[DAY 55] 60 DAY RAPID RE-VISION (RaRe) SERIES for UPSC Prelims 2022 – GEOGRAPHY, CURRENT AFFAIRS & CSAT; Test Series, Videos & Notes!

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Katabatic wind, also called downslope wind, or gravity wind, are winds that blows down a slope because of gravity. It occurs at night, when the highlands radiate heat and are cooled.

The air in contact with these highlands is thus also cooled, and it becomes denser than the air at the same elevation but away from the slope, it therefore begins to flow downhill.

This process is most pronounced in calm air because winds mix the air and prevent cold pockets from forming.

When a katabatic wind is warmed by compression during its descent into denser air, it is called a foehn. A large-scale katabatic wind that descends too rapidly to warm up is called a fall wind.

In areas where fall winds occur, homes and orchards are situated on hillslopes above the lowlands where the cold air accumulates.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Tundra Biome:

Distribution: Found in regions north of the Arctic Circle and south of Antarctic Circle. The ice-caps are confined to highlands and high latitude regions of Greenland and Antarctica. In the southern hemisphere, Antarctica is the greatest single stretch of ice-cap (10,000 feet thick).

The lowlands – coastal strip of Greenland, the barren grounds of northern Canada and Alaska and the Arctic seaboard of Eurasia, have tundra climate.

Temperature: The tundra climate is characterized by a very low mean annual temperature. In mid-winter temperatures are as low as -40 to -50 °C. Summers are relatively warmer. Normally not more than four months have temperatures above freezing-point.

Within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, there are weeks of continuous darkness (Rotation and Revolution). The ground remains solidly frozen and is inaccessible to plants. Frost occurs at any time and blizzards, reaching a velocity of 130 miles an hour are not infrequent.

Precipitation: Precipitation is mainly in the form of snow and sleet. Convectional rainfall is generally absent.

Natural Vegetation:  There are no trees in the tundra. Lowest form of vegetation like mosses, lichens etc. are found here and there. Climatic conditions along the coastal lowlands are a little favorable.

Coastal lowlands support hardy grasses and the reindeer moss which provide the only pasturage for reindeers. In the brief summer, berry-bearing bushes and Arctic flowers bloom.

In the summer, birds migrate north to prey on the numerous insects which emerge when the snow thaws. Mammals like the wolves, foxes, musk-ox, Arctic hare and lemmings also live in tundra regions.

Note: The taiga has a dense forest of conifers such as pine and spruce, while trees are entirely absent in the tundra.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Barysphere: It is the central core of the earth. It is filled with molten magma with a large quantity of iron and nickel. Baryosphere has two zones: the inner core region (~800 miles radius) and the outer core region (~1400miles radius).

Cryosphere: There are places on Earth that are so cold that water is frozen solid. These areas of snow or ice, which are subject to temperatures below 32°F for at least part of the year, compose the cryosphere.

Ice and snow on land are one part of the cryosphere. This includes the largest parts of the cryosphere, the continental ice sheets found in Greenland and Antarctica, as well as ice caps, glaciers, and areas of snow and permafrost. When continental ice flows out from land and to the sea surface, we get shelf ice.

The other part of the cryosphere is ice that is found in water. This includes frozen parts of the ocean, such as waters surrounding Antarctica and the Arctic. It also includes frozen rivers and lakes, which mainly occur in polar areas.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Apparent movements of the Sun: In the course of the year, the earth‘s revolution around the sun, with its axis inclined at 66.5 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic, changes the apparent altitude of the midday sun.

 The sun is vertically overhead at the equator on two days each year. These are usually 21 March and 21 September though the date changes because of year is not exactly 365 days.

These two days are termed equinoxes meaning ‘equal nights’ because on these two days all parts of the world have equal days and nights.

After the March equinox, the sun appears to move north and is vertically overhead at the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees North) on about 21 June. This is known as the June or summer solstice when the northern hemisphere will have its longest day and night.

By about 22 December, the sun is overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees South). This is the winter solstice when the southern hemisphere will have its longest day and shortest night.

The tropics thus mark the limits of the overhead sun, for, beyond these, the sun is never overhead at any time of the year.

Solution (d)

Basic Info:

Oort Cloud:
The Oort Cloud is an extended shell of icy objects that exist in the outermost reaches of the solar system. It is named after astronomer Jan Oort, who first theorized its existence.

The Oort Cloud is roughly spherical, and is thought to be the origin of most of the long-period comets that have been observed.

This cloud of particles is theorized to be the remains of the disc of material that formed the Sun and planets. Astronomers now refer to those primeval objects as a protoplanetary disk.

