Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Geography) | November 6,2020

India is the seventh largest country in the world.
•It has land boundaries of 15,200 km and 6100 km long coast line. Gujarat has the longest coastline in comparison to other coastal states followed by Andhra Pradesh.
•India’s landmass covers 3.28 million square kilometer of area.
•This accounts for nearly 2.42 percent of the total geographical area of the world. It is surrounded by ocean.
•The shape of India is not totally triangular but quadrangular. It measures 2,933 km from east to west and 3,214 km from north to south.
Source: Periyar Geography

Western Ghats or Sahyadris lie on the Western edge of the Deccan plateau.
•It runs parallel to the western coast for about 1600 km. The average elevation of the Western Ghats is 1000 metres.
•The famous peaks in this area are Doda Betta, Anaimudi amd Makurti. The highest peak in this region is Anaimudi (2695m.).
•Western ghats are continuous and can be crossed through passes like Pal Ghat, Thal Ghot and Bhor Ghat.
•The rivers like Godavari, Bhima and Krishna flow eastward while the river Tapti flows westward.
•The streams form rapids & water falls before entering the Arabian Sea. The famous waterfalls are Jog falls on Sharavati, Shiva Samudram falls on Kaveri etc.
Source: NCERT

Peninsular plateau is a triangular shaped table land. It is part of ancient land mass called Gondwana land.
•It covers an area of nearly 5 lakh sq.km.
•It is spread over the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
•River Narmada divides the peninsular plateau into two parts: The central highlands and Deccan Plateau.
•The central Highlands: It extends from Narmada River and the northern plains. Aravallis is the important mountain which extends from Gujrat through Rajasthan to Delhi.
•The Deccan plateau is separated by a fault (A fracture in the rock along which rocks have been relatively replaced), from Chota Nagpur plateau.
•The black soil area in the Deccan plateau is known as Deccan trap. It is formed due to volcanic eruptions.
Source: NCERT

The Indian Desert lies towards the western margin of Aravali Hills.
•It is also called Thar Desert. It is the ninth largest desert in the world.
•It spreads over the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. This region has semi-arid and arid weather conditions. It receives less than 150 mm of rainfall per year.
•The vegetation cover is low with thorny bushes. Luni is the main river in this area.
•All other streams appear only at the time of rainfall otherwise they disappear into the sand.
Source: NCERT

Formation period of dharwar rock system ranges from 4 billion years ago to – 1 billion years ago.
•Highly metamorphosed sedimentary rock-system. [Formed due to metamorphosis of sediments of Archaean gneisses and schists].
•They are the oldest metamorphosed rocks.
•Found in abundance in the Dharwar district of Karnataka.
•Economically the most important rocks because they possess valuable minerals like high grade iron-ore, manganese, copper, lead, gold, etc.
Source: NCERT

Rohtang Pass (elevation 3,978 m) is located in the state of Himachal Pradesh, It is present on the Pir Panjal Range of Himalayas.
•It connects the Kullu Valley with Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh.
•The Ravi River rises west of the Rohtang pass in the Kullu hills of Himachal Pradesh.
•The world‘s longest tunnel (8.8km) above 10,000 feet -Rohtang Tunnel (Atal Tunnel) is under construction to connect villages in Lahaul-Spiti (Himachal Pradesh) to the rest of the country even during winters.
Source: NCERT and Indian Express

From the Tibetan Plateau the river runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Source: The Hindu

BRO has constructed and opened a 484- metre long permanent bridge on the river Ravi to connect the Kasowal enclave of Punjab along the Pakistan border to the rest of the country.
•Kasowal enclave is around 35 square km, It was connected through a pontoon bridge of limited load capacity.
•The enclave was formed because it has the Ravi behind it and the International Border ahead of it.
•There are similar enclaves of Pakistani territory too, which lie ahead of Ravi and face Indian Territory.
•These Pakistani enclaves Dera Baba Nanak enclave and Jassar enclave were occupied by the Indian Army in the 1965 and 1971 wars.
Source: Indian Express

: In the course of a year, the earth’s revolution round the sun with its axis inclined at 66 ½ to the plane of the ecliptic changes the apparent altitude of the midday sun.
•The sun is vertically overhead at the equator on two days each year. These are usually 21st march and 21st September.
•After the March equinox the sun appears at move north and is vertically overhead at the tropic of cancer on about 21st June.
•By about 22nd December, the sun will be overhead at the tropic of Capricorn.
•The tropics thus mark the limits of the overhead sun, for beyond these, the sun is never overhead at any time of the year.
Source: NCERT

: Igneous rocks may be subdivided on the basis of mineral composition.
•When they contain a high proportion of silica they are said to be acid.
•Acid igneous rocks, such as granite, are less dense and are lighter in colour than basic rocks.
These contain a greater proportion of basic oxides, e.g. of iron, aluminum or magnesium, and are thus denser and darker in colour.
Source: NCERT