India Geography Mixed Quiz 2: Rivers, Soils, Climate and Minerals (Clerkship 2024)

The Narmada rises at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, flows west through a rift valley and reaches the Arabian Sea through the Gulf of Khambhat in Gujarat. Most big peninsular rivers flow east; the Narmada is an exception.

Chilika lies on the Bay of Bengal coast in Odisha, across Puri, Khordha and Ganjam districts. It is India's largest coastal lagoon, a brackish-water lake. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have the Kolleru and Pulicat lakes instead.

Black soil formed by the weathering of Deccan Trap basalt is called regur. It retains moisture well, so it suits cotton and is also called 'black cotton soil'. Red soil and laterite hold little water, while alluvial soil of the Ganga–Brahmaputra plains is best for rice and wheat.

Anamudi (about 2,695 m) in Idukki district, Kerala, is the highest peak of the Western Ghats and of peninsular India. Doddabetta is the highest in the Nilgiris, Mahendragiri belongs to the Eastern Ghats and Guru Shikhar is the highest peak of the Aravallis.

The Tropic of Cancer (23½°N) passes through eight states: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram.

Most of the Thar Desert lies in Rajasthan, with smaller parts in Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. Rainfall is very low and the main river, the Luni, ends near the Rann of Kachchh without reaching the sea.

The popular view is that the Sundarbans takes its name from the sundari tree. This mangrove forest of the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta is famous for the Royal Bengal Tiger. Sal and teak are deciduous forest trees, not mangroves. Garan is a mangrove too, but the name is traced to the sundari.

The Arabian Sea branch of the monsoon normally strikes the Kerala coast first, around 1 June. It then advances north to Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.

Mawsynram in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya receives roughly 11,800 mm of rain a year, among the highest in the world. Moist air from the Bay of Bengal is funnelled into the hills and rises sharply. Shillong gets far less.

The Tapti rises in the Satpura region of Madhya Pradesh, flows west parallel to the Narmada and enters the Gulf of Khambhat. The Godavari, Mahanadi and Kaveri flow east into the Bay of Bengal.

The Ten Degree Channel, along 10°N, separates the Andamans in the north from the Nicobars in the south. The Palk Strait lies between India and Sri Lanka. The Nine Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the main Lakshadweep group.

The Eastern and Western Ghats meet in the Nilgiri Hills at the junction of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Their highest peak is Doddabetta (about 2,637 m). The Aravalli, Satpura and Vindhya ranges lie in north and central India.

At Devprayag in Uttarakhand the Bhagirathi, coming from the Gangotri glacier, and the Alaknanda join and are known as the Ganga. Upstream the river is called the Bhagirathi. The Yamuna joins the Ganga later at Prayagraj, from a separate source.

In Tibet the Brahmaputra is called the Yarlung Tsangpo. After entering Arunachal Pradesh it is called the Dihang or Siang, in Assam the Brahmaputra, and in Bangladesh the Jamuna before it joins the Padma.

Rabi crops are sown in October–November and harvested in March–April. Wheat, barley, gram and mustard are rabi crops. Rice, bajra and cotton are kharif crops sown with the onset of the monsoon.

Assam is India's largest tea-producing state, especially in the Brahmaputra valley. West Bengal (Darjeeling, Dooars, Terai) comes second. Tea needs heavy rain, sloping land and well-drained soil.

The Raniganj coalfield lies in the Damodar valley around Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal. It is India's oldest coalfield, where mining began in 1774. Jharia is Jharkhand's famous coalfield, Talcher is in Odisha and Korba in Chhattisgarh.

Wular Lake lies in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir and is fed by the Jhelum. Sambhar in Rajasthan is India's largest inland saltwater lake. Loktak in Manipur is known for its floating phumdis, and Chilika is Odisha's coastal lagoon.

The Hirakud Dam, near Sambalpur in Odisha, is built on the Mahanadi and is among the world's longest earthen dams. The Damodar has the Panchet and Maithon dams, the Godavari the Polavaram project, and the Krishna the Nagarjuna Sagar dam.