APPSC Group-1 2017 Geography and Environment Previous Year Questions

Ans: (3) Assam (as per APPSC official final key)

Muga silk is a golden-yellow silk produced by the silkworm Antheraea assamensis, which is endemic to Assam. The worms feed on som and soalu leaves. Muga silk was given a GI tag in 2007. It was once worn by the Ahom royalty.

India produces four types of natural silk: mulberry (mostly Karnataka), tasar (Jharkhand), eri (Assam and the North-East) and muga (Assam).

Note:

• India is the second largest producer of silk after China.
• Sualkuchi in Assam is called the ‘Manchester of the East’ for silk weaving.

Ans: (3) 750 mm (as per APPSC official final key)

The Manual for Drought Management, 2016 (Ministry of Agriculture) defines a chronically drought-prone area as one that receives mean annual rainfall of less than 750 mm and faces drought frequently. The manual uses indicators such as rainfall deficit, the vegetation index, soil moisture, area sown and hydrology to declare a drought.

Note:

• The manual was issued after the Supreme Court’s Swaraj Abhiyan judgment (2016).
• Areas with less than 750 mm annual rainfall are called dry-land or rain-fed areas.

Ans: (4) Geological parameters (as per APPSC official final key)

The Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG), under the Ministry of Agriculture, meets every week during the monsoon to monitor drought and crop conditions. It looks at:

• meteorological parameters – rainfall and temperature;
• hydrological parameters – reservoir levels and groundwater;
• agricultural parameters – sowing, crop health and input supply.

Geological parameters are not used.

Note:

• IMD and the Central Water Commission are members.
• Types of drought: meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and socio-economic.

Ans: (3) Collision of Eurasian Plate and Indian Plate (as per APPSC official final key)

The Himalayas and the Arakan Yoma (Myanmar) were formed by the collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate, which began about 50 million years ago. The Indian Plate still moves north at about 5 cm a year. This builds up stress along faults such as the Main Central Thrust and Main Boundary Thrust, causing frequent earthquakes from Kashmir to the North-East and Myanmar.

Note:

• Seismic Zone V includes the North-East, J&K, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Kutch and the Andamans.
• The 2015 Nepal (Gorkha) earthquake measured 7.8.

Ans: (1) Fault movement on the sea floor (as per APPSC official final key)

A tsunami (Japanese for “harbour wave”) is a series of long ocean waves. The most important cause is a sudden vertical fault movement of the sea floor during a large undersea earthquake, which displaces a large volume of water. Underwater landslides and volcanic eruptions can also cause tsunamis, but less often.

Note:

• The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was caused by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra.
• INCOIS, Hyderabad runs India’s Tsunami Early Warning Centre (2007).

Ans: (4) A-III, B-V, C-II, D-IV, E-I (as per APPSC official final key)

Traditional water harvesting systems of India:

• Zing – Ladakh; small tanks that collect glacier meltwater.
• Zabo – Nagaland; rainwater collected on forested hills and stored in ponds, combining forestry, farming and animal care. The word means “impounding runoff”.
• Johad – Rajasthan; small earthen check dams.
• Phad – Maharashtra; community canal irrigation from river weirs.
• Eri (Yeri) – Tamil Nadu; tank systems.

So A-III, B-V, C-II, D-IV, E-I.

Note:

• Kuhls: Himachal Pradesh; Ahar–Pyne: Bihar; Bamboo drip irrigation: Meghalaya.
• Kunds and tankas: Rajasthan; Surangam: Kerala/Karnataka.

Ans: (1) Temporary wall of brushwood, grass and mud laid across channels to raise the level of water in use in Kerala (as per APPSC official final key)

A korambu is a temporary wall of brushwood, grass and mud built across channels in Kerala. It raises the water level so that water can flow into the fields.

Note:

• Surangam is a horizontal well in Kerala and Karnataka.
• Kuttanad (Kerala) is known for farming below sea level.

