DAY – 7 (InstaTest-7): Insta 75 Days Revision Plan-2022: Topic – Geography, Subject-wise Test 6, Textbook-wise Test 6 and June 2021 CA

Solution : b

Justification: Statement 1:  An anti-cyclone — also known as a high pressure area — is a large atmospheric circulation system with the wind flowing clockwise around it in the Northern Hemisphere, and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. 

The extents are generally large and the effects are also pronounced. 

Statement 2:  Anticyclones form from air masses cooling more than their surroundings, which causes the air to contract slightly making the air denser. Since dense air weighs more, the weight of the atmosphere overlying a location increases, causing increased surface air pressure.

Winds are of moderate speed, and at the outer edges, cloudy and precipitation conditions exist.

Cloudy conditions and precipitation exists at the periphery of anticyclones. Otherwise, such a high pressure region generally shows fine and clear weather.

Q Source: AR: 11th NCERT: Fundamentals of Physical Geography

Solution : c 

Justification: The troposphere is thicker at the equator than at the poles because the equator is warmer. The convection currents of air expand the thickness of the troposphere (atmosphere). 

Thus the simple reason is thermal expansion of the atmosphere at the equator and thermal contraction near the poles.

Also, the rotation of the earth causes centrifugal force which is strongest near the equator and pushes the atmosphere to greater heights. 

The thickness of the troposphere also varies with season. The troposphere is thicker in the summer and thinner in the winter all around the planet. 

At the poles in winter, the atmosphere is uniformly very cold and the troposphere cannot be distinguished from other layers.

Q Source: AR: NCERT 11th Fundamentals of Physical Geography

Solution : b 

Justification: Phytoplankton in the open ocean need both sunlight and nutrients (such as nitrate and phosphate) to be able to photosynthesize. 

• • Sunlight is only available in the uppermost layers. 

• • During photosynthesis, the nutrients are quickly used up by phytoplankton so they are not available for long periods in the upper layers under normal circumstances. 

This is indeed the case in tropical waters, and as a result they are very unproductive. 

• • To escape this problem the seawater needs to be mixed regularly to bring the nutrient rich deep waters up to the sunlight zone where the phytoplankton can grow. 

This is one of the reasons why areas where cold and warm currents meet are very productive; the collision of currents causes mixing.  

Q Source: Page 124: Fundamentals of Physical Geography: 11th NCERT

Solution : a   

Justification: The location of the thermal equator is not identical to that of the geographic Equator. 

This is not due to the level of insolation received in both hemispheres. They are virtually equal. 

What creates the difference is the distribution of land and water that causes changes in the way heat is distributed and transported across the planets. 

Land dominated areas will tend to have a large variation in temperature and a higher average temperature under the same conditions (as compared to a water dominated area). 

Thus, the thermal equator lies a bit north of the geographical equator. 

Q Source: AR: 11th NCERT: Fundamentals of Physical Geography

Solution : a 

Justification: Planetary or permanent winds blow from high pressure belts to low pressure belts in the same direction throughout the year. They blow over vast area of continents and oceans. They are easterly and westerlies and polar easterlies.

(i) The Easterlies

• The winds that blow from sub-tropical high-pressure areas towards equatorial low pressure areas called trade or easterly winds.
• The word trade has been derived from the German word ‘trade’ which means track.
• To blow trade means ‘to blow steadily and constantly in the same direction’.
• Because of the Coriolis effect the northern trade winds move away from the subtropical high in north-east direction.
• In southern hemisphere the trade winds diverge out of the sub-tropical high towards the equatorial low from the southeast direction
• As the trade winds tend to blow mainly from the east, they are also known as the Tropical easterlies. (see fig.)

(ii) The Westerlies

• The winds that move poleward from the sub-tropical high pressure in the northern hemisphere are deflected to the right and thus blow from the southwest.
• These in the southern hemisphere are deflected to the left and blow from the north-west. Thus, these winds are called westerlies (see fig.)

(iii) Polar Easterlies

• Polar easterlies blow from polar regions towards sub-polar low-pressure regions.
• Their direction in the northern hemisphere is from north-east to southwest and from south-east to north-west in the southern hemisphere.

Q Source: https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-geography-2/indian-climate/winds/types-of-winds/194705-2/

Solution : c

Discordant or Insequent drainage patterns

• A drainage pattern is described as discordant if it does not correlate to the topology (surface relief features) and geology of the area.
• In simple words, in a discordant drainage pattern, the river follows its initial path irrespective of the changes in topography.
• Discordant drainage patterns are classified into two main types: antecedent and superimposed.
• Usually, rivers in both these drainage types flow through a highly sloping surface.

