Model Practice Test -1 (World Geography) - UPSC MCQ

Limestone should not be porous because the water may pass through the rock mass and thus whole rock mass will become weak and will collapse. On the other hand, if limestones are non-porous and thickly bedded, water will infiltrate through joints resulting into effective corrosion of the limestone.

1. Sodium Chloride - 77.8%
2. Magnesium Chloride - 10.9%
3. Magnesium Sulphate - 4.7%
4. Calcium Sulphate - 3.6%

Options 3 and 4 are wrong. Corals polyps require sediment-free water but fresh water is also injurious for the growth of coral polyps. Corals always grow in open seas and oceans but they die in lagoons and small enclosed seas because of lack of supply of food.

The correct statement would be that this zone is characterized by anticyclonic conditions due to decent of air currents.

• Number Pyramids include only the number of species and not their sizes
• Inverted Pyramids have one single primary producer which can support numerous primary consumers and secondary consumers.
• Energy Pyramids suggests a pyramid of energy to have an idea of ecological productivity.
• Biomass Pyramids includes the biomass of each tropic level instead of number of species and it does not give any idea of the rate of ecological / ecosystem production.

Answer:
The country that is not part of Borneo Island is Brunei.
Explanation:
The Borneo Island is the third-largest island in the world and is located in Southeast Asia. It is shared by three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. The Philippines, on the other hand, is not part of Borneo Island.
Here is a breakdown of the countries that are and are not part of Borneo Island:
Countries that are part of Borneo Island:
- Indonesia: The largest portion of Borneo Island is occupied by Indonesia. It is home to the provinces of East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan.
- Malaysia: The states of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia are located on the northern part of Borneo Island.
- Brunei: Brunei is a small sovereign state located on the northern coast of Borneo Island.
Country that is not part of Borneo Island:
- Philippines: The Philippines is not part of Borneo Island. It is a separate archipelago located northeast of Borneo.
In conclusion, the country that is not part of Borneo Island is Brunei.

• Bromeliads are special parasitic plants that store water in their leaves. Animals like frogs use these pockets of water for laying their eggs.
• Piranha Fish is flesh eating fish found in Amazon river
• Manioc (Cassava) is the staple food of the Amazon basin region and it grows under the ground just like potato.
• Maloca are the large apartment like houses with steep slanting roof ,where inhabitants of Amazon basin live.

• Young Fold Mountains -- They have rugged relief and high conical peaks . Eg. Alps.
• Old Fold Mountains -- They have rounded features and low elevation . Eg. Appalachians and Urals .
• Block Mountain -- Fault-block Mountains have a steep front side and a sloping back side. Eg. the Sierra Nevada mountains in North America. the Harz Mountains in Germany, Vosges in Europe
• Volcanic Mountains -- Volcanic Mountains are formed when molten rock (magma) deep within the earth, erupts, and piles upon the surface. Eg. Mauna Kea Often fault- block mountains have a steep front side and a sloping back side. Examples of fault- block mountains include: the Sierra Nevada mountains in North America. the Harz Mountains in Germany

• The Equatorial Counter Current is an eastward moving, wind-driven flowing 10-15m deep current found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. More often called the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) , this current flows west-to-east at about 3-10°N in the Atlantic and Pacific basins, between the North Equatorial Current (NEC) and the South Equatorial Current (SEC). The NECC is not to be confused with the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) that flows eastward at the equator but at some depth. In the Indian Ocean, circulation is dominated by the impact of the reversing Asian monsoon winds. As such, the current tends to reverse hemispheres seasonally in that basin. The NECC has a pronounced seasonal cycle in the Atlantic and Pacific, reaching maximum strength in late boreal summer and fall and minimum strength in late boreal winter and spring. Furthermore, the NECC in the Atlantic disappears in late winter and early spring.
• The NECC is an interesting case because while it results from wind-driven circulation, it transports water against the mean westward wind stress in the tropics. This apparent paradox is concisely explained by Sverdrup theory, which shows that the east-west transport is governed by the north-south change in the curl of the wind stress.

The option 2 is wrong. Both statements are discussed below:

• Generally Absolute humidity does not change with increase or decrease of temperature , if no additional vapour is added through additional evaporation, but it changes with contraction (after decent) or expansion (on ascent) of air.
• Specific humidity is seldom affected by changes in air pressure or air temperature because it is measured in units of weight (grams). It is directly proportional to vapour pressure, which is the partial pressure exerted by water vapour in the air and is independent of other gases and is inversely proportional to air pressure.

All statements are correct except statement 1.
There should be continuous supply of abundant warm and moist air for formation of tropical cyclones.

• Generally Absolute humidity does not change with increase or decrease of temperature , if no additional vapour is added through additional evaporation, but it changes with contraction (after decent) or expansion (on ascent) of air.
• Specific humidity is seldom affected by changes in air pressure or air temperature because it is measured in units of weight (grams). It is directly proportional to vapour pressure, which is the partial pressure exerted by water vapour in the air and is independent of other gases and is inversely proportional to air pressure.

