QUIZ – 2020: INSIGHTS STATIC QUIZ, 9 June 2020 – Geography

Solution: d)

During April and May when the sun shines vertically over the Tropic of Cancer, the large landmass in the north of Indian ocean gets intensely heated. This causes the formation of an intense low pressure in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. Since the pressure in the Indian Ocean in the south of the landmass is high as water gets heated slowly, the low-pressure cell attracts the southeast trades across the Equator. These conditions help in the northward shift in the position of the ITCZ. The shift in the position of the ITCZ is also related to the phenomenon of the withdrawal of the westerly jet stream from its position over the north Indian plain, south of the Himalayas. The easterly jet stream sets in along 15°N latitude only after the western jet stream has withdrawn itself from the region. This easterly jet stream is held responsible for the burst of the monsoon in India.

Solution: d)

Kurinji or Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthianus) is a shrub that is found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in South India.

Nilgiri Hills, which literally means the blue mountains, got their name from the purplish blue flowers of Neelakurinji that blossoms only once in 12 years.

Besides the Western Ghats, Neelakurinji is also seen in the Shevroys in the Eastern Ghats, Anamalai hills Idukki district and Agali hills in Palakad in Kerala and Sanduru hills of Bellary district in Karnataka.

Source

Solution: c)

On an average, salin­ity decreases from equator towards the poles. It may be mentioned that the highest salinity is seldom recorded near the equator though this zone records high tem­perature and evaporation, but high rainfall reduces the relative proportion of salt. Thus, the equator accounts for only 35⁰/₀₀ salinity.

The temperature of the oceans varies vertically with increasing depth. Refer the graph on temperature and depth.

The ocean currents move in clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere.

Solution: d)

A palaeochannel is a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment.

These paleochannels reveal the course of rivers that have ceased to exist.

A palaeochannel is distinct from the overbank deposits of currently-active river channels, including ephemeral water courses that do not regularly flow because the river bed is filled with sedimentary deposits unrelated to the normal bed load of the current drainage pattern.

Palaeochannels are important to geology for a number of reasons:

• Understanding movements of faults, which may redirect river systems and so form stranded channels that are, in essence, palaeochannels.
• Preserving Tertiary, Eocene and Holocene sediments and fossils within them.
• Preserving sedimentary records, which is useful for understanding climatic conditions

Palaeochannels can host economic ore deposits of uranium, lignite, precious metals such as gold and platinum, heavy minerals such as tin, tungsten, and iron ore preserved as paleo-placer deposits.

The Union Water Ministry has excavated an old, dried-up river in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) that linked the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.

Solution: c)

Indira Point is a village in the Nicobar district at Great Nicobar Island of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.