Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Geography) – September 25, 2020

Brahmaputra River: Yarlung Tsangpo or Brahmaputra, the only male river that literally translates as ‘Son of Brahma’, is revered by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.

• Buddhists believe that long ago the Chang Thang Plateau was a great lake.
• Yarlung Tsangpo, known as the ‘Cradle of Tibetan Civilisation’ rises in the Chemayungdung Glacier in the Kailash Range in Tibet.
• It descends rapidly from Tibet, forming a grand canyon, flowing 1,000 km first Eastward, then takes a horse shoe bend westward near Namche Barwa in Sadiya in the State of Arunachal Pradesh in the Pemakop region.
• Here the river is christened as Siang.
• Namche Barwa (7,782m.) and Giyala Peri (7,294m.) are two distinct peaks that mark the Eastern end of the Himalaya where Brahmaputra takes this unapproachable bend.

The rich rainforests of this basin is home to many species of flora and fauna and is dotted with several settlements. It hosts National Parks like the Kaziranga and Manas.

The Malaprabha River is a tributary of the Krishna River. The temples of Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami are on the banks of the Malaprabha.

Nanded is a city in Maharashtra state, India. Nanded is a major destination for Sikh pilgrims, because the 10th Sikh Guru (Guru Gobind Singh) made Nanded his permanent abode and passed his guruship to the Guru Granth Sahib before his death in 1708.

• Nanded is located on the banks of Godavari River in central west India.

The Pamba River is the third longest river in the South Indian state of Kerala after Periyar and Bharathappuzha and the longest river in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore.

• Sabarimala temple dedicated to Lord Ayyappa is located on the banks of the river Pamba.

Etna is about 3,326 metres high and is the highest peak in Italy, South of the Alps.

• It is two-and-a-half times bigger than Vesuvius, which destroyed Pompeii.
• Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes and is in an almost constant state of activity.
• The fertile volcanic soil supports agriculture, vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes and the broad plains of Catania to the South.

Geographical Survey of India (GSI) provided estimates for the amount of gold that can be extracted from a site in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.

• The gold resource is located near a village called Mahuli, around 70 km from Sonbhadra district, the land is mainly forest area and inhabited mostly by tribal and members of backward classes.
• The site is part of the Mahakoshal region that includes parts of UP, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The Rushikulya River is one of the major rivers in the state of Odisha and covers entire catchment area in the districts of Kandhamal and Ganjam of Odisha.

• The Rushikulya originates at an elevation of about 1000 metres from Daringbadi hills of the Eastern Ghats range.
• The place from where the river originates, Daringbadi is called the ‘ Kashmir of Odisha ‘. The river meets the Bay of Bengal at Puruna Bandha in Ganjam.
• Its tributaries are the Baghua, the Dhanei, Badanadi etc. It has no delta as such at its mouth.
• Gahirmatha marine sanctuary and Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam district are main Olive Ridley Nesting sites in Odisha.

Reunion Island is a remote Indian Ocean island located between Madagascar and Mauritius. It is an overseas region of France.

• The island‘s capital is Saint-Denis which is home to one-fifth of the population.
• The Island is home to one of the world‘s most active volcanoes, the Piton de la Fournaise which is also a World Heritage site.
• India and France have conducted joint patrols from the Reunion Island for the first time.

The Krishna is an east-flowing river that originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra.

• It is flowing through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh before entering into the Bay of Bengal.
• A dispute over the sharing of Krishna waters has been ongoing for many decades.
• In 1969, the ‘Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal’ (KWDT) was set up under the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, 1956.

Nallamala forest is spread across five districts in Andhra Pradesh and two erstwhile districts in Telangana – Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda.

• The forest may soon face what is being dubbed as an environmental catastrophe by activists.
• The Forest Advisory Committee under the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change recently recommended an ‘in-principle’ approval to the Department of Atomic Energy for survey and exploration of uranium over 83 square kilometres in as many as four blocks.
• The exploration in the region has particularly triggered concerns about the Chenchus, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Telangana, who already are witnessing a decline in their population.
• According to the 2011 Census, their population is 16,912. Most of them reside deep in the Nallamala forest.

The insolation received by the earth is in short wave’s forms and heats up its surface.

• The earth after being heated itself becomes a radiating body and it radiates energy to the atmosphere in long wave form.
• This energy heats up the atmosphere from below. This process is known as terrestrial radiation.
• The long wave radiation is absorbed by the atmospheric gases particularly by carbon dioxide and the other green house gases. Thus, the atmosphere is indirectly heated by the earth’s radiation.
• The atmosphere in turn radiates and transmits heat to the space.
• Finally the amount of heat received from the sun is returned to space, thereby maintaining constant temperature at the earth’s surface and in the atmosphere.