Exploring the Bottom-Relief Features of the Atlantic Ocean Exploring the Bottom-Relief Features of the Atlantic Ocean Introduction As a teacher, I am excited to explore the bottom-relief features of the Atlantic Ocean with my students. The Atlantic Ocean is full of fascinating geography and morphology, including the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, ocean deeps, marginal seas, ocean basins, […]
As a teacher, it is essential to provide a comprehensive understanding of Roman geographers’ contributions to the field of geography during the Roman Empire. Despite the prevalent perception that the Romans did not make significant contributions to geography, the work of several prominent individuals, including Marcus Terentius Varro, Strabo, and Ptolemy, marks an important milestone
Exploring the Climatic Regions of India India is a diverse country, full of various physical and cultural aspects. One of the most interesting topics to study in India is its climatic regions. The climatic regions of India have been extensively studied by scholars and experts using the Köppen system, which takes into account the monthly
Understanding Drought-Prone Regions in India As a teacher, it is essential to educate students about various geographical phenomena that affect our planet. One such phenomenon is drought, which has a significant impact on India. In this article, we will explore the significance, features, objectives, effects, and fun facts about drought-prone regions in India. Significance of
Understanding Salinity: The Measure of Salt in Water Salinity is a crucial aspect of our oceans and seas, influencing various physical and chemical properties of water. It refers to the measure of the amount of dissolved salts in water and is typically expressed in grams of salt per liter or kilogram of water, or in
The Fundamental Concepts of Geomorphology Geomorphology is a fascinating and diverse subject that involves the study of earth’s relief features and the processes that shape them. In this article, we will explore the most important principles of geomorphology known as the fundamental concepts of geomorphology. These concepts are crucial in understanding and interpreting landscapes. Concept
Understanding Salinity: The Measure of Dissolved Salts in Water Salinity is a term used to describe the measure of the amount of dissolved salts in water. It is usually expressed in grams of salt per liter or kilogram of water, or in parts per thousand (‰). Salinity affects numerous physical and chemical properties of water,
The Devastating Effects of Floods: Understanding the Significance, Features, and Impacts As a teacher, it is crucial to educate students about natural disasters, including floods. Floods are a state of high water level along a river channel or on the coast, leading to the inundation of land that is typically not submerged. They can occur
Understanding Salinity: A Comprehensive Guide Salinity is a crucial concept in the field of oceanography and environmental studies. It refers to the measure of the amount of dissolved salts in water and is usually expressed in grams of salt per liter or kilogram of water, or in parts per thousand (‰). Salinity plays a significant
Understanding the Difference between Corrosion and Corrasion As a teacher, it is essential to provide comprehensive knowledge to your students. Today, let’s explore the difference between two terms that may appear similar but have distinct meanings and implications – corrosion and corrasion. Image Source: geographystudy.com Difference between Corrosion and Corrasion Corrosion and corrasion are distinct
Understanding the Difference Between Anticline and Syncline Anticlines and synclines are two fundamental geological structures commonly found in folded rock layers within the Earth’s crust. They are essential components of structural geology and provide valuable information about the history of rock deformation. Difference Between Anticline and Syncline What is Anticline? An anticline is a type
Factors Affecting Industrial Location Decisions Industrial location decisions are critical for businesses as they determine the optimal location for their facilities. The choice of location can significantly impact the company’s efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and overall success. Various factors influence industrial location decisions, and understanding them is crucial for companies and policymakers alike. Significance of Industrial Location
The Indian Railways: An Overview of the 18 Railway Zones The Indian Railways is one of the largest railway networks in the world, connecting millions of people and transporting goods across the country. To efficiently manage and operate this vast network, the Indian Railways is divided into 18 railway zones. Each zone has its own
Types of Clouds and their Origin | UPSC – IAS We all know the sky can be full of water. But most of the time we can’t witness the water. The drops of water are too small to see. Clouds are visible accumulations of water droplets or solid ice crystals that float in the Earth’s
Distribution of Salinity, Density and Temperature of Sea Water | UPSC The world ocean meaning the combined oceans of the earth, occupying about 71% of the earth’s surface & has a mean depth of about 3800m including shallow seas in addition to the main basins. The round figure of 4000m applies quite well to the
Types of satellite orbits and their features | UPSC – IAS When the satellite is moving in the orbits, it stays in position because the centripetal force on the satellite balances the gravitational attractive force of the earth. This balance depends on the following: Distance from the earth Tangential speed of the satellite Earth’s radius
Significance of Geographical Tag of – Kashmir saffron Kashmir saffron is a very precious and costly product. With the GI tag, Kashmir saffron would gain more prominence in the export market and also stop adulteration prevalent in the trade of Kashmir saffron. As Iran is responsible for 90–93% of global production, with much of their
Subduction Zone- are the regions where tectonic plates converge and one plate slips/subsides beneath the other. It results in formation of trenches for Example:- Aleutian Trench. At these regions, magma finds its way to the surface resulting in volcanic eruptions. Importance of studying Subduction zones them: Climate change – Aerosols released during volcano can slow
Invasive Alien Species by Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) | UPSC – IAS An invasive alien species is a species that is not native to a specific location (an introduced species), and that has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health. An introduced
