Geographical Techniques Questions and Answers

Answer: D

A, B, C all are correct.

A is true: countries with a great east-west extent, such as Russia, the USA and Canada, have adopted more than one standard time. B is true: the earth's 360° of longitude are divided into 24 time zones of one hour each. C is true: each zone covers 360° ÷ 24 = 15° of longitude, the distance the earth turns in an hour.

Since all three statements are correct, each option that marks one of them incorrect is wrong.

Answer: A

It is 2 P.M. in London.

Indian Standard Time is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. When it is 7.30 P.M. in India it is 2 P.M. at Greenwich, that is, in London on GMT. (When Britain is on summer time it is an hour later there, but the question works with standard time.)

Japan (GMT + 9) would be 11 P.M., Dhaka (GMT + 6) 8 P.M., and Karachi (GMT + 5) 7 P.M., all later than 2 P.M. because they lie east of London.

Answer: D

The Deccan Plateau is shown in yellow.

Physical maps use a standard colour scheme for relief: green for low-lying plains, yellow for plateaus and other moderately high land, brown (in deepening shades) for hills and mountains, and white for snow-covered peaks, with blue for water bodies. The Deccan, a large triangular plateau south of the Narmada, therefore appears in yellow (shading into light brown where it is higher).

Green would mark the northern plains and coastal plains, and brown the Himalaya and other mountain ranges. Orange is not one of the standard relief colours.

Answer: C

The answer is (A) is true and (R) is false.

The assertion is true. Places west of Greenwich see the Sun rise later, so their local time is behind Greenwich time, by four minutes for every degree of longitude.

The reason is false. The Earth rotates from west to east, which is why the Sun appears to rise in the east and why places to the east get sunrise earlier. Because of this west-to-east rotation, places east of Greenwich are ahead of it and places west are behind. The reason gets the direction of rotation wrong, so it cannot explain the assertion.

Answer: C

The local times are 08:50 a.m. and 09:41 a.m. respectively.

IST is the local time of the standard meridian, 82°30' E. Local time changes by 4 minutes for each degree of longitude, earlier to the west and later to the east.

\[ \begin{aligned} \text{Chennai: } 82.5 - 80 &= 2.5^{\circ} \text{ west} \\ 2.5 \times 4 &= 10 \text{ min behind} \\ \text{Itanagar: } 92.75 - 82.5 &= 10.25^{\circ} \text{ east} \\ 10.25 \times 4 &= 41 \text{ min ahead} \end{aligned} \]

So when IST is 9:00 a.m., local time is 8:50 a.m. near Chennai and 9:41 a.m. near Itanagar.

Option D reverses the two places; options A and B use wrong differences.

Answer: B

The local times are 08:44 a.m. and 09:41 a.m. respectively.

IST is the local time of the standard meridian, 82° 30′ E. Local time changes by 4 minutes for each degree of longitude: earlier to the west, later to the east.

\[ \begin{aligned} \text{Hyderabad: } 82^\circ 30' - 78^\circ 30' &= 4^\circ \\ 4 \times 4 &= 16 \text{ min earlier} \\ 9{:}00 - 16 \text{ min} &= 8{:}44 \end{aligned} \]

\[ \begin{aligned} \text{Aizawl: } 92^\circ 45' - 82^\circ 30' &= 10^\circ 15' \\ 10.25 \times 4 &= 41 \text{ min later} \\ 9{:}00 + 41 \text{ min} &= 9{:}41 \end{aligned} \]

Hyderabad lies west of the standard meridian and Aizawl east of it, so the first time must be before 9:00 and the second after. Option 1 gives the two correct times the wrong way round. Option 3 shifts each city in the wrong direction (later for Hyderabad, earlier for Aizawl), and option 4 gives each city the other city's difference.

Answer: B

The correct code is a-3, b-2, c-1, d-5, e-4.

• The Prime Meridian is 0° longitude.
• The Tropic of Cancer is at 23½° N latitude.
• The International Date Line broadly follows 180° longitude.
• The Arctic Circle is at 66½° N latitude.
• The Tropic of Capricorn is at 23½° S latitude.

Three options start with a-3, so check the next column: only one pairs the Tropic of Cancer with 23½° N. The first option fails at once by putting the Prime Meridian at 23½° N.

Answer: C

The keyed answer is January 3, 00.30 hrs, option C.

The question treats the voyage from the eastern end of the Aleutians to Dutch Harbour as a westward crossing of the International Date Line, near the 180° meridian. Dutch Harbour (about 166.5° W) lies west of the Aleutians' eastern end (about 164° W), so the ship is heading west. A ship going west across the line moves its calendar one day forward, so 23.30 hrs on January 1 becomes 23.30 hrs on January 2. One hour later the diary reads:

\[ \begin{aligned} 23.30 \text{ on Jan 2} + 1 \text{ h} \\ = 00.30 \text{ on Jan 3} \end{aligned} \]

January 1, 00.30 would be right for an eastward crossing, where the date goes back a day. January 2, 00.30 results from ignoring the date line altogether. January 4 would need a two-day jump, which a single crossing never gives. As a point of geography, the Date Line is drawn west of the whole Aleutian chain, so a real voyage on this route does not cross it, but the question's own premise fixes the answer.

Answer: C

The standard meridian is 82° 30′ E.

Indian Standard Time is taken from the meridian of 82°30′ East, which passes near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. It was chosen because it runs roughly through the middle of the country, and since each degree of longitude is 4 minutes of time, IST is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich:

\[ \begin{aligned} 82.5 \times 4 &= 330\ \text{minutes} \\ &= 5\ \text{h}\ 30\ \text{min} \end{aligned} \]

The other meridians would not give that half-hour offset of 5:30.

Answer: C

The orthographic and stereographic projections are credited to Hipparchus.

Hipparchus of Nicaea, the Greek astronomer of the second century BCE, applied geometry to the representation of the sphere. He is credited with the stereographic projection, which projects the globe from a point on its surface, and the orthographic projection, which projects it from infinity, and with fixing places by latitude and longitude.

The other Greeks are known for different contributions. Thales of Miletus is credited with the gnomonic projection. Eratosthenes measured the circumference of the earth and is often called the father of geography. Anaximander is credited with the first known map of the world.