Geography Quiz: Revision | 4 July, 2021

Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, is an island off the coast of Odisha, India, approximately 150 kilometers (93 mi) from the state capital Bhubaneshwar.

• The Integrated Test Range missile testing facility is located on the island. The island was originally named after English commandant Lieutenant Wheeler.
• On 4 September 2015, the island was renamed to honour the late Indian president – Abdul kalam.

• Abdul Kalam Island is located in the Bay of Bengal approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) off the eastern coast of India and about 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of Chandipur in Balasore district, Odisha.
• The island is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) in length and 390 acres (1.6 km2) in area.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/shaurya-successfully-test-fired/article32759394.ece

Movement in search of pastures is undertaken either over vast horizontal distances or vertically from one elevation to another in the mountainous regions.

• The process of migration from plain areas to pastures on mountains during summers and again from mountain pastures to plain areas during winters is known as transhumance.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamentals of Human Geography

Digboi Refinery is India’s oldest refinery. It was established in 1901. It gets crude oil from Moran and Naharkatiya fields.

• Barauni petrochemicals plant is in the country the second oil refinery in the public sector and forms an important part of the Indian petrochemical industry.
• It belongs to the Indian oil corporation limited (IOCL). It was built in partnership with Romania and USSR.
• The plant of Barauni petrochemicals is located from Patna at a distance of 125 kilometers. In 1964 it was commissioned and had a 1 mmtpa refining capacity.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamentals of Human Geography

Iron & Steel Industry: The industry is one of the most complex and capital-intensive industries and is concentrated in the advanced countries of North America, Europe and Asia.

• Pittsburg area is now losing ground. It has now become the “rust bowl” of U.S.A.
• In Europe, U.K., Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Russia are the leading producers.

• The important steel centers are Scun Thorpe, Port Talbot, Birmingham and Sheffield in the U.K.;
• Duisburg, Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Essen in Germany; Le Creuzot and St. Ettienne in France;
• And Moscow, St. Petersburgh, Lipetsk, Tula, in Russia and Krivoi Rog, and Donetsk in Ukraine.

Source: NCERT – XII Fundamentals of Human Geography

8 Degree Channel (8 degrees north latitude) separates islands of Minicoy and Maldives.

Source: NCERT XI – India Physical Environment

Source: Oriental Blackswan 

Source: Maps of India

The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), also known as the Indian Niño, is an irregular oscillation of sea-surface temperatures in which the western Indian Ocean becomes alternately warmer (positive phase) and then colder (negative phase) than the eastern part of the ocean.

• The IOD involves a periodic oscillation of sea-surface temperatures (SST), between “positive”, “neutral” and “negative” phases.
• The IOD also affects the strength of monsoons over the Indian subcontinent.
• The IOD is one aspect of the general cycle of global climate, interacting with similar phenomena like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific Ocean.

Source: G C Leong and The Hindu

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 are home to many species of flora and fauna and is dotted with several settlements. It hosts National Parks like the Kaziranga and Manas. 

Source: NCERT – XI India Physical Environment and The Hindu 

 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. 

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/odisha-villagers-create-river-mouth/article32884061.ece