Antecedent Drainage or Inconsequent Drainage

• A part of a river slope and the surrounding area gets uplifted, and the river sticks to its original slope, cutting through the uplifted portion like a saw (vertical erosion) and forming deep gorges. This type of drainage is called antecedent drainage.
• Example: Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra and other Himalayan rivers that are older than the Himalayas themselves. There are usually called antecedent rivers (rivers older than the existing land itself).

Superimposed or Superinduced Drainage

• When a river flowing over a softer rock stratum reaches the harder basal rocks but continues to follow the initial slope, it seems to have no relation with the harder rock bed. This type of drainage is called superimposed drainage.

Antecedent Drainage: cuts through the newly formed landform and maintains the same path. E.g. Himalayan Rivers.

Superimposed Drainage: cuts deeper through the existing landform and maintains the same path. E.g. some medium-scale rivers of the Northern and Eastern peninsular India.

Antecedent Drainage: The soil formed is weak (mostly weak sediments), and the rivers easily erode it.

Superimposed Drainage: The rivers have high erosive power so that they can cut through the underlying strata.

Solution : c

Rossby waves, also known as planetary waves, are a type of inertial wave naturally occurring in rotating fluids. They were first identified by Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby. They are observed in the atmospheres and oceans of planets owing to the rotation of the planet.

Rossby Waves

• The meandering jet streams are called Rossby Waves.
• Rossby waves are natural phenomenon in the atmosphere and oceans due to rotation of earth.
• In planetary atmospheres, they are due to the variation in the Coriolis effect (When temperature contrast is low, speed of jet stream is low, and Coriolis force is weak leading to meandering) with latitude.
• Rossby waves are formed when polar air moves toward the Equator while tropical air is moving poleward.
• The existence of these waves explains the low-pressure cells (cyclones) and high-pressure cells (anticyclones).

Solution : b

Frost

Frost forms on cold surfaces when condensation takes place below freezing point (00C), i.e. the dew point is at or below the freezing point. 

The excess moisture is deposited in the form of minute ice crystals instead of water droplets. The ideal conditions for the formation of white frost are the same as those for the formation of dew, except that the air temperature must be at or below the freezing point.

Fog and Mist

When the temperature of an air mass containing a large quantity of water vapour falls all of a sudden, condensation takes place within itself on fine dust particles. So, the fog is a cloud with its base at or very near to the ground. Because of the fog and mist, the visibility becomes poor to zero. In urban and industrial centres smoke provides plenty of nuclei which help the formation of fog and mist. Such a condition when fog is mixed with smoke, is described as smog. The only difference between the mist and fog is that mist contains more moisture than the fog. In mist each nuceli contains a thicker layer of moisture. Mists are frequent over mountains as the rising warm air up the slopes meets a cold surface. Fogs are drier than mist and they are prevalent where warm currents of air come in contact with cold currents. Fogs are mini clouds in which condensation takes place around nuclei provided by the dust, smoke, and the salt particles.

Solution : c

Clouds

Cloud is a mass of minute water droplets or tiny crystals of ice formed by the condensation of the water vapour in free air at considerable elevations. As the clouds are formed at some height over the surface of the earth, they take various shapes. According to their height, expanse, density and transparency or opaqueness clouds are grouped under four types : (i) cirrus; (ii) cumulus; (iii) stratus; (iv) nimbus.

Cirrus

Cirrus clouds are formed at high altitudes (8,000 – 12,000m). They are thin and detached clouds having a feathery appearance. They are always white in colour.

Cumulus

Cumulus clouds look like cotton wool. They are generally formed at a height of 4,000 – 7,000 m. They exist in patches and can be seen scattered here and there. They have a flat base.

Stratus

As their name implies, these are layered clouds covering large portions of the sky. These clouds are generally formed either due to loss of heat or the mixing of air masses with different temperatures.

Nimbus

Nimbus clouds are black or dark gray. They form at middle levels or very near to the surface of the earth. These are extremely dense and opaque to the rays of the sun. 

Sometimes, the clouds are so low that they seem to touch the ground. Nimbus clouds are shapeless masses of thick vapour.

Solution : a

Solution: B

Trade Winds

• The trade winds are those blowing from the sub-tropical high-pressure areas towards the equatorial low-pressure belt. 

• Therefore, these are confined to a region between 30°N and 30°S throughout the earth’s surface.

• They flow as the north-eastern trades in the northern hemisphere and the south-eastern trades in the southern hemisphere.
• This deflection in their ideally expected north-south direction is explained on the basis of Coriolis force and Farrel’s law.
• Trade winds are descending and stable in areas of their origin (sub-tropical high-pressure belt), and as they reach the equator, they become humid and warmer after picking up moisture on their way.
• The trade winds from two hemispheres meet at the equator, and due to convergence, they rise and cause heavy rainfall. 
• The eastern parts of the trade winds associated with the cool ocean currents are drier and more stable than the western parts of the ocean.