Ans: (2) Sacred groves (as per APPSC official final key)

Sacred groves are patches of forest protected by local communities because they are dedicated to a deity or ancestors. Cutting trees there is forbidden, so they serve as a traditional way of conserving tree cover and biodiversity. They have local names: Devarakadu (Karnataka), Kavu (Kerala), Orans (Rajasthan), Law Kyntang (Meghalaya) and Devrai (Maharashtra).

Van Mahotsav (1950, K.M. Munshi) is a modern government programme.

Note:

• Community reserves are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002.
• Bishnoi community (Rajasthan) protects khejri trees; Amrita Devi Bishnoi (1730).

Ans: (2) Phytoplankton and (3) Herbaceous and woody plants (as per APPSC official final key; both options are treated as correct)

Producers (autotrophs) make their own food by photosynthesis. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the major producers are herbaceous and woody plants. In aquatic ecosystems, the main producers are phytoplankton. APPSC accepted both options (2) and (3) in the final key.

Note:

• Food chain: producers → herbivores (primary consumers) → carnivores.
• Only about 10% of energy passes to the next trophic level (Lindeman’s 10% law).

Ans: (3) Pyramidal roof (as per APPSC official final key)

Roof shape affects the wind forces on a building during a cyclone. Gable roofs (two slopes with vertical end walls) face strong uplift at the ends. Flat roofs also suffer high suction. Hip roofs, and especially pyramidal roofs that slope on all four sides, give the wind no flat face to push against, so the uplift is lowest. A roof slope of about 30–45° is considered best.

Note:

• BIS guidelines (IS 15498) cover cyclone-resistant buildings.
• Coastal AP and Odisha are highly cyclone-prone.

Ans: (4) To protect forests (as per APPSC official final key)

The Appiko movement began in 1983 in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, led by Panduranga Hegde. Villagers hugged trees to stop them being felled. “Appiko” means “to hug” in Kannada. It was inspired by the Chipko movement (1973, Uttarakhand; Sunderlal Bahuguna, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Gaura Devi), and its aim was to protect forests.

Note:

• Silent Valley movement (Kerala, 1970s) saved a tropical forest from a dam.
• Narmada Bachao Andolan: Medha Patkar.

Ans: (2) 8 (as per APPSC official final key)

The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was released in 2008 and has eight national missions:

• National Solar Mission
• Enhanced Energy Efficiency
• Sustainable Habitat
• Water
• Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
• Green India
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

Note:

• States have prepared State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC).
• India’s updated NDC (2022): 45% cut in emission intensity by 2030 from 2005 levels.

Ans: (3) 100 Gigawatt (as per APPSC official final key)

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (2010) originally aimed at 20 GW of solar power by 2022. In 2015 the target was raised to 100 GW by 2022: 60 GW from ground-mounted projects and 40 GW from rooftop solar. It was part of the overall 175 GW renewable energy target.

Note:

• International Solar Alliance (2015): India and France, headquartered at Gurugram.
• India’s target is 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030.

Ans: (1) Expansion of the Universe (as per APPSC official final key)

The Big Bang Theory says that the Universe began about 13.8 billion years ago from an extremely hot, dense point and has been expanding ever since. The main evidence is:

• Expansion of the Universe – Edwin Hubble (1929) found that galaxies are moving away from each other (red shift).
• Cosmic microwave background radiation – found by Penzias and Wilson (1965).
• The abundance of light elements like hydrogen and helium.

The Steady State theory (Hoyle) is a rival theory.

Note:

• Georges Lemaître first proposed the theory (1927).
• The ‘inflation’ theory was proposed by Alan Guth.

Ans: (3) Surface rock from mining areas (as per APPSC official final key)

Sources of information about the Earth’s interior are of two kinds:

• Direct sources – surface rocks from mining and drilling (e.g. the Kola Superdeep Borehole, about 12 km), and volcanic eruptions that bring material from inside.
• Indirect sources – seismic waves, gravity anomalies, magnetic surveys, meteorites, and temperature and pressure.

Note:

• The Deep Ocean Drilling Project and Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme also give direct data.
• S-waves do not pass through liquid, which shows the outer core is liquid.