The most likely theory is that the material now in the Oort Cloud probably formed closer to the young Sun in the earliest epochs of solar system formation. As the planets grew, and in particular as Jupiter coalesced and migrated to its present position, its gravitational influence is
thought to have scattered many icy objects out to their present position in the Oort cloud.

Objects in the Oort Cloud are also referred to as Trans-Neptunian objects. This name
also applies to objects in the Kuiper Belt.

The Oort Cloud is very distant from the Sun and it can be disrupted by the nearby passage of a star, nebula, or by actions in the disk of the Milky Way. Those actions knock cometary nuclei out of their orbits, and send them on a headlong rush toward the Sun.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Geomagnetism: Earth’s magnetic field comes from this ocean of iron, which is an electrically conducting fluid in constant motion. Sitting atop the hot inner core, the liquid outer core seethes and roils like water in a pan on a hot stove.

The outer core also has “hurricanes”- whirlpools powered by the Coriolis forces of Earth’s rotation. These complex motions generate our planet’s magnetism through a process called the dynamo effect.

The Earth has two dominant magnetic poles, and several very weak ‘quadrupolar’ poles of which there are, at least mathematically, about 8 in number. These poles are far weaker
than the dipole field and measure only weak departures of the local geographic field strength from the basic dipolar North South field.

Approximately, geomagnetic dipole is currently tilted at an angle of about 11 degrees to Earth’s rotational axis.

 Earth’s polarity is not a constant and it keeps changing. Compass needles in Africa,
for instance, are drifting about 1 degree per decade. And globally the magnetic field has
weakened 10% since the 19th century.

The Earth’s field has alternated between periods of normal polarity, in which the predominant direction of the field was the same as the present direction, and reverse polarity, in which it was the opposite.

In Normal Polarity, Earth’s North Magnetic Pole is the South Pole of its Magnetic Field.

In Reverse Polarity, Earth’s North Magnetic Pole is the North Pole of its Magnetic Field.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Metamorphic rocks: Metamorphic rocks form under the action of pressure, volume and temperature (PVT) change.

Metamorphism occurs when rocks are forced down to lower levels by tectonic processes  or when molten magma rising through the crust comes in contact with the crustal rocks or the underlying rocks are subjected to great amounts of pressure by overlying rocks.

In Metamorphism consolidated rocks undergo recrystallization and reorganization of materials within original rocks.

In the process of metamorphism in some rocks grains or minerals get arranged in layers or lines. Such an arrangement of minerals or grains in metamorphic rocks is called foliation or lineation.

Sometimes minerals or materials of different groups are arranged into alternating thin to thick layers appearing in light and dark shades. Such a structure  in metamorphic rocks is called banding and rocks displaying banding are called banded rocks.

Metamorphic rocks have been put under great pressure, heated, squashed or stretched. So fossils do not usually survive these extreme conditions. Generally, it is only sedimentary rocks that contain fossils.

Solution (a)

Basic Info:

Seafloor spreading:

Post Continental drift theory many studies were done which revealed the following facts.

It was realized that all along the midoceanic ridges, volcanic eruptions are common and they bring huge amounts of lava to the surface in this area.

The rocks equidistant on either side of the crest of mid-oceanic ridges show remarkable similarities in terms of the period of formation, chemical compositions, and magnetic properties.

The age of the rocks increases as one moves away from the crest of the Ridges.

The ocean crust rocks are much younger than the continental rocks. The age of rocks in the oceanic crust is nowhere more than 200 million years old while some of the continental rock
formations are as old as 3,200 million years.

The sediments on the ocean floor are unexpectedly very thin.

The deep trenches have deep seated earthquake occurrences while in the mid-oceanic ridge
areas, the quake foci have shallow depths.

These facts led Harry Hess to propose his hypothesis, known as the “seafloor spreading”. The force of the Seafloor spreading was found to be Convective current as postulated by Arthur Holmes.

Magma continuously wells upwards at the mid-oceanic ridges producing currents of magma flowing in opposite directions and thus generating the forces that pull the seafloor apart at the mid-oceanic ridges.

As the ocean floor is spread apart, cracks appear in the middle of the ridges allowing molten magma to surface through the cracks to form the newest ocean floor. Here,
new crust is generated.

As the ocean floor moves away from the midoceanic ridge, it eventually comes into contact
with a continental plate at a convergent boundary, subducted underneath the continent and the crustal mass is consumed here.

Solution (d)

Basic Info:

Divergent Plate boundaries:

These are areas where plates move away from each other, forming either mid-oceanic ridges or rift valleys. These are also known as constructive boundaries.