Heat budget of the earth and Distribution of Temperature | UPSC – IAS Earth’s internal heat budget is fundamental to the thermal history of the Earth. A heat budget is the perfect balance between incoming heat absorbed by earth and outgoing heat escaping it in the form of radiation. Learning Objectives:- Difference between Shortwave and Longwave Radiation What happens to solar radiation
Physical Geography Dictionary and Glossary | A to Z | UPSC – IAS Geography terms and Definitions starting with A | UPSC – IAS Ablation – Wastage of glacial ice through melting and sublimation. Ablation zone The lower portion of a glacier where there is a net annual loss of ice due to melting and
Golan Heights Dispute | U.S, Israel and Syria | Significance | UPSC – IAS The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant, spanning about 1,800 square kilometres. as a geopolitical region, the Golan Heights is the area captured from Syria and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War, territory which
Kelp Forests and Climate Change | UPSC – IAS Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. Kelp forests occur worldwide throughout temperate and polar coastal oceans. They are
National Mineral Policy 2019 | UPSC – IAS National Mineral Policy 2019 replaces the extant National Mineral Policy 2008 in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court. The aim of National Mineral Policy 2019 is to have a:- More effective, Meaningful and implementable policy that brings in further transparency, better regulation and enforcement, balanced
Cryosphere and Permafrost | Geography Optional | UPSC – IAS The cryosphere is those portions of Earth’s surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, and frozen ground. Thus, there is a wide overlap with the hydrosphere. Second only to the world
Volcanism, Lava Flows and Volcanic Eruptions | UPSC – IAS Volcanism or Volcanicity Volcanism (or igneous processes) is a general term that refers to all the phenomena connected with the origin and movement of molten rock. These phenomena include the well-known explosive volcanic eruptions that are among the most spectacular and terrifying events in all
Plate boundaries and Plate movements | UPSC – IAS Plates are relatively cold and rigid and therefore deformed significantly only at the edges and only where one plate interacts with another. Most of the “action” in plate tectonics takes place along such plate boundaries. Three types of plate boundaries are possible: Two plates may diverge
Understanding the Earthquakes and Volcanoes | UPSC – IAS In order to understand concept of ring of fire, it is important to first conceptualize the overarching context within which various factors operate. Both earthquakes and volcanoes can be explained by the theory of plate tectonics. The earth’s crust consists of a series of plates. There
Hotspots, Mantle Plumes and Accreted terranes | UPSC – IAS (ADDITIONS TO PLATE TECTONIC THEORY) With each passing year, we learn more about plate tectonics. Two examples of important additions to plate tectonic theory are hot spots and accreted terranes. HotSpots and Mantle Plumes | UPSC – IAS One augmentation to plate tectonic theory was
Theory of Plate tectonics Definition and Evidence | UPSC – IAS Tectonic plates are massive, rigid pieces of the Earth’s crust; they form the majority of the geological foundation of the surface features of the earth. These plates slowly travel across the Earth, moving entire sections of continental and oceanic crust along with them. Despite the questions about
4 pieces of evidence for continental drift by Alfred Wegener (An Analysis of – Evidence and Rejection of the Theory) During the second and third decades of the twentieth century, the notion of continental drift was revived, most notably by the German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener. Wegener put together the first comprehensive theory to
Internal Processes of Earth System: Endogenetic Forces | UPSC – IAS The Earth is shaped by many different geological processes. The forces that cause these processes come from both above and beneath the Earth’s surface. Processes that are caused by forces from within the Earth are endogenetic processes. It is in this Series we fully
Why Climate Change is a security issue? | UPSC IAS Many Scholars declared Climate Change as Warming War which requires intervention of United Nation Security Council as per its mandate under article 39 of UN charter. The Warming War is a metaphor (like Cold War) which conveys how climate change acts as a driver of
What is National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) ? | UPSC – IAS It is a pollution control initiative to cut the concentration of particles (PM10 & PM2.5) by 20-30% by 2024. It will have 2017 as the base year for comparison and 2019 as the first year. It is to be implemented in 102 non-attainment
Temperate Cyclones or Frontal cyclones or Mid-latitude or Wave cyclones or Extratropical Cyclone Temperate or Extratropical cyclones are capable of producing anything from:- Cloudiness and mild showers to heavy gales, thunderstorms, blizzards, and tornadoes. Probably most significant of all atmospheric disturbances are mid latitude or temperate cyclones. Throughout the mid-latitudes, they dominate weather maps, are basically responsible for most
Classification of Air masses and Fronts | Geography Optional | UPSC – IAS Air Masses Although the troposphere is a continuous body of mixed gases that surrounds the planet, it is by no means a uniform blanket of air. Instead, it is composed of many large parcels of air that are distinct from one another.
Global Distribution of Major Soil Types in the World | Geography Optional | UPSC There are twelve (12) orders of soils, which are distinguished largely on the basis of properties that reflect a major course of development, with considerable emphasis on the presence or absence of notable diagnostic horizons. We consider each of the twelve
Soil Profile | Diagram, Horizons and Layers | UPSC – IAS Image – Idealized soil profile. The true soil, or solum, consists of the O, A, E, and B horizons. The vertical variation of soil properties is not random but rather an ordered layering with depth. Soil tends to have more or less distinctly recognizable layers, called
Leaching of Soil | UPSC – IAS | Geography Optional For plants, capillary water is the most important and gravitational water is largely superfluous. After gravitational water has drained away, the remaining volume of water represents the field capacity of the soil. If drought conditions prevail and the capillary water is all used up by plants or
Genesis of Soil Structure | Geography Optional | UPSC IAS Although the lithosphere encompasses the entire planet, from surface to core, the part that holds our attention here is soil, the topmost layer. Soil is the essential medium in which most terrestrial life is nurtured. Almost all land plants sprout from this precious medium