Physiography: Mountains, Plateaus, Plains & Islands: previous-year questions

Answer: (B) Main Central Thrust

The Main Central Thrust (MCT) is the great fault along which the crystalline rocks of the Greater Himalaya (Himadri) have been pushed over the Lesser Himalaya (Himachal). The Himalayan divisions and their boundaries from north to south: Trans-Himalaya, Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone, Greater Himalaya, MCT, Lesser Himalaya, Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), Shiwalik, Main Frontal Thrust (MFT, also called the Himalayan Frontal Fault), and the Ganga plain. So option A divides the Lesser Himalaya from the Shiwaliks and option D divides the Shiwaliks from the plains. 'Main Mantle Thrust' (C) is not a boundary within the Indian Himalayan sequence.

Answer: (A) A valley between Lesser Himalaya and Shivalik

A 'dun' (doon) is a flat-floored longitudinal valley lying between the Lesser Himalaya and the Shiwalik range. Duns formed when the rising Shiwaliks blocked rivers and created temporary lakes, which later filled with gravel and alluvium and drained; so option D describes how a dun originated, but the word itself means the valley, option A. Examples: Dehra Dun (the largest), Patli Dun and Kotli Dun; the corresponding features in the eastern Himalaya are called 'duars' (Dooars of North Bengal and Assam). Dehradun is the winter capital of Uttarakhand, Gairsain (Bhararisain) being the summer capital.

Answer: (A) Ten Degree Channel

The Ten Degree Channel, about 150 km wide and lying along $10^\circ$ N latitude, separates the Andaman group (Little Andaman) from the Nicobar group (Car Nicobar). Other channels to remember: Duncan Passage, between South Andaman and Little Andaman; Coco Channel, between North Andaman and Myanmar's Coco Islands; the Great Channel (Six Degree Channel), between Great Nicobar and Sumatra; the Eight Degree Channel, between Minicoy and the Maldives; and the Nine Degree Channel, between Minicoy and the rest of Lakshadweep. Options B and D are not real channels. Related facts: Saddle Peak is the highest point of the islands, Indira Point the southernmost tip of India, and Barren Island India's only active volcano.

Answer: (B) K2

K2 (Godwin-Austen, 8,611 m), the second highest mountain in the world, stands in the Karakoram Range in Gilgit-Baltistan, not in the Himalaya; the Karakoram, with the Ladakh and Zaskar ranges, belongs to the Trans-Himalaya and contains the Siachen and Baltoro glaciers. The other three are Himalayan peaks: Kangchenjunga (8,586 m, on the Sikkim-Nepal border), the third highest in the world and the highest peak in India; Nanda Devi (7,816 m, Uttarakhand), the highest peak lying wholly within India; and Kamet (7,756 m, Garhwal, Uttarakhand). Mount Everest (8,849 m) is on the Nepal-China border.

Answer: (B) Vindhyachal ranges.

The Kaimur range forms the eastern part of the Vindhya range, extending across Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Satpura lies to the south, the Aravalli in the north-west, and the Rajmahal hills in Jharkhand.

Answer: (A) (4) (3) (2) (1) (5)

From west to east, Burrard's divisions run Kashmir (Punjab) Himalaya, then Himachal, then the Kumaon or U.P. Himalaya between the Sutlej and Kali, then the Nepal Himalaya, and finally the Assam Himalaya east of the Tista. That is (4), (3), (2), (1), (5); the other sequences misplace the western sections.

Answer: (B) Greater Himalayas

The Greater Himalaya (Himadri) was the first of the three parallel Himalayan ranges to be uplifted, so it is the oldest; the Lesser Himalaya (the Middle or Lower Himalaya of the options) came next and the Shiwaliks are the youngest. The Trans-Himalaya lies north of the Himalaya proper and is treated as a separate system in this three-range scheme. The Trans-Himalayan ranges were uplifted before the Greater Himalaya, so (D) could be argued if they are counted as part of the Himalayas; the key follows the standard three-range scheme.

Answer: (A) Guru Shikhar.

Mount Abu, home of the Dilwara Jain temples, is the Aravalli massif in Rajasthan whose summit is Guru Shikhar, the highest point of the Aravallis; the keyed option names it by that peak. The Maikal hills and Kaimur range lie in central India, and Doddabetta is in the Nilgiris.

Answer: (A) Zojila Pass

Zoji La, on the Srinagar–Leh highway, links the Kashmir Valley with Ladakh. Nathu La is in Sikkim, Rohtang links Kullu with Lahaul in Himachal, and Shipki La carries the Sutlej into Tibet.

Answer: (A) K2

K2 in the Karakoram is called the Savage Mountain because of its extreme difficulty and high death rate among climbers. Nanga Parbat has a different nickname, ‘Killer Mountain’, which makes it the tempting wrong option.

Answer: (C) Anaimudi

Anamudi (2,695 m) in Kerala's Anaimalai hills is the highest peak in the Western Ghats and in peninsular India. Doddabetta is the highest in the Nilgiris, Mullayanagiri the highest in Karnataka, and Mahendragiri lies in the Eastern Ghats.

Answer: (B) Kumaon Himalayas

The Milam glacier, source of the Goriganga, lies in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, which is the Kumaon Himalaya. It is not in the Himachal, Kashmir or Assam sections.

Answer: (D) Maharashtra, Goa

The Konkan coast is the stretch of the western coastal plain from Daman to Goa, covering coastal Maharashtra and Goa. The Kannada (Karnataka) and Malabar (Kerala) coasts lie to its south and the Kathiawar coast of Gujarat to its north.

Answer: (A) Narcondam

Narcondam, east of the Andaman Islands, is a dormant volcanic island. Lakshadweep and Minicoy are coral islands built on atolls, so ‘All of the above’ is wrong.

Answer: (A) Barren Island

Barren Island in the Andaman Sea has India's only confirmed active volcano, which has erupted repeatedly since 1991. Ross, Neil and Havelock are non-volcanic islands known for history and tourism.

Answer: (B) Himachal Pradesh.

Kunzum La (about 4,550 m) links the Lahaul and Spiti valleys in Himachal Pradesh. Sikkim has Nathu La and Jelep La, and Uttarakhand has Lipulekh and Mana.

Answer: (A) Garo hills.

Nokrek (about 1,412 m) is the highest peak of the Garo Hills in Meghalaya and is the core of the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve. The highest point of the Khasi hills is Shillong Peak, and the Rajmahal hills are in Jharkhand.

Answer: (C) Bomdi La

Bomdi La in western Arunachal Pradesh lies on the route from the plains towards Tawang and Tibet. Nathu La is in Sikkim, Lipulekh in Uttarakhand, and Rohtang is an internal pass in Himachal.

Answer: (A) Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana

The Aravallis run about 700 km from near Palanpur in Gujarat through Rajasthan into Haryana and end at the Delhi ridge. They do not extend into Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh.

Answer: (B) Kamet

Kamet (7,756 m) in Uttarakhand is the highest peak of the Zaskar Range. Annapurna is a peak of the Great Himalaya in Nepal. K2 (Godwin Austen), the world's second-highest peak, lies in the Karakoram Range. Everest, the world's highest peak, lies on the Nepal–China (Tibet) border.