Solution : c

Tropical Wet Climate (Af)

Tropical wet climate is found near the equator. The major areas are the Amazon Basin in South America, western equatorial Africa and the islands of East Indies. Significant amount of rainfall occurs in every month of the year as thunder showers in the afternoon. The temperature is uniformly high and the annual range of temperature is negligible. 

The maximum temperature on any day is around 30°C while the minimum temperature is around 20°C. Tropical evergreen forests with dense canopy cover and large biodiversity are found in this climate.

Solution : a

Vertical Distribution of Temperature

The temperature-depth profile for the ocean water shows how the temperature decreases with the increasing depth. The profile shows a boundary region between the surface waters of the ocean and the deeper layers. The boundary usually begins around 100 – 400 m below the sea surface and extends several hundred of metres downward. This boundary region, from where there is a rapid decrease of temperature, is called the thermocline. About 90 per cent of the total volume of water is found below the thermocline in the deep ocean. In this zone, temperatures approach 0° C. 

The temperature structure of oceans over middle and low latitudes can be described as a three-layer system from surface to the bottom. The first layer represents the top layer of warm oceanic water and it is about 500m thick with temperatures ranging between 20° and 25° C. This layer, within the tropical region, is present throughout the year but in mid latitudes it develops only during summer. The second layer called the thermocline layer lies below the first layer and is characterized by rapid decrease in temperature with increasing depth. The thermocline is 500 -1,000 m thick. The third layer is very cold and extends upto the deep ocean floor. In the Arctic and Antartic circles, the surface water temperatures are close to 0° C and so the temperature change with the depth is very slight. Here, only one layer of cold water exists, which extends from surface to deep ocean floor.

Solution : a

The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the Earth’s poles. It ALWAYS exists near the poles, but weakens in summer and strengthens in winter. The term “vortex” refers to the counter-clockwise flow of air that helps keep the colder air near the Poles. 

Many times during winter in the northern hemisphere, the polar vortex will expand, sending cold air southward with the jet stream (see graphic above). This occurs fairly regularly during wintertime and is often associated with large outbreaks of Arctic air in the United States. The one that occurred January 2014 is similar to many other cold outbreaks that have occurred in the past, including several notable colder outbreaks in 1977, 1982, 1985 and 1989.

There are several things the polar vortex is NOT. Polar vortexes are not something new. The term “polar vortex” has only recently been popularized, bringing attention to a weather feature that has always been present. It is also not a feature that exists at the Earth’s surface. Weather forecasters examine the polar vortex by looking at conditions tens of thousands of feet up in the atmosphere; however, when we feel extremely cold air from the Arctic regions at Earth’s surface, it is sometimes associated with the polar vortex. This is not confined to the United States. Portions of Europe and Asia also experience cold surges connected to the polar vortex. By itself, the only danger to humans is the magnitude of how cold temperatures will get when the polar vortex expands, sending Arctic air southward into areas that are not typically that cold.

Solution : c

• The hot deserts lie along the Horse Latitudes or the Sub-Tropical High-Pressure Belts where the air is descending, a condition least favorable for precipitation of any kind to take place.

• The rain-bearing Trade Winds blow off-shore and the Westerlies that are on-shore blow outside the desert limits.
• Whatever winds reach the deserts blow from cooler to warmer regions, and their relative humidity is lowered, making condensation almost impossible.
• There is scarcely any cloud in the continuous blue sky. The relative humidity is extremely low, decreasing from 60 per cent in coastal districts to less than 30 per cent in the desert interiors. Under such conditions, every bit of moisture is evaporated and the deserts are thus regions of permanent drought. Precipitation is both scarce and most unreliable.

On the western coasts, the presence of cold currents gives rise to mists and fogs by chilling the on-coming air. This air is later warmed by contact with the hot land, and little rain falls. The desiccating effect of the cold Peruvian Current along the Chilean coast is so pronounced that the mean annual rainfall for the Atacama Desert is not more than 1.3 cm.

Solution : b

International Court of justice is principal organ not ICC

The Geneva Conventions is a body of Public International Law, also known as the Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts, whose purpose is to provide minimum protections, standards of humane treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals who become victims of armed conflicts.

The Geneva Conventions that originally only addressed the treatment of combatants was later expanded to include non-combatants and civilians as well.

The Geneva Conventions have been ratified by 196 states, including all UN member states.

About ICC:

The International Criminal Court (ICC), located in The Hague, is the court of last resort for prosecution of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

It is the first permanent, treaty based, international court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.

Its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, entered into force on July 1, 2002.

Funding: Although the Court’s expenses are funded primarily by States Parties, it also receives voluntary contributions from governments, international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities.

Solution : a

 Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is a Government of India initiative by NITI Aayog to promote and support aspiring as well as established women entrepreneurs in India, assist and handhold them in their journey from starting up to scaling up and expanding their ventures. WEP identifies partners who are the pivotal agents that transform WEP’s vision to reality through incisive interventions.

