UPSC Current Affairs Quiz : 24 February 2024

Solution: b)

Statement 3 is incorrect.

Tarballs are dark-coloured, sticky balls of oil that form when crude oil floats on the ocean surface. Tarballs are formed by weathering of crude oil in marine environments. They are transported from the open sea to the shores by sea currents and waves.

Some of the balls are as big as a basketball while others are smaller globules. Tarballs are usually coin-sized and are found strewn on the beaches. However, over the years, they have become as big as basketballs and can weigh as much as 6-7 kgs.

Wind and waves tear the oil slick into smaller patches that are scattered over a much wider area. Various physical, chemical and biological processes (weathering) change the appearance of the oil.

Why are tarballs found on the beaches during the monsoon?

It is suspected that the oil comes from the large cargo ships in the deep sea and gets pushed to the shore as tarballs during monsoon due to wind speed and direction.

Solution: b)

Statement 3 is incorrect.

Aichi Biodiversity Targets that expired in 2020. No single country met all 20 Aichi Targets within its own borders, according to a September 2020 UN assessment.

What were the Aichi Targets?

The Aichi Targets, adopted during the 2010 CBD summit in Nagoya, located in Japan’s Aichi prefecture, included goals such as reducing deforestation by at least half during the coming decade and curbing pollution so that it no longer harmed ecosystems.

After parties adopted the Aichi Targets, they were expected to devise their own national biodiversity strategies that would mimic the goals laid out by Aichi. Nearly all parties created these strategies, but most were never fully implemented.

Solution: c)

The Earth’s geological time scale is a fundamental tool used by geologists, palaeontologists and other scientists to study the planet’s past. It is a system that divides the history of the Earth into discrete intervals of time, based on events, such as the evolution and extinction of different living beings and processes that have occurred.

It is divided into five broad categories: eons, epochs, eras, periods, and ages. As of now, at least officially, we’re in the Phanerozoic eon, Cenozoic era, Quaternary period, Holocene epoch and the Meghalayan age.

Anthropocene epoch — a proposed geological epoch that began when the human impact started to radically alter the Earth’s ecosystem and geology.

Solution: a)

Only Statement 1 is correct.

‘Green hydrogen’, the emerging novel concept, is a zero-carbon fuel made by electrolysis using renewable power from wind and solar to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This ‘Green hydrogen’ can be utilised for the generation of power from natural sources — wind or solar systems — and will be a major step forward in achieving the target of ‘net zero’ emission.

Black hydrogen is produced by use of fossil fuel, whereas pink hydrogen is produced through electrolysis, but using energy from nuclear power sources.

Grey hydrogen is produced from natural gas.

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the extraction of mineral resources from the ocean below 200 metres is called deep sea mining.

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSSC), an initiative formed in 2004 to safeguard deep-sea ecosystems.

India has been granted two exploration contracts from the ISA so far – one for polymetallic nodules, and one for polymetallic sulphides.

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) is an alliance of over 100 international organizations working to promote the conservation of biodiversity on the high seas.