Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Geography) – June 19, 2020

The main geographic sections of the Kashmir Himalayan range are the Pir Panjal, Kashmir Valley, Zanskar, Ladakh and Karakoram.

The Himalayas bend sharply to the south beyond the Dihang gorge and move outwards to form a covering the eastern boundary of the country. They are known as ‘the Eastern or Purvanchal Hills’.

• Daffla Hills:It is situated to the north of the Tezpur and North Lakhimpur, and is bounded on the west by the Aka Hills and on the east by the Abor Range.
• Mishmi Hills:These hills are located in the southward extension of the Great Himalayan ranges and its northern and eastern parts touches China.
• Mikir Hills:It is located to the south of the Kaziranga National Park. It is part of the Karbi Anglong Plateau. Radial drainage pattern is the best characteristic of this region where Dhansiri and Jamuna being the main rivers.
• Jaintia Hills: It is located further to the east from the Khasi Hills.
  

Some of the Minor Industrial regions of India are:

• Kanpur-Lucknow Industrial Region: Cotton, woollen and jute textiles, leather goods, fertilisers, chemical, drugs, pharmaceuticals, electric goods, and light machinery.
• Assam Valley Industrial Region: This region has the industries of petro-chemical, jute and silk textiles, tea-processing industry, paper, plywood, match, and food processing industries. Important industrial centres are: Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh, Digboi, Guwahati, Noonmati, and Tinsukia
• Darjeeling-Siliguri Industrial Region: Tea-processing industry and tourism.
• North Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh Industrial Region: Sugar, cement, glass, jute, fertilisers, locomotive, paper, and food processing are the main industries of this region. The main industrial centres are Allahabad, Dalmianagar (Bihar), Gorakhpur, Patna, Sultanpur, and Varanasi.
• Indore-Ujjain Industrial Region: Main industries are cotton textile, chemicals, drugs, electronic and engineering goods, and food processing.
• Amritsar-Jalandhar-Ludhiana Industrial Region: Sports goods, cotton and woollen, textiles, hosiery, food-processing, and tourism are the main industries of this region.
• Nagpur-Wardha Industrial Region: Textiles, engineering, chemicals, and food processing are the main industries of this region.

Stanley Reservoir: Stanley Reservoir is one of largest fishing reservoirs in South India. Its main source of water is the River Kaveri. Three minor tributaries – Palar, Chennar and Thoppar – enter the Kaveri on her course above Stanley Reservoir. The water is retained by the Mettur Dam, Tamil Nadu.

Linganamakki Sagar: Water from the Linganamakki reservoir in Karnataka’s Sagar taluk is being released into the Sharavathi River as the level is nearing it maximum capacity.

• The reservoir is the source for the Sharavathi hydel power project that has an installed capacity to generate 1,469 MWpower that includes 1,035 MW from the Sharavathi Generating Station, 240 MW from the Gerusoppa Power Station, 139 MW from the Mahatma Gandhi Power House and 55 MW from the Linganamakki Dam Power House.
• The Jog Falls, located downstream of Linganamakki reservoir where Sharavathi river takes the plunge from a height of 830 ft, has regained its glory, owing to the discharge of water.

Tso Moriri: Tso Moriri or Lake Moriri or “Mountain Lake”, is a lake in the Changthang Plateau in Ladakh in Northern India. The lake and surrounding area are protected as the Tso Moriri Wetland Conservation Reserve. The lake is at an altitude of 4,522 m.

Indravati National Park is the most famous wildlife sanctuary of the state of Chhattisgarh. It has several wildlife sanctuaries in secure areas such as Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamor Pingla, Kanger Ghati National Park, Pamed, Sanjay National Park, Semarsot, Sitanadi Wildlife Sanctuary, Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary, Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary, Badalkhol, Bhairamgarh, Gomarda wildlife sanctuaries etc.

Guindy National Park is a 2.70 km2 (1.04 sq mi) protected area of Tamil Nadu, located in Chennai, India, is the 8th-smallest National Park of India and one of the very few national parks situated inside a city.

Silent Valley National Park is located at Palakkad district in Nilgiri Mountains of Kerala. It is at the heart of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and consists of areas of South Western Ghats rain forests and tropical wet evergreen jungle. River Kunthi passes through it.

Atlas Mountain Range: The Atlas Mountains are a mountain chain located in North Africa.

• The Atlas mountain chain stretches across North Africa through Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.
• The mountains formed over millions of years, gaining their present-day shape when the African continent collided with the Iberian peninsula, in what is known as a convergent plate boundary.
• Because of their extensive range, the Atlas Mountains are divided into seven different sub-regions, each with their own unique ecosystem.
• Overall, however, the Atlas can be categorized as a semi-arid mountain range between the tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean/Mediterranean and the massive Sahara Desert.
• The highest mountain in the Atlas is Mount Toubkal. Mount Toubkal measures nearly 14,000 feet, and is located in southwestern Morocco.

New England Range: New England Range, also called New England Tableland, or Northern Tableland, section of the Eastern Highlands, or Great Dividing Range, northeastern New South Wales, Australia.

• The range extends 200 mi (320 km) north from the Moonbi Range (near Tamworth) to the Queensland border and 80 mi from east to west (10–50 mi inland from the coast).
• It is Australia’s largest plateau, having 9,000 sq mi (23,000 sq km) above an elevation of 3,000 ft (900 m).

Cantabrian Mountain: The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range are one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. They stretch for over 300 km across northern Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the Galician Massif in Galicia, along the coast of the Cantabrian Sea. Their easternmost end meets the Sistema Ibérico.

On December 11, 2019, the South Pacific Archipelago of Bougainville voted to become independent of Papua New Guinea.

• Around 98% of 1,81,067 voters voted to get independent from Papua New Guinea. It is the largest island of the Solomon Islands Archipelago.
• The island has the world’s largest copper deposits. The most widely spoken language in the country is Halia.
• The country is yet to prove its recognition in the United Nations.

The oldest known natural pearl in the world was discovered recently off the coast of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Abu Dhabi archaeologists working at a Neolithic site on Marawah Island (Persian Gulf).

• It has been dubbed as ‘Abu Dhabi Pearl’.
• It was discovered in soil layers that have been radiocarbon dated to 5,800-5,600 BCE, during the Neolithic period.