It brings together stakeholders offering information and services to address the existing information asymmetry

Solution : b

About SVAMITVA Scheme

SVAMITVA is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj that aims to provide property rights to the residents of rural inhabited areas. The scheme will pave the way for using property as a financial asset by villagers for taking loans and other financial benefits, like in urban areas. It aims to demarcate inhabited lands in rural areas through the latest surveying drone-technology. The scheme has also provided a boost to the ecosystem of drone manufacturing in the country.

Solution : d

Launched in 2020, it is a digital platform that connects 16 ministries — including Roads and Highways, Railways, Shipping, Petroleum and Gas, Power, Telecom, Shipping, and Aviation.

It aims to ensure holistic planning and execution of infrastructure projects.

It aims to boost multimodal connectivity and drive down logistics costs.

PM Gati Shakti will cover the infrastructure projects worth over Rs 500 crore of various Ministries of the Union and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik – subsidies for facilitating air travel), etc.

Services provided:

The portal will offer 200 layers of geospatial data, including on existing infrastructure such as roads, highways, railways, and toll plazas, as well as geographic information about forests, rivers and district boundaries to aid in planning and obtaining clearances.

The portal will also allow various government departments to track, in real time and at one centralised place, the progress of various projects, especially those with multi-sectoral and multi-regional impact.

Solution : b

The seven Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks will be established at Greenfield or Brownfield sites located in different states.

It is inspired by the 5F vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister –Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign.

This integrated vision will help to further the growth of the textile sector in the economy.

The scheme is under the Textiles Ministry.

Solution : d

Solution: The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between Indian and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank , to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960.

The Treaty gives control over the waters of the three “eastern rivers” —the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej to India, while control over the waters of the three “western rivers” — the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab to Pakistan.India has about 20% of the total water carried by the Indus system while Pakistan has 80%.

The treaty allows India to use the western river waters for limited irrigation use and unlimited non-consumptive use for such applications as power generation, navigation, floating of property, fish culture, etc.

Solution : d

Solution :

News:The Supreme Court expressed its displeasure on no reply of the Central Government on plea against RTI Amendment Act 2019.

The Chief Information Commission (CIC) is a statutory body. The new term of CIC as decided by the Central Government is 3 years after the 2019 amendment.

Solution : b

Solution : The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) works under the Ministry of Defence and was constituted for overall guidance of the defence procurement planning process. The Defence Minister acts as its chairperson.

Solution : b

Solution:

Chandigarh became the first state or Union Territory in India to launch Carbon Watch, a mobile application to assess the carbon footprint of an individual. 

The application can be downloaded through a QR code in Android supported smart cell phones. Carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases-especially carbon dioxide-released into the atmosphere by a particular human activity.

The mobile application will suggest methods to reduce the carbon footprints. The application will suggest ways as per the information furnished by the individuals.

For instance, if a person feeds in the app that they travel only in four-wheelers, the app will advise them to reduce their travel in four-wheelers and use bicycles occasionally. Moreover, in the option of Energy, the app will inform the individuals about the use of solar energy.

Solution : a

Solution:

Known as the ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’ (QSD), the Quad is an informal strategic forum comprising four nations, namely — United States of America (USA), India, Australia and Japan. One of the primary objectives of the Quad is to work for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

The group met for the first time in 2007 on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is considered an alliance of maritime democracies, and the forum is maintained by meetings, semi-regular summits, information exchanges and military drills of all the member countries.

The idea of Quad was first mooted by the Japanese Prime Minister in 2007.

Malabar Exercise, initiated by India and US in 1992, now includes all QUAD members as participants. Japan joined in 2015.

Solution : d

 Here, 6-5 = 1 and 12- 11 = 1

Now, LCM of 6 and 12 =12

Required number = 13(12-1) 

= 13x 11 =143

So, sum of digits = 1+ 4+ 3 = 8

Solution : c

Since, (x + 1) is the HCF of Ax2 + Bx + C and Bx2+ Ax +C
∴ A(-1)++ B(-1)+C = 0
⇒ A-B+C = 0 ⇒ C = B- A
or B(-1)2+ A(-1) + C = 0
⇒ B – A+C=0 ⇒C = A-B
Because A# B
∴C = A-B

Solution : a

Let other number be b and HCF be x.

Because LCM = 12x

We have, x + 12x = 403 ⇒ 13x = 403 ⇒x =31

Because Product of two numbers = LCM × HCF

⇒93 × b = x × 12x   ⇒ 93 × b = 12 × 31 × 31

∴b = 124

Solution  : c

Given, LCM of two integers is 1237, which is a prime number.
So, their HCF is 1.

Solution : b

Author implies that the existence of a non- commercialized sector in different under developed countries renders the national income comparisons over countries difficult.