Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Geography (Map based questions)) – July 17, 2020

An Isarithmic map is a type of thematic map that represents a continuous field using line and/or region symbols to connect places of similar value.

• It is sometimes called a heat map, although the term heat map should only be used for one type of isarithmic map that represents density.
• In general, these maps are used to help visualize continuous data sets by utilizing color, especially hue and value.
• There are a number of ways to symbolize isarithmic maps; no matter the design method, the phenomenon being represented must be a quantitative continuous field.
• Contour maps, Isotherm maps and Isobar maps are the examples of isarithm maps.

Kandla port city is the nearest to tropic of cancer in India.

Important Buddhist sites in India.

National Highway 544, commonly referred to as NH 544, is a 340-kilometre-long National Highway in South India connecting Salem city in Tamil Nadu to the city of Kochi in Kerala. It is also called the Salem-Kochi Highway.

The Central Vigilance Commission has asked the Chief Vigilance Officer of the National Highway Authority of India to look into the complaint filed by Thrissur DCC general secretary Shaji J. Kodankandath about delay and corruption in the construction of Mannuthy-Wadakkanchery stretch of National Highway 544.

The sighting of new menhirs, perhaps the largest-ever recorded in Kerala, on the Pothamala hills in Udumbanchola taluk on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, has thrown light on the possible existence of a major prehistoric necropolis there.

• The menhirs were identified by a team of historians led by Rajeev Puliyoor, assistant professor at the Government Teachers’ Training College, Elanthoor.
• The menhirs were planted in a specific geometrical pattern on a cluster of hills, Mr Puliyoor said.
• He said the exquisite natural settings of the hills and dales at Pothamala made the yet-to-be explored megalithic site different from similar sites spotted in other parts of the State.
• Most of these structures were oriented in the east-west direction.
• The megalithic stone sentinels at Pothamala might hold the key to hitherto unexplored facets of a civilisation that dated back around 3,000 years, said Mr. Puliyoor.

A landlocked country is a country which has no connection to a sea or ocean.

• There are 17 landlocked countries in Europe: Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Kosovo, Czech Republic, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Vatican City.
• Liechtenstein is unique in Europe because it is doubly-landlocked meaning it is both landlocked and surrounded by countries which are also landlocked, a situation it only shares with Uzbekistan which is the second country in the world surrounded only by landlocked countries (Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan).

Shatrunjaya hills are considered as an ancient tirtha or pilgrimage especially by the Jain community. It is also known as Jain’s sacred hills.

• The name of the hill basically means “place of victory”. This beautiful range of mountains stands tall scaling height up to 164 feet above sea level.
• They are located in the city of Palitana in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India.
• Shetrunji River flows along the side of the hills.
• As Mecca is to Muslims and Jews’ to Jerusalem, Shatrunjaya is for Jain community of India.
• Every year cents of people scale this mountain to secure a place in heaven. Jainism comprises a small ratio of the Indian population with just about 4 million individuals.
• It is believed that the hills were first sanctified when the first Tirthankara namely Rishaba gave the sermon on the top of the hills.
• Shatrunjaya hills have almost 865 temples on the top.