Here is the set of Physical geography Questions which could be asked in the MP Police Constable Exam
1. Which among the following statements is true regarding International Date line ?
(1) It is 180° Longitude
(2) It is a straight line
(3) It is a big circle
(4) It is a curved line beyond earth
2. The sunlight is available 24 hours
on the longest day at which of
the following latitudes of the
earth ?
(1) 49° (2) 66½°
(3) 63° (4) 69°51′
3. The Grand Canyon is located on
the :
(1) Colorado River
(2) Rhine River
(3) Tapi River
(4) Niger River
4. Extensive deserts occur in the
western tropical regions of continents because :
(1) of easterly trade winds.
(2) cold ocean currents flow
along the western coasts.
(3) of the effect of both the offshore easterly trade winds
and cold ocean currents.
(4) the rate of evaporation is
greater along the western
margin areas.
5. The deposits of the ancient
Tethys Sea were folded to form
the :
(1) Himalayas (2) Rockies
(3) Andes (4) Alps
6. Which one of the following types
of erosion is responsible for the
formation of Chambal Ravines?
(1) Splash (2) Sheet
(3) Rill (4) Gully
7. The west to east extension of the
Himalayas is from
(1) Indus gorge to Dihang gorge
(2) K2
to Chomoihari
(3) Nanga Parbat to Namcha Barwa
(4) Rakaposhi to Lohit river
8. Most of the devastating earthquakes are usually caused by
(1) Eustatic movement
(2) Isostatic adjustment
(3) Collision of earth plates
(4) Volcanic eruption
9. Which one of the following is
the greatest circle ?
(1) Arctic Circle
(2) Equator
(3) Tropic of Cancer
(4) Tropic of Capricorn
10. Hanging Valley is formed due to
the action of
(1) Glacier (2) River
(3) Ocean (4) Wind
Answers: 1. (1) 2. (2) 3. (1) 4. (3)
5. (1) 6. (4) 7. (1) 8. (3)
9. (2) 10. (1)
Explainations:
1. (1) The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary
line on the surface of the Earth, that runs from the
north to the South Pole and demarcates one calendar day from the next. It passes through the middle
of the Pacific Ocean, roughly following the 180° longitude but it deviates to pass around some territories and island groups. From the north, the date line
first deviates to the east of 180° to pass to the east
of Russia’s Wrangel Island and the Chukchi Peninsula which is the easternmost part of Russian Siberia. The date line then passes through the Bering
Strait between the Diomede Islands at a distance of
1.5 km from each island. The line then bends considerably southwest, passing west of St. Lawrence
Island and St. Matthew Island. It then passes midway between Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and Russia’s
Commander Islands before returning southeast to
180°. Thus all of Siberia is to the west of the International Date Line, and all of Alaska is to the east of
that line.
2. (2) During the June solstice the Earth’s North Pole is
tilted 23.5 degrees towards the Sun relative to the
circle of illumination. This phenomenon keeps all
places above latitude of 66.5 degrees N in 24 hours
of sunlight, while locations below latitude of 66.5
degrees are in darkness.
3. (1) The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved
by the Colorado River in the United States in the
state of Arizona. It is contained within and managed
by Grand Canyon National Park, the Hualapai Tribal
Nation, and the Havasupai Tribe. President Theodore
Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of
the Grand Canyon area. A number of processes
combined to create the views that we see in today’s
Grand Canyon. The most powerful force to have an
impact on the Grand Canyon is erosion, primarily by
water (and ice) and second by wind. Other forces
that contributed to the Canyon’s formation are the
course of the Colorado River itself, volcanism,
continental drift and slight variations in the earth’s
orbit which in turn causes variations in seasons and
climate.
4. (3) Extensive deserts occur in the western tropical
regions of continents because of the effect of both
the offshore easterly trade winds and cold ocean
currents. Most deserts arise due to atmospheric wind
conditions. Other deserts result from the effects of
ocean currents on landmasses, where cool air masses
carry fog and mist, but little rain, along coastal regions.
World desert map depicts the location of all the
deserts of the world. … They are centered along the
Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The heart of the
tropical desert climate is found near the tropics of
Cancer and Capricorn, usually toward the western
side of the continents.
5. (1) Around 200 million years ago (also known as the
Middle Permian Period), an extensive sea stretched
along the latitudinal area presently occupied by the
Himalayas. This sea was named the Tethys. Around
this period, the super continent Pangaea began to
gradually split into different land masses and move
apart in different directions.
6. (4) Chambal ravine formation significantly increases
soil loss from agricultural lands and severely impacts
agricultural productivity. A review of ephemeral gully
erosion and spreading rates of the ravenous tracks
of Lower Chambal Valley using geospatial tools shows
that both the ravenous and the marginal lands have
increased during the last 15 years.
7. (1) The Himalayas, geologically young and structurally
fold mountains stretch over the northern borders of
India. These mountain ranges run in a west-east
direction from the Indus to the Brahmaputra. The
Brahmaputra marks the eastern most boundary of
the Himalayas. Beyond the Dihang gorge, the
Himalayas bend sharply to the south and spread along
the eastern boundary of india.
8. (3) An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of
energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves.
The world’s earthquakes are not randomly distributed
over the Earth’s surface. They tend to be concentrated
in narrow zones. An explanation is to be found in
plate tectonics, a concept which has revolutionized
thinking in the Earth’s sciences. Plate tectonics tells
us that the Earth’s rigid outer shell (lithosphere) is
broken into a mosaic of oceanic and continental plates
which can slide over the plastic asthenosphere, which
is the uppermost layer of the mantle. The plates are
in constant motion. Where they interact, along their
margins, important geological processes take place,
such as the formation of mountain belts, earthquakes,
and volcanoes.
9. (2) A great circle, also known as an orthodrome or
Riemannian circle, of a sphere is the intersection of
the sphere and a plane which passes through the
center point of the sphere, as opposed to a general
circle of a sphere where the plane is not required to
pass through the center. The equator is the circle
that is equidistant from the North Pole and South
Pole. It divides the Earth into the Northern
Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Of the
parallels or circles of latitude, it is the longest, and
the only ‘great circle’ (in that it is a circle on the
surface of the earth, centered on the center of the
earth). All the other parallels are smaller and centered
only on the earth’s axis.
10. (1) A hanging valley is a tributary valley with the floor
at a higher relief than the main channel into which it
flows. They are most commonly associated with Ushaped valleys when a tributary glacier flows into a
glacier of larger volume. The main glacier erodes a
deep U-shaped valley with nearly vertical sides while
the tributary glacier, with a smaller volume of ice,
makes a shallower U-shaped valley. Since the
surfaces of the glaciers were originally at the same
elevation, the shallower valley appears to be ‘hanging’
above the main valley