Regions of Divergent Boundaries:

• East African Rift (Great Rift Valley) in eastern Africa
• Mid-Atlantic Ridge system separates the North American Plate and South American Plate in the west from the Eurasian Plate and African Plate in the east.
• Gakkel Ridge is a slow spreading ridge located in the Arctic Ocean
• East Pacific Rise, extending from the South Pacific to the Gulf of California
• Baikal Rift Zone in eastern Russia
• Red Sea Rift
• Aden Ridge along the southern shore of the Arabian Peninsula
• Carlsberg Ridge in the eastern Indian Ocean
• Gorda Ridge off the northwest coast of North America
• Explorer Ridge off the northwest coast of North America
• Juan de Fuca Ridge off the northwest coast of North America

Solution (d)

Basic info:

Types of Folds:
According to the shape, the folds are of many types:

Symmetrical Folds: These are ordinary folds. The limbs of the folds are equally inclined on either side.

Asymmetrical Fold: One of the limbs is more inclined than the other.

Monoclinal Fold: In this fold, one limb makes a right angle with the surface but the other limb is ordinarily inclined.

Isoclinal Fold: The two limbs are so much inclined in such a way that they appear equally inclined and parallel to each other.

Recumbent Fold: In this fold the two limbs are so much inclined that they become horizontal.

Overturned Fold: In this fold one limb is overturned over the other limb. The difference between the overturned and recumbent folds is that the overturned limbs are not horizontal like those of recumbent fold.

Plunging Fold: If the axis of the fold is not parallel to the horizontal but makes an angle with it, it is known as Plunging Fold.

Fan Fold: It is a great anticline which has many small anticlines and synclines. It is also known as Anticlinorium. A great syncline having many small anticlines and synclines is called Synclinorium.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Snow line is generally defined as a zone between permanent and seasonal snow.

It denotes that height above which there is a permanent snow cover and thus it corresponds to the level where average temperature is always below freezing point even during the warmest
month of the year.

The snowline keeps on changing due to seasonal variations. As we move from equator to polewards, the height of the snowline keeps decreasing and that in the polar region, it is almost equal to the mean sea level.

Solution (a)

Basic Info:

Upper air inversion is of two type’s:

(i) Thermal upper air inversion and (ii) Mechanical upper air inversion.

The thermal upper air inversion is caused by the presence of ozone layer lying between the heights of 15 to 35 km (even up to 80 km) in the stratosphere.

The mechanical inversion of temperature is caused at higher heights in the atmosphere
due to subsidence of air and turbulence and convertible mechanisms.

Mechanical inversion caused by the subsidence of air currents is generally associated with
the anticyclones conditions. This type of inversion of temperature is very common in the middle latitude where high pressures are characterized by sinking air.

The pole wards regions of the winds are also characterized by high pressure caused by the subsidence of air resulting into mechanical inversion of temperature.

The temperature inversion causes stability in the atmosphere. This is the reason that the poleward parts of trade winds are characterized by arid conditions.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

The Black Sea is an inland sea located between far-southeastern Europe and the far-western edges of the continent of Asia and the country of Turkey. It’s bordered by Turkey, and by Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia.

The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia.

The Aral Sea stands at the boundary between Kazakhstan to the north and Uzbekistan to the south. It was once a large saltwater lake of Central Asia and the world’s fourth largest body of inland water.

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

Jet Stream: Jet streams are relatively narrow (50 -150 km) bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere below the Tropopause.

The winds blow from west to east in jet streams, due to the Earth’s rotation, but the flow often shifts to the north and south. Jet streams follow the boundaries between hot and cold air.

When the temperature contrast is maximum, jet stream flows in near straight path. But when temperature contrast reduces, the jet stream starts to follow a meandering path.

As the difference in temperature increases between the two locations the strength of the wind increases.

Therefore, the regions around 30° N/S and 50°-60° N/S are also regions where the wind, in the upper atmosphere, is the strongest. These are called Subtropical Jet Streams and Polar Jet correspondingly.

Near poles or equator, these streams are weak in nature.

The meandering jet streams are called Rossby Waves. Rossby waves are formed when polar air moves toward the Equator while tropical air is moving poleward.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Atmospheric Circulations:

Doldrums, also called equatorial calms, equatorial regions of light ocean currents and winds within the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), a belt of converging winds and rising air encircling Earth near the Equator.

The northeast and southeast trade winds meet there; this meeting causes air uplift and often produces clusters of convective thunderstorms. Doldrums lies at equator i.e. from 5 degrees north to 5 degrees south.

