World Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The ionosphere is the electrically charged region of the upper atmosphere, encompassing the thermosphere and the exosphere. Solar radiation ionises the thin gas there, which is what makes long-distance radio reflection possible.

Answer: C

Regur is the local name for the black cotton soil of the Deccan, formed by the weathering of the Deccan lava. It is rich in clay, swells when wet and cracks deeply when dry, and holds moisture so well that it grows cotton without irrigation.

It covers much of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Rainfall

An isohyet joins points receiving equal precipitation, from the Greek hyetos, rain. Maps drawn with them - isohyetal maps - show at a glance where rainfall is concentrated, and they are the basis for estimating the average rainfall over a river catchment. On a map of India the isohyets crowd together dramatically across the Western Ghats, falling from over 2,500 mm on the windward slopes to under 600 mm on the leeward plateau within a short distance - the rain shadow made visible. The iso- family is large and worth knowing as a set: isotherms for temperature, isobars for pressure, contours for elevation, isohalines for salinity, and isoseismal lines for earthquake intensity.

Answer: C

Correct answer: The United States

The United States has been the world’s largest producer of crude oil since about 2018, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia. The change came from hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, which unlocked oil held in shale formations that had previously been uneconomic - chiefly the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas. Production roughly doubled within a decade. Note the distinction from reserves: Venezuela and Saudi Arabia hold much larger proven reserves, but reserves measure what is in the ground and production measures what is lifted from it. Saudi Arabia retains the greatest spare capacity, which gives it disproportionate influence over prices through OPEC. India produces only a small fraction of what it consumes and imports over 80 per cent of its crude, which makes oil prices a direct concern for its current account and inflation.

Answer: B

Correct answer: A hygrometer

A hygrometer measures the water vapour content of the air. The classic form is the wet-and-dry-bulb pair, in which one thermometer is kept damp by a wick: evaporation cools it, and the gap between the two readings gives the relative humidity from a table. The drier the air, the faster the evaporation and the wider the gap. Note the near-identical distractor. A hydrometer, spelt with a d, measures the density of a liquid by how far it floats in it - it has nothing to do with the atmosphere, and is used to test battery acid or the sugar content of a brewing wort. A barometer measures atmospheric pressure, and an anemometer measures wind speed.

Answer: D

The most obvious effect of pressure during metamorphism is the reorientation of mineral crystals: platy minerals such as mica rotate and regrow so that their flat faces lie at right angles to the direction of greatest stress.

Foliation and lineation are the visible textures this reorientation produces, so they are its results rather than the effect itself. Lithification is the compaction of sediment into rock and is not a metamorphic process at all.

Answer: B

Correct answer: The Moon

Tides are raised chiefly by the Moon. Although the Sun is vastly more massive, tidal force depends on the difference in gravitational pull across the Earth rather than on its strength, and that difference falls off with the cube of distance - so the much nearer Moon has about twice the tidal effect of the Sun. Two bulges form, one facing the Moon and one on the opposite side, and as the Earth turns beneath them most coasts see two high tides a day. The Sun’s smaller contribution explains the fortnightly cycle. When Sun, Earth and Moon align at new and full moon the two effects add, giving the large spring tides; when the Sun and Moon are at right angles, at the quarters, they partly cancel, giving the small neap tides. Spring here means to leap up, and has nothing to do with the season. Local range varies enormously with coastal shape: the Bay of Fundy in Canada sees over 15 metres.

Answer: B

NH 24 joined Delhi to Lucknow, running about 438 km through Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly and Sitapur.

Under the national renumbering it is now part of NH 9 and NH 30, but the older number remains the one asked for here.

Answer: D

East Timor was a colony of Portugal for over four centuries, until Portugal withdrew in 1975 and Indonesia invaded and annexed it.

It voted for independence in a United Nations referendum in 1999 and became fully independent as Timor-Leste in 2002.

Answer: A

The Sea of Japan is noted for its fishing. The cold Oyashio and the warm Tsushima currents meet in it, and the mixing brings up nutrients that make plankton and therefore fish abundant.

Sardine, squid, salmon and crab support major Japanese, Korean and Russian fisheries there.