Test: UPSC Prelims (Past Year Questions) Geography 2015-20 - 1 - UPSC MCQ

S1: Drip irrigation also avoids water spillage on the field which could have promoted weed growth or increase soil alkalinity due to waterlogging. So, fertigation also helps control weed growth and cut down alkalinity.

S2: Urea, potash, and highly water-soluble fertilizers are available for applying through fertigation. In fact, Urea is well suited for injection in a micro-irrigation system. It is highly soluble and dissolves in the non-ionic form so that it does not react with other substances in the water. But, Rock phosphate is not soluble and thus not suitable.

S3: By this method, fertilizer use efficiency is increased from 80 to 90 percent as they are delivered directly to roots via a drip. As water and fertilizer are supplied evenly to all the crops through fertigation there is a possibility for getting 25-50 percent higher yield.

S4: This is correct since overapplication and soil waterlogging is avoided.

Ocean mean temperature is a better indicator of monsoon rainfall than sea surface temperatures. This is because OMT measures the ocean’s thermal energy, and on the other hand, SST is influenced by surface winds, evaporation, thick clouds, etc. OMT is a more stable indicator.

S2: Dwarasamudra was in Karnataka, like a regal capital of the Hoysalas.

S3: This is straightforward.

S4: This is in Haryana. As of now, it is known to host a monastic cluster. Sthanesvara Mahadev Temple is also at Thanesar. It was here that the Pandavas prayed to Lord Shiva.

S1: About 29% are such, not 36%. Out of the 5723 assessment units assessed jointly by State Ground Water Departments and CGWB in the country, 4078 are safe (71%), 550 are semi-critical (10%), 226 are critical (4%) and 839 are overexploited (15%).

S2: Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) constituted under Section 3(3) of ‘The Environment (Protection) Act, (1986)’ regulates extraction of groundwater through guidelines which are updated regularly.

S3: At 39 million hectares (67% of its total irrigation), India has the world’s largest groundwater well-equipped irrigation system (China with 19 MHA is second, USA with 17 MHA is third).

S2: Correct. Extra-tropical cyclones may not always have an eye, whereas mostly mature storms have well-developed eyes. Rapidly intensifying storms may develop an extremely small, clear, and circular eye, sometimes referred to as a pinhole eye.

S3: It is warmer and not colder for a tropical cyclone. The warmer temperature is what drives the storm.

S1: Zero tillage is the process where the crop seed will be sown through drillers without prior land preparation and disturbing the soil where previous crop stubbles are present. Zero tillage not only reduces the cost of cultivation it also reduces the soil erosion, crop duration and irrigation requirement, and weed effect which is better than tillage. Zero tillage (ZT) also called No-Tillage or Nil Tillage.

S2: Direct Seeded Rice Zero-Tillage DSR is an alternative crop establishment method for rice where seeds are sown directly without raising them in a nursery and can be done in zero-tillage conditions.

S3: If crops are not burnt and the land is prepared through mechanical agitation, carbon sequestration remains possible.

Keeping in mind the likely to be faced situations in the future, the ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute (ICAR-SBI) has developed an integrated sugarcane cultivation model called Settling Transplanting Technology (STT). Components of the model are listed below:

• High yielding and better quality varieties

• Raising and transplanting of settlings derived from single bud setts/ bud chips

• Sub-surface drip irrigation and fertigation

• Wider row planting

• Intercropping

• Trash mulching

• Multiple ratooning

• Mechanization

S1: Transplanting sugarcane single-bud/ bud-chip settlings can save seed cane requirement up to 80 percent besides providing healthy plants and good field establishment. It is less expensive and labor-saving in comparison with conventional sett planting.

Other options are spaced transplanting (STP) and polybag / pro-tray nursery.

S2 and S3: Reverse is true.

S4: Yes, tissue culture or vegetative propagation (a subset of TC), can be used to germinate and grow these settlings which can be transplanted in the field later.

The countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, and Slovenia.

S5: The Manas river system as a whole in Bhutan constitutes a length of 3,200 kilometers (2,000 mi), the main stem of the river is the Manas or Gongri river, which originates in the West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh in India. Zemu is located in Sikkim.

S2: Between 4.5 and 2.5 billion years (the Archaean and Proterozoic time), the earliest atmosphere contained carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), water vapour (H2O), carbon monoxide (CO), a little nitrogen (N), and hydrogen (H).

S3: When living organisms originated, they did not affect the early atmosphere because they lacked the ability to do so. Early atmosphere of earth was modified by solar winds. This happened not only in case of the earth, but also in all the terrestrial planets, which were supposed to have lost their primordial atmosphere through the impact of solar winds.

The 3 principles of CA are:

(i) Minimum tillage and soil disturbance

(ii) Permanent soil cover with crop residues and live mulches

(iii) Crop rotation and intercropping

Kodaikanal Lake, also known as Kodai Lake is a manmade lake located in the Kodaikanal city in Dindigul district in Tamil Nadu, India. Kodaikanal Lake is in the Palni Hills. It is starfish-shaped but with four points, centrally located in the town of Kodaikanal and is surrounded by lush green hills of the Northwestern Palani Hills.

S2: Sulphur is one of three nutrients that are cycled between the soil, plant matter and the atmosphere. The sulphur cycle describes the movement of sulphur through the atmosphere, mineral and organic forms, and through living things. Although sulphur is primarily found in sedimentary rocks, it is particularly important to living things because it is a component of many proteins

S3: Salinization is a major problem associated with irrigation, because deposits of salts build up in the soil and can reach levels that are harmful to crops. Hence statement 3 is correct.

The Barren Island volcano, on a remote uninhabited island off the country’s eastern coast, had been lying dormant for more than 150 years until it saw a major eruption in 1991. Since then it has shown intermittent activity, including eruptions in 1995 and 2005.