Geography (Part-2) (CDS-Solved Paper)

1. → Aravalli 2. → Vindhya 3. → Satpura 4. → Mahadeo

The Deccan Plateau gradually rises from North (100 m) to South (more than 1000 m). The Malwa Plateau dominates the Vindhyan scraps, forming the Northern flank of the Plateau (and not eastern).

The Western Satpuras separate the Narmada and Tapi rivers. The Chota Nagpur Plateau is composed of Archean granite and gneiss rocks. Hence, statements 1,3, 4 are correct. Statement (2) is in correct. Hence, option (b) is correct option.

The Tso-Kar Lake also known as ‘White Lake’ is one of the three high altitude salt water lakes in Ladakh. It is known as 'White Lake' because the white salt of the water deposits all over the lake shores.

Tsomgo Lake, also known as ‘Changu Lake’ is a glacial lake in Sikkim. This is one of the few and beautiful high altitude lakes in India. The lake becomes doubly attractive with the reflections of the surrounding hills on the water.

Tso Moriri or Lake Moriri or Mountain Lake, is a lake in the Ladakhi part of the Changthang Plateau in Jammu and Kashmir in Northern India. The lake and surrounding area are protected as the Tso Moriri Wetland Conservation Reserve. The lake is at an altitude of 4,522 m. It is the largest of the high altitude lakes entirely within India and entirely within Ladakh in this Trans-Himalayan biogeographic region.

Pangong Tso is one of the largest brackish lakes in Asia. It is one of the charismatic lakes situated on the Changtang plateau in Eastern Ladakh region. Pangong Lake is also known by the name of ‘Hollow Lake’ and appears as a clear symbol of nature craftsmanship.

Latitude are parallels, otherwise known as latitude lines, are lines that run across the Earth from East to West at a constant flow. Across latitude the intensity and the angle of sunlight varies that results in the variation of rainfall, temperature and vegetation.

The difference between the longest and the shortest day increases with latitude. At the equator, the days and the nights are almost equal and as we move closer to the poles, the length of day decreases with latitude.

Indira Point which is also the Southern-most point of India is located South of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and is at a latitude of 6° 45’N latitude. Hence, all the given statements are correct.

Bhimtal is an example of tectonic lake. Tectonic uplift may interfere with natural land-drainage patterns in such a way as to produce lake basins.

Ashtamudi Lake also called Ashtamudi Kayal in the Kollam District of the Indian state of Kerala, is the most visited backwater and lake in the state. The lake is also called the gateway to the backwaters of Kerala and is well known for its houseboat and backwater resorts. It is a type of lagoon where there has been incursion of seawater in the mainland.

The Gohna Lake dam-burst is a flood in Garhwal Region of India in 1894 caused by a landslide induced temporary lake. Landside caused huge mass of Earth to shift down creating this lake.

Lonar Lake is a saline soda lake located at Lonar in Buldhana district, Maharashtra, India. It was created by a meteor impact during the Pleistocene Epoch and it is the only known hyper velocity impact crater in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth. It is thereby named as Crater lake.
Hence, option (a) is correct.

Since the Himalayan rivers are perennial rivers they have water in them all through the year. They are fed by melting glaciers of the lofty glaciers of the Himalayas and the rains that are caused by South-West Monsoon system.

Therefore, they are not dry in winter season but have river flow in them. The rivers of the peninsular region like the Krishna, Godavari and the Kaveri are very old and senile rivers.

They have reached an advanced stage in their development and have no downcutting power in them. Hence, they are said to be in their stage of maturity.

The Himalayan rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra depicts all three cycles of erosion namely Youth, Mature and old. In the upper reaches of the river there is youth stage where are rivers follow extreme downcutting and lateral corrosion.

In the mature phase, there is widening of the valleys and in the old phase there is deposition of silt. Hence, statements 2 and 3 are correct.

Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur are North-Eastern states. Capital of these states are as follow
(i) Tripura - Agartala
(ii) Mizoram -Aizawl
(iii) Nagaland - Kohima
(iii) Manipur - Imphal
Hence, option (d) is correct

Dholavira, known locally as Kotada (which means large fort) is located in the North-West corner of the island of Kadir, one of the islands in the Great Rann of Kutch. Dholavira has one of the world’s earliest water conservation systems ever excavated and was one of the prominent Harappan sites.

Rakhigarhi is the only place which has the remains of early, mature and late phase of Indus Valley Civilisation at the same location. It is one of the few Harappan sites which has an unbroken history of settlement. In the year 2014, it was the largest discovered Harappan site till date which is located in Hisar district of Haryana.

Bhirrana which is considered the oldest discovered Indus Valley Civilization site, with some of the oldest mounds dating back to 7500 BCE is located in Haryana.

Bhogavo is a river in Gujarat in the region of Saurashtra. It is located in the ancient town of Lothal which was a dockyard at the time of Indus Valley Civilisation.

Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in North-East India, and is famous for the phumdis (heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil, and organic matter at various stages of decomposition) floating over it.

Keibul Lamjao is the only floating national park in the world. It is located near Moirang in Manipur State, India.

Gross Cropped Area (GCA) is the total area sown once as well as more than once in a particular year. When the crop is sown on a piece of land for twice, the area is counted twice in GCA.

On the other hand, Net Sown Area is the area sown with crops but is counted only once. Cropping intensity refers to raising of a number of crops from the same field during one agriculture year.

It can be expressed as, Cropping intensity = (Gross cropped area÷Net sown area) × 100.