Geography

Geography - Part1

1) What is torrid zone?
This is the area bounded by the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn that receives the maximum heat

2) What are temperate zones?
The areas lying between Tropic of Capricorn and Antarctic circle in the southern hemisphere and Tropic of Cancer and Arctic circle in the northern hemisphere are temperate zones. The temperatures are moderate

3) What are frigid zones?
The areas lying between Arctic circle and North pole in the northern hemisphere and Antarctic circle and South pole are frigid zones. The temperatures are very cold

4) What is Arctic circle?
66.5 degrees north of the equator

5) What is Antarctic circle?
66.5 degrees south of the equator

6) What are latitudes and longitudes?
They are imaginary lines that are used to determine the location on earth. Latitude is the angular distance from the center of the earth to a point on surface that is measured in degrees. A longitude is an angle from the prime meridian, measured to the east or west

7) How long is the latitude at the equator?
68.704 miles

8) How long is the latitude at the poles
69.407 miles

9) How time changes every 15° we move east or west?
Every 15° we move eastwards, the local time is advanced by 1 hour. Every 15° we move westwards, the local time is retarded by 1 hour.

10) What is prime meridian?
It is the line of 0 degrees longitude. It is at Greenwich, near London

11) What is equator?
It is an imaginary line that is halfway between north and south poles. This is middle of the earth that divides earth into north and south hemispheres

12) What is tropic of cancer?
It is the parallel of latitude that is approximately 23.5 degrees north of the equator

13) What is tropic of Capricorn?
It is the parallel of latitude that is approximately 23.5 degrees south of the equator

14) In which direction does earth rotate?
Earth rotates from west to east

15) What is the time difference between each longitude (each degree)?
The time difference between each longitude is 4 minutes

16) How many time zones does Russia have?
9 time zones

17) What is international dateline?
It is an imaginary line that runs from north pole to south pole roughly along 180° longitude. It is not straight, but somewhat zigzag. If traveling westward a day is gained after crossing international dateline and if traveling eastward a day is lost after crossing international dateline.

18) What is the meridian for Indian standard time?
82 1/2° east

19) Why days and nights occur?
Because of earth’s rotation

20) What angle does earth’s rotational axis make with normal?
23.5°

21) What is equinox?
It is when the Sun exactly above the equator. The days and nights are equal in length. The day is for 12 hours and the night is for 12 hours

22) When do equinox occur?
They occur around 20 March and around 23 September

23) Why does equinox occur?
Because earth aligns itself with its orbit around the sun, and earth does not appear to tilt with respect to Sun.

24) What is a leap year?
A year with 366 days

25) What is summer solstice?
It is the day when the north pole is tilted closest to the Sun. This is the day with the longest period of sunlight for people living in northern hemisphere

26) When does summer solstice occur?
It depends on when the Sun reaches its northernmost point from celestial equator. It occurs between June 20 and June 22

27) What is winter solstice?
It is the day when the north pole is tilted farthest from the Sun.

28) When does winter solstice occur?
It occurs on December 21st or 22nd

29) What are vernal and autumnal equinoxes?
In the northern hemisphere the march equinox is called the vernal equinox as it is the beginning of spring and the September equinox is called the autumnal equinox as it is the first day of fall
In the southern hemisphere the march equinox is called the autumnal equinox as it is the start of fall and the September equinox is called the vernal equinox as it is the beginning of spring

30) What are chemical layers of earth?
Crust, Mantle(upper, lower), Core(outer, inner)

31) What are mechanical layers of earth?
Lithosphere, Aesthenosphere, Mesosphere, Outer core, Inner core

32) What is atmosphere?
It is a mixture of gases that surrounds the earth

33) What are the constituents of atmosphere?
Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon, Carbon-dioxide, Hydrogen, Helium, Neon, methane, Krypton, water vapor

34) What are the major constituents of atmosphere?
Nitrogen (about 78%), Oxygen(about 21%) and Argon(about 0.9%)

35) What are the layers of atmosphere?
Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, Exosphere

36) What is ionosphere?
It is layer of electrons and ionized atoms that are in mesosphere and thermosphere. This is the region where radio communications are possible

37) What is insolation?
It is the solar radiation received on the earth’s surface

38) What is albedo?
It is the reflectivity of a surface. If a lot of solar radiation is reflected back, the albedo is high

39) What is Aphelion? When will it happen?
It is the point of the Earth’s orbit that is farthest away from the Sun. It happens in early July

40) What is Perihelion? When will it happen?
It is the point of the Earth’s orbit that is nearest to the Sun. It happens in early January

41) What is an isotherm?
It is an imaginary line joining the points with the same temperature

42) What instrument is used to measure atmospheric pressure?
Barometer

43) What are isobars?
They are lines connecting places having equal pressure

44) When several isobars are tightly packed on map pressure gradient is?
Large

45) Which is the deepest lake?
Lake Baikal. It is located in Siberia, Russia. It is 1642 meters(5387 feet) deep. It is the world’s largest freshwater lake by volume. It is the oldest lake

46) Which is the World’s longest freshwater lake?
Lake Tanganyika. It is 676 Km (420 miles) long. It is shared between the countries Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Zambia

47) Which is the largest continental lake in the world by Area?
Lake Superior. It is shared by USA and Canada

48) Which is the largest lake by area in one country?
Lake Michigan. It is in USA

49) Which is the lowest land based elevation on earth?
Dead Sea’s surface which is about 430 meters below sea level

50) Which is the largest and deepest Ocean?
Pacific Ocean. It occupies about 1/3rd of the surface area of globe. The mean depth is 4280 meters (14,040 feet). The deepest is 11,034 meters (36,201 feet) in the Mariana Trench

51) Which is the second largest ocean?
Atlantic Ocean

52) Which is the 3rd largest ocean in the world?
Indian Ocean

53) Which is the largest Shield Volcano?
Mauna Loa Volcano. Diameter is more than 70 miles(112 Kilometers). It is in Hawaii
54) What are the types of Volcanoes?

Shield Volcanoes: Broad rounded shape. Large volcanoes

Cinder Cones: Have cone shape. Generally less than 200 meters in height.

Composite Volcanoes: Made of felsic to intermediate rock

55) Shield Volcanoes?
They are built by many layers over time. The lava is fluid and flows easily. The lava creates shield shape. Low viscosity lava. They are non explosive

56) Cinder cones?
They are the most common type of Volcanoes. They are smaller than composite Volcanoes. They grow rapidly. They usually have a crater at the summit

57) Composite Volcanoes?
Lava is viscous. They are explosive

58) Which is the world’s most active volcano?
Mount Kilauea. It is a shield volcano.

59) What is magma?
It is extremely hot liquid and semi-liquid rock under the earth. When it flows out it is called lava

60) Name some volcanoes?

Sierra Negra volcano in the Galápagos Islands is a Shield Volcano
Mt. Capulin in USA is a Cinder Cone Volcano
Mt. Fuji in Japan is a Composite Volcano

61) What are endogenic processes?
They are the processes that shape the land by forces coming from within the earth. They are also called Tectonic processes

62) What type of process is Volcanic activity?
It is an example of endogenic process

63) What are formed when lava cools down?
Igneous rocks