Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Geography) – October 2, 2020

Tropical Evergreen forests are restricted to heavy rainfall areas of the Western Ghats and the island groups of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar, upper parts of Assam and Tamil Nadu coast.
•They are at their best in areas having more than 200 cm of rainfall with a short dry season.
•The trees reach great heights up to 60 metres or even above. Since the region is warm and wet throughout the year, it has luxuriant vegetation of all kinds — trees, shrubs and creepers giving it a multilayered structure.
•There is no definite time for trees to shed their leaves. As such, these forests appear green all the year-round.

Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur belt lies in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
•Very high grade hematites are found in the famous Bailadila range of hills in the Bastar district of Chattisgarh.
•The range of hills comprises of 14 deposits of super high grade hematite iron ore.
•It has the best physical properties needed for steel making.
•Iron ore from these mines is exported to Japan and South Korea via Vishakhapatnam port.

The major factors of soil formation are the nature of the parent rock and climatic factors. Other factors are the topography, role of organic material and time taken for the composition of soil formation. All these differ from place to place.

India’s climate is controlled by a number of factors which can be broadly divided into two groups — factors related to location and relief, and factors related to air pressure and winds.
•With a long coastline, large coastal areas have an equable climate.
•Areas in the interior of India are far away from the moderating influence of the sea. Such areas have extremes of climate.
•That is why the people of Mumbai and the Konkan coast have hardly any idea of extremes of temperature and the seasonal rhythm of weather.
•On the other hand, the seasonal contrasts in weather at places in the interior of the country such as Delhi, Kanpur and Amritsar affect the entire sphere of life.

Black soils are black in colour and are also known as regur soils.
•Black soil is ideal for growing cotton and is also known as black cotton soil.
•It is believed that climatic conditions along with the parent rock material are the important factors for the formation of black soil.
•This type of soil is typical of the Deccan trap (Basalt) region spread over northwest Deccan plateau and is made up of lava flows.
•They cover the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and extend in the south east direction along the Godavari and the Krishna valleys.
•The black soils are made up of extremely fine i.e. clayey material. They are well-known for their capacity to hold moisture.
•In addition, they are rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime. These soils are generally poor in phosphoric contents.
•They develop deep cracks during hot weather, which helps in the proper aeration of the soil.
•These soils are sticky when wet and difficult to work on unless tilled immediately after the first shower or during the pre-monsoon period.

The ‘slash and burn’ agriculture is known as ‘Milpa’ in Mexico and Central America, ‘Conuco’ in Venezuela, ‘Roca’ in Brazil, ‘Masole’ in Central Africa, ‘Ladang’ in Indonesia, ‘Ray’ in Vietnam.
In India, this primitive form of cultivation is called ‘Bewar’ or ‘Dahiya’ in Madhya Pradesh, ‘Podu’ or ‘Penda’ in Andhra Pradesh, ‘Pama Dabi’ or ‘Koman’ or Bringa’ in Odisha, ‘Kumari’ in Western Ghats, ‘Valre’ or ‘Waltre’ in South-eastern Rajasthan, ‘Khil’ in the Himalayan belt, ‘Kuruwa’ in Jharkhand, and ‘Jhumming’ in the North-eastern region.

: Dry deciduous forest covers vast areas of the country, where rainfall ranges between 70 -100 cm.
•On the wetter margins, it has a transition to the moist deciduous, while on the drier margins to thorn forests.
•These forests are found in rainier areas of the Peninsula and the plains of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
•In the higher rainfall regions of the Peninsular plateau and the northern Indian plain, these forests have a parkland landscape with open stretches in which teak and other trees interspersed with patches of grass are common.
•As the dry season begins, the trees shed their leaves completely and the forest appears like vast grassland with naked trees all around.
•Tendu, palas, amaltas, bel, khair, axlewood, etc. are the common trees of these forests.
•In the western and southern part of Rajasthan, vegetation cover is very scanty due to low rainfall and overgrazing.

Anamudi is a mountain located in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the highest peak in the Western Ghats and South India, at an elevation of 2,695 metres.
•Its parental hills are Anaimalai hills.
•Doda beta is the highest peak of nilgiri hills while Guru Shikhar is the highest peak of Aravali Range located in Rajasthan.

Anamudi is a mountain located in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the highest peak in the Western Ghats and South India, at an elevation of 2,695 metres.
•Its parental hills are Anaimalai hills.
•Doda beta is the highest peak of nilgiri hills while Guru Shikhar is the highest peak of Aravali Range located in Rajasthan.