UPSC Physical Geography – Chapter 9: Mountains, Plateaus, Plains and Lakes (22 MCQs)

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UPSC Physical Geography – Chapter 9: Mountains, Plateaus, Plains and Lakes (22 MCQs) – 22 questions, subject: Geography. Every question has the correct answer with a one-line explanation; tap "Show Answer". Free practice for TNPSC, UPSC, SSC, Bank and RRB exams – Shanmugam IAS Academy, Coimbatore.

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1.  

The Himalaya are an example of:

Correct Answer: D [young fold mountains]

Explanation:

The Himalaya rose in the Alpine (Tertiary) mountain-building period by compression of sediments between the converging Indian and Eurasian plates.

2.  

The Vosges of France are an example of a:

Correct Answer: D [block mountain]

Explanation:

a horst beside the Rhine rift valley.

3.  

The Aravalli range of India is best described as:

Correct Answer: C [old fold mountains worn down to a residual range]

Explanation:

The Aravalli are among the oldest fold ranges in the world, long eroded into low, rounded residual hills.

4.  

The Tibetan Plateau is an example of a/an:

Correct Answer: D [intermontane plateau]

Explanation:

The Tibetan Plateau is enclosed by fold ranges such as the Himalaya and Kunlun, the defining feature of an intermontane plateau.

5.  

A rift valley (graben) is formed when a block of land sinks between:

Correct Answer: B [two parallel faults]

Explanation:

Under tension the crust breaks along parallel faults, and the block between them subsides to form a graben or rift valley.

6.  

The deepest lake in the world is:

Correct Answer: C [Lake Baikal]

Explanation:

Lake Baikal in Siberia, a rift lake, is the deepest lake in the world and also the oldest.

7.  

The Aral Sea shrank mainly because of the diversion of the rivers:

Correct Answer: B [Amu Darya and Syr Darya]

Explanation:

From the 1960s the Soviet Union diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the Aral Sea's two feeder rivers, for cotton irrigation.

8.  

Lonar Lake in Maharashtra occupies a:

Correct Answer: C [meteorite-impact crater]

Explanation:

Lonar Lake fills a crater made by a meteorite striking the basalt of the Deccan Plateau in Maharashtra.

9.  

Sambhar Lake is:

Correct Answer: B [a saline lake in a dry basin of Rajasthan]

Explanation:

Sambhar is a shallow inland-drainage (playa) lake in dry Rajasthan, and evaporation makes its water saline.

10.  

Consider the following statements:

1. The shore of the Dead Sea lies below sea level.
2. Lake Tanganyika lies in the East African Rift system.
3. The Great Lakes of North America are crater lakes.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Correct Answer: B [1 and 2 only]

Explanation:

The Dead Sea shore is far below sea level and Tanganyika is an East African rift lake; the Great Lakes are glacial.

11.  

Assertion (A): Fold mountains are found along convergent plate boundaries.

Reason (R): Compression between converging plates folds thick sediments into ranges.

Correct Answer: A [Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A]

Explanation:

Both are true, and compression between converging plates is exactly what folds sediments into ranges along such boundaries.

12.  

A horst is:

Correct Answer: A [a raised block between faults]

Explanation:

A horst is the crustal block left standing or raised between two parallel faults, forming a block mountain.

13.  

The Indo-Gangetic plain is a/an:

Correct Answer: B [depositional alluvial plain]

Explanation:

The Indo-Gangetic plain is built of alluvium deposited by the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems.

14.  

The largest lake in the world by area is:

Correct Answer: A [the Caspian Sea]

Explanation:

The Caspian Sea, an inland water body without an outlet to the ocean, has the largest area of any lake.

15.  

A peneplain is:

Correct Answer: D [a nearly flat erosional plain at the end of a long cycle of erosion]

Explanation:

A peneplain is the low, almost featureless surface left when long erosion wears a region nearly flat.

16.  

Arrange the following in chronological order:

1. Kok-Aral Dam built
2. Diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya begins
3. Lonar Lake declared a Ramsar site
4. Lake Baikal listed as a World Heritage Site

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct Answer: C [2-4-1-3]

Explanation:

1960s, 1996, 2005, 2020.

17.  

Lake Titicaca lies on the:

Correct Answer: D [Bolivian Altiplano]

Explanation:

Lake Titicaca lies on the high Altiplano of the Andes, on the border between Peru and Bolivia.

18.  

Mount Kilimanjaro is a:

Correct Answer: D [volcanic mountain]

Explanation:

Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is a volcano built up by lava and ash piled around its vents.

19.  

Mesas and buttes are:

Correct Answer: C [flat-topped remnants of eroded plateaus in dry regions]

Explanation:

Erosion of horizontal plateau rocks in dry regions leaves flat-topped remnants: the broad ones are mesas, the small ones buttes.

20.  

The Caspian Sea is classed as a lake because it is:

Correct Answer: A [a body of water enclosed by land with no natural outlet to the ocean]

Explanation:

The Caspian Sea is an inland body of water enclosed by land with no natural outlet, so it is classed as a lake.

21.  
UPSC Prelims 2024

Consider the following information:

Region – Name of the mountain range – Type of mountain

1. Central Asia – Vosges – Fold mountain
2. Europe – Alps – Block mountain
3. North America – Appalachians – Fold Mountain
4. South America – Andes – Fold Mountain

In how many of the above rows is the given information correctly matched?

Correct Answer: B [Only two]

Explanation:

rows 3 and 4 are correct; the Vosges are block mountains in Europe and the Alps are fold mountains.

22.  
UPSC Prelims 2018

Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/dried up in the recent past due to human activities?

1. Aral Sea
2. Black Sea
3. Lake Baikal

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct Answer: A [1 only]

Explanation:

the Aral Sea shrank after its feeder rivers were diverted for irrigation.

➤ Full notes, maps, tables, a reason for every option and Mains PYQs – U08 · Physical Geography (UPSC book, ₹249): www.shanmugamiasacademy.in/study-materials/upsc-physical-geography

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