back to the very foundations of human thinking about how the Moon came to be.