A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate. The lands around the Mediterranean Sea form the largest area where this climate type is found, but it also is found in most of California in parts of Western and South Australia, in southwestern South Africa, sections of Central Asia, and in central Chile.

(i) Love Waves - It's the fastest surface wave and moves the ground from side-to-side . Confined to the surface of the crust, Love waves produce entirely horizontal motion. Its motion is essentially that of S waves that have no vertical displacement; it moves the ground from side to side in a horizontal plane but at right angles to the direction of propagation. The horizontal shaking of Love waves is particularly damaging to the foundations of structures.
(ii) Rayleigh wave - A Rayleigh wave rolls along the ground just like a wave rolls across a lake or an ocean. Because it rolls, it moves the ground up and down, and side-to-side in the same direction that the wave is moving. Like rolling ocean waves, Rayleigh waves move both vertically and horizontally in a vertical plane pointed in the direction in which the waves are travelling. Most of the shaking felt from an earthquake is due to the Rayleigh wave, which can be much larger than the other waves.

Great Lakes that lie entirely in the USA:

• Lake Michigan: Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that lies entirely within the United States. It is located in the northern part of the country, bordered by the states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Lake Michigan is the second-largest Great Lake by volume and the third-largest by surface area.

Great Lakes that are partially in the USA:

• Lake Huron: Lake Huron is shared between the United States and Canada. It is the second-largest Great Lake by surface area and is bordered by the state of Michigan and the province of Ontario.


• Lake Erie: Lake Erie is also shared between the United States and Canada. It is the fourth-largest Great Lake by surface area and is bordered by the states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, as well as the province of Ontario.


• Lake Ontario: Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes and is also shared between the United States and Canada. It is bordered by the state of New York and the province of Ontario.

Great Lakes that do not lie in the USA:

• Lake Eyre: Lake Eyre is not a Great Lake and is not located in the United States. It is a large salt lake in Australia.

Therefore, the only Great Lake that lies entirely within the United States is Lake Michigan.

• Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about 100 kilometres (62 mi) off the east coast of England at North Sea 
• Grand Bank of Newfoundland are a group of underwater plateaus southeast of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf
• Georges Bank is a large elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod, Massachusetts (United States), and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia (Canada). It separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean.
• Agulhas Bank is a broad, shallow part of the southern African continental shelf which extends up to 250 km (160 mi) south of Cape Agulhas before falling steeply to the abyssal plain.

Mafic or basaltic lavas are typified by their high ferromagnesian content, and generally erupt at temperatures in excess of 950 °C (1,740 °F). Basaltic magma is high in iron and magnesium, and has relatively lower aluminium and silica, which taken together reduces the degree of polymerization within the melt. Owing to the higher temperatures, viscosities can be relatively low, although still thousands of times higher than water. The low degree of polymerization and high temperature favors chemical diffusion, so it is common to see large, well-formed phenocrysts within mafic lavas. Basalt lavas tend to produce low-profile shield volcanoes or "flood basalt fields", because the fluidal lava flows for long distances from the vent. The thickness of a basalt lava, particularly on a low slope, may be much greater than the thickness of the moving lava flow at any one time, because basalt lavas may "inflate" by supply of lava beneath a solidified crust

• Raising sea surface temperatures provide the favourable low pressure conditions and moisture required for formation of tropical cyclones. Erosional activities are enhanced by the weathering which inturn increases due to intense insolation
• Coral reefs are found in oceanic waters where sea surface temperatures are around 23 - 29 degree celcius. The rise in temperature is transported towards polar regions and corals have been found to have seen in temperate areas Rise in temperature results in increased evaporation leading to rise in salinity levels.

A radiation belt is a layer of energetic charged particles that is held in place around a magnetized planet, such as the Earth, by the planet's magnetic field. The Earth has two such belts and sometimes others may be temporarily created. The discovery of the belts is credited to James Van Allen and as a result the Earth's belts are known as the Van Allen belts. The main belts extend from an altitude of about 1,000 to 60,000 kilometers above the surface in which region radiation levels vary. Most of the particles that form the belts are thought to come from solar wind and other particles by cosmic rays. The belts are located in the inner region of the Earth's magnetosphere. The belts contain energetic electrons that form the outer belt and a combination of protons and electrons that form the inner belt. Other nuclei, such as alpha particles, are less prevalent. The belts endanger satellites, which must protect their sensitive components with adequate shielding if they spend significant time in the radiation belts

The dust particles are spread horizontally which forms an obstruction layer in the early mornings. After sufficient insolation is received these dust particles are spread, transported to upper layers clearing the lower layers of atmosphere

Subtropical latitudes see trade winds in summer and westerlies in winter due to shift of pressure belts. Pressure Belts shift due to movement of Sun and variance in insolation, The subtropical latitudes has the Mediterranean type climate where there is hot and dry summers and mild and rainy winters.