Physical geography miscellaneous
- What percentage of world’s freshwater is stored as glacial ice ?
-
View Hint View Answer Discuss in Forum
About 70% of the world’s fresh water is stored as glacial ice. Only 3% water of the earth is fresh, rest 97% salted. Of that 3%, over 2% is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers. Means less than 1% fresh water is found in lakes, rivers and underground.
Correct Option: C
About 70% of the world’s fresh water is stored as glacial ice. Only 3% water of the earth is fresh, rest 97% salted. Of that 3%, over 2% is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers. Means less than 1% fresh water is found in lakes, rivers and underground.
- How much of the Earth's land surface is desert ?
-
View Hint View Answer Discuss in Forum
Deserts take up about one third (33%) of the Earth’s land surface. Hot deserts usually have a large diurnal and seasonal temperature range, with high daytime temperatures, and low nighttime temperatures (due to extremely low humidity). In hot deserts the temperature in the daytime can reach 45 °C/113 °F or higher in the summer, and dip to 0 °C/32 °F or lower at nighttime in the winter.
Correct Option: C
Deserts take up about one third (33%) of the Earth’s land surface. Hot deserts usually have a large diurnal and seasonal temperature range, with high daytime temperatures, and low nighttime temperatures (due to extremely low humidity). In hot deserts the temperature in the daytime can reach 45 °C/113 °F or higher in the summer, and dip to 0 °C/32 °F or lower at nighttime in the winter.
- Which one of the following rivers forms an estuary ?
-
View Hint View Answer Discuss in Forum
Tapti river empties into the Gulf of Cambay of the Arabian Sea, forming an estuary. It is fed by monsoon rains. The mean flow rate is about 600 cu m per sec, with the maximum in the summer. The Tapti is navigable by small craft for a distance of 50 km from the mouth. In some places it is used for irrigation. The seaport of Surat is located in the estuary.
Correct Option: B
Tapti river empties into the Gulf of Cambay of the Arabian Sea, forming an estuary. It is fed by monsoon rains. The mean flow rate is about 600 cu m per sec, with the maximum in the summer. The Tapti is navigable by small craft for a distance of 50 km from the mouth. In some places it is used for irrigation. The seaport of Surat is located in the estuary.
- The ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’ is associated with
-
View Hint View Answer Discuss in Forum
The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean. In a 40,000 km horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes. It is sometimes called the circum-Pacific belt or the circum-Pacific seismic belt. About 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 81% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.
Correct Option: C
The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean. In a 40,000 km horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes. It is sometimes called the circum-Pacific belt or the circum-Pacific seismic belt. About 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 81% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.
- The acceleration due to gravity at the equator
-
View Hint View Answer Discuss in Forum
The gravity of Earth, denoted g, refers to the acceleration that the Earth imparts to objects on or near its surface. At latitudes nearer the Equator, the inertia produced by Earth’s rotation is stronger than at polar latitudes. This counteracts the Earth’s gravity to a small degree – up to a maximum of 0.3% at the Equator – reducing the downward acceleration of falling objects. The second major reason for the difference in gravity at different latitudes is that the Earth’s equatorial bulge (itself also caused by inertia) causes objects at the Equator to be farther from the planet’s centre than objects at the poles. Because the force due to gravitational attraction between two bodies (the Earth and the object being weighed) varies inversely with the square of the distance between them, an object at the Equator experiences a weaker gravitational pull than an object at the poles.
Correct Option: A
The gravity of Earth, denoted g, refers to the acceleration that the Earth imparts to objects on or near its surface. At latitudes nearer the Equator, the inertia produced by Earth’s rotation is stronger than at polar latitudes. This counteracts the Earth’s gravity to a small degree – up to a maximum of 0.3% at the Equator – reducing the downward acceleration of falling objects. The second major reason for the difference in gravity at different latitudes is that the Earth’s equatorial bulge (itself also caused by inertia) causes objects at the Equator to be farther from the planet’s centre than objects at the poles. Because the force due to gravitational attraction between two bodies (the Earth and the object being weighed) varies inversely with the square of the distance between them, an object at the Equator experiences a weaker gravitational pull than an object at the poles.