Tropical easterly jet streams (TEJ) are major high-velocity winds in the lower troposphere called low-level jets (LLJs). In the tropics, the most prominent of these are the Somali Jet and the African Easterly Jet.

The TEJ is a unique and dominant feature of the northern hemispheric summer over southern Asia and northern Africa. The TEJ is found near between 5° and 20°N. These are usually considered as temporary jet streams.

However, the Subtropical jet streams (STJ) are permanent in nature. As its name suggests they are formed in the subtropical areas. STJ is deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere, and at about 30° latitude, it becomes concentrated as the subtropical jet streams.

During winter, the STJ is nearly continuous in both hemispheres. The STJ exists all year in the southern hemisphere. However, it is intermittent in the northern hemisphere during summer when it migrates north.

Subtropical Jet Streams are always westerlies and Tropical Jet Streams are always easterlies. It is due to the effect of the Coriolis force.

In the middle latitudes, the circulation is that of sinking cold air that comes from the poles and the rising warm air that blows from the subtropical high. At the surface, these winds are called westerlies and the cell is known as the Ferrel cell.

However, Ferrel cell does not derive its strength from the walker cell. Walker cell is associated with the El-Nino event that takes place in the central Pacific Ocean where warm waters slowly move towards South America.

A large part of the energy that drives the Ferrel cell is provided by the polar and Hadley cells circulating on either side or that drag the Ferrel cell with it.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

Kazakhstan had the highest uranium production in the world in 2020. In fact, the country’s total output of 19,477 tonnes accounted for 41 percent of the global uranium supply, followed by Australia (13%) Namibia (11%) and Canada (8%).

Over two-thirds of the world’s production of uranium from mines is from Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia.

In 2020, Namibia produced 11% of uranium worldwide, ranked as the 4^th  largest producer, behind Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia.

The various isotopes of plutonium have been used in a number of applications. Plutonium-239 contains the highest quantities of fissile material and is notably one of the primary fuels used in nuclear weapons.

Plutonium-238 has more benign applications and has been used to power batteries for some heart pacemakers, as well as provide a long-lived heat source to power NASA space missions. Like uranium, plutonium can also be used to fuel nuclear power plants, as is done in a few countries.

Depleted uranium is a by-product of the enrichment of natural uranium to make nuclear fuel. It is less radioactive than naturally occurring uranium as it contains less of fissionable material U-235.

Solution (d)

Basic Info:

-Cyclones are large scale air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure.  Based on the geographical location, the Cyclones are of two types namely Tropical
Cyclones and Temperate Cyclones (Extra Tropical Cyclones).

Tropical Cyclones
-Tropical Cyclones are violent storms that originate over the seas in the Low Pressure belt of the tropical areas and move eastward over to the coastal areas.

-They bring about large scale destruction caused by violent winds, very heavy rainfall and storm surges which make them as one of the most devastating natural calamities.

-They are known as Cyclones in the Indian Ocean, Hurricanes in the Atlantic, Typhoons in the Western Pacific and South China Sea, and Willy-willies in the Western Australia.

–They originate only over the seas because of the need of continuous moisture to energize
the Cyclones regularly. This is why they dissipate once reaching the land.

-They are violent because of the energy coming from the condensation process in cumulonimbus clouds surrounding the Cyclones.

-They move from east to west because they are facilitated by the Trade wind.

Temperate Cyclone
-This system develops in the mid and high latitude along the polar front (boundary between the warm air and cold air).

-As the polar front develops over entire polar frontal system, this cyclone affects a much larger area of around 2000 km. Also it develops over land and sea both as far as there is frontal system.

-It moves from west to east due to the influence of Westerlies

Solution (c)

Basic Info:

The Sinai Peninsula, is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Africa.

Countries with international borders to Sinai are Palestinian territories (Gaza Strip) and Israel.

It is linked to the African continent by the Isthmus of Suez, a 125 kilometers (78 mi) wide strip of land, containing the Suez Canal. The eastern isthmus, linking it to the Asian mainland, is around 200 kilometers (120 mi) wide. The peninsula’s eastern shore separates the Arabian plate from the African plate.

Solution (b)

Basic Info:

The Tropic of Cancer passes through the following water bodies:

• Red Sea
• Indian Ocean
• Taiwan Strait
• Pacific Ocean
• Philippine Sea
• Gulf of California
• Gulf of Mexico
• Atlantic Ocean

Solution (d)

Basic Info:

Theories on Origin of the Universe

Nebular Hypothesis – This theory was developed by Immanuel Kant and modified in 1796 by Pierre Laplace. According to this hypothesis, the planets were formed out of a cloud of material associated with a youthful sun, which was slowly rotating.