Ans: (4) glacial activity (as per APPSC official final key)

Till, moraines and boulder clay are deposits left by glaciers. Glacial deposits are unsorted mixtures of clay, sand and boulders. Moraines may be lateral, medial, terminal or ground moraines.

Other glacial deposits are eskers (ridges from meltwater streams), drumlins (egg-shaped hills) and outwash plains.

Note:

• Glacial erosion features: cirque, arete, horn, U-shaped valley, hanging valley.
• Wind deposits: loess and sand dunes.

Ans: (3) Hydration (as per APPSC official final key)

The hydrological (water) cycle is the continuous movement of water between the oceans, the atmosphere and the land. It includes evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, infiltration and runoff.

Hydration is a process of chemical weathering in which minerals absorb water and swell (e.g. anhydrite becomes gypsum). It is not part of the water cycle.

Note:

• About 97% of Earth’s water is in the oceans; about 2% is in ice caps.
• Other chemical weathering: oxidation, carbonation, solution.

Ans: (2) Pranhita (as per APPSC official final key)

The Godavari is the largest river of peninsular India (about 1,465 km). It rises at Trimbakeshwar (Nashik). Its largest tributary by drainage area is the Pranhita, formed by the Wardha, Penganga and Wainganga, which drains about 34% of the basin.

Other tributaries are the Indravati, Sabari, Manjira, Purna and Pravara.

Note:

• The Godavari is called the ‘Dakshina Ganga’.
• Polavaram project is on the Godavari; the Sabari joins it near Kunavaram.

Ans: (2) Krishna-Godavari Basin (as per APPSC official final key)

Shale gas is natural gas trapped in fine-grained shale rock. It is extracted by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). In India, likely basins include Cambay, Krishna-Godavari, Cauvery, the Damodar Gondwana basins and Assam-Arakan. As per the key, the KG basin has the largest estimated reserves among the options.

Note:

• India’s Shale Gas and Oil Policy came in 2013.
• The USA is the largest shale gas producer.

Ans: (2) biddable revenue sharing contract (as per APPSC official final key)

The Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) of 2016 replaced the older New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Its main features are:

• A revenue sharing contract model: the government receives a share of the gross revenue, decided by bidding, instead of a share of profit under production sharing contracts.
• A single licence for all hydrocarbons.
• Open Acreage Licensing.
• Freedom in marketing and pricing.

Note:

• NELP (1997–99) used production sharing contracts (PSCs).
• The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons regulates upstream oil and gas.

Ans: (3) Belum Caves (as per APPSC official final key)

Karst topography forms on limestone, which dissolves in rainwater containing carbon dioxide. It has caves, stalactites, stalagmites, sinkholes and underground streams. The Belum Caves in Nandyal district (formerly Kurnool) are in limestone. At about 3.2 km, they are the second-longest natural caves in India, after Krem Liat Prah in Meghalaya.

Bojjannakonda (Anakapalli), Undavalli (Guntur) and Erravaram caves are rock-cut or sandstone caves, not karst.

Note:

• Borra Caves (Araku, ASR district) are also limestone karst caves.
• The word karst comes from a region of Slovenia.

Ans: (4) Change in user preferences (as per APPSC official final key)

Markapur (Prakasam district) is known for its slate industry. Slate was once used for school writing slates and roofing. The industry declined mainly because of a change in user preferences: students moved to notebooks and pens, and builders to new roofing materials. Demand for slates fell sharply, even though slate is still available.

Note:

• Markapur slate is now used for tiles and decoration.
• Prakasam district also has granite (Chimakurthy galaxy granite).

Ans: (1) Kadapa Basin (as per APPSC official final key)

The major uranium reserves of Andhra Pradesh are in the Cuddapah (Kadapa) basin. Tummalapalle in YSR Kadapa district is one of the largest uranium deposits in the world. It is mined by the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL). There are also deposits at Lambapur–Peddagattu in the Nalgonda area (Telangana).

Note:

• Jaduguda (Jharkhand) is India’s first uranium mine (1967).
• India has large thorium reserves in beach sands of Kerala, Odisha and AP.