Planetesimal Hypothesis – When the intruding star came very close to the Proto-Sun infinite number of small particles were detached from the outer surface of proto-sun due to massive gravitational pull exerted by the giant intruding star. This matter which is dust, gases, rock fragments eventually accrete forming planets & other celestial bodies that revolve around the proto sun.

The Big Bang Theory – This explains the origin of the universe. It is also called the expanding universe hypothesis. In 1927, Abbe Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian astronomer was the first to provide a theory on the origin of the Universe. It was Edwin Hubble who provided evidence that the universe is expanding. According to this theory, all matter that formed the universe existed in one point (tiny ball) called singularity having an unimaginable small volume, infinite temperature and infinite density.

Solution (d)

Statement Analysis:

 Context – Jute mills experienced crisis in West Bengal.

Solution (d)

Statement Analysis:

 Context –  Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a field manual named-Field Manual for Managing Human-Elephant Conflicts (HEC) in India-to guide forest staffers dealing with HEC in major elephant range states.

Solution (b) 

Statement Analysis:

 Context – Atal Innovation Mission launched the phase 1 of the 2nd edition of the Atal New India Challenge (ANIC 2.0).

Solution (c)

Anang Tal is situated to the north of Jog Maya temple, northwest of Qutub Complex and dates back to 1,060 AD. Historical literature refers that Alauddin Khalji utilised the water of this tank to build Alai minar and extended the Qutub-ul-Islam Mosque. The Anang Tal lake in South district of Delhi, believed to have been built by Tomar King, Anangpal II, could be declared a national monument.

Context – The lake was declared a national monument.

Solution (b)

Statement Analysis:

 Context – The report was released recently.

Solution (b)

Capitals ratio of A, B and C = 2/3 : 3/5 : 5/6 = (2 × 30) /3 : (3 × 30) /5 : (5 × 30) /6 = 20 : 18 : 25 Capitals ratio of A, B and C after end of the year,

(20 × 8 + 20 × 5/4 × 4) : 18 × 12 : 25 × 12 = (160 + 100) : 216 : 300 = 260 : 216 : 300

Capitals ratio of A, B and C after end of the year = 260x : 216x : 300x = 65x : 54x : 75x According to the question

65x + 54x + 75x = 5820

194x = 5820

x = 5820/194 = 30

Share of C = 75 × 30 = Rs. 2250

Solution (b)

Say P is the total profit and 5% of P goes to charity.

⇒ 95% of P is to be shared between A and B in the ratio 3 : 2

⇒ A’s share of profit is 3/5 of 95% of P

⇒ 855 = (3/5) × 0.95 × P

⇒ P = (855 × 5) ÷ (3 × 0.95) = 1500

Solution (c)

 Let Amount subscribe by Chandu = Rs. x.

Then, Bharat = x + 5000 and Akshay = x + 5000 + 4000 = x + 9000.

According to the question,

Total subscribe money = Rs. 50000

⇒ x + x + 5000 + x + 9000 = 50000

⇒ 3x = 36000 ⇒ x = 12000

So, Akshay : Bharat : Chandu = 21000 : 17000 : 12000 = 21 : 17 : 12.

∴ Akshay’s share = Rs. 35000 × 21/50 = Rs. 14700

Solution (d)

Ratio of their profit = 1800 : 3000 : 4800 = 3 : 5 : 8

As they receive profit in the ratio 3 : 5 : 8, their capital will also be divided in that ratio

So, the investment brought in by the second person will be in the ratio of 5/16 of the entire capital = (5/16) × 80000 = 25000

So, investment of 2nd person = Rs. 25000

Solution (d)

The passage states that Dr. Watrall is ‘not comfortable’ about the arrangement between CyArk and Google as he sees the project as ‘a way for Google to promote Google’, and, at its core, ‘about advertisements and driving traffic.’

Options a, is easily ruled out, as Dr. Watrall is not opposed to the use digital technology in archaeological sites.

Option b, is also incorrect. The fact that Dr. Watrall would like the images to belong to a museum or educational institution ‘where there is serious scholarship’ does not automatically imply that he is dismissive of laypeople’s access to specialist images.

Option c, is incorrect as well. From the passage we gather that CyArk is a non-profit organisation that creates the 3D scanning of historic sites and that Google does not make money off the website. Option c labels both Google and CyArk as firms interested in the marketing of archaeological images for commercial use. This is false.

Option d, which says Dr. Watrall, is critical about the links between a non-profit and a commercial tech platform for distributing archaeological images is the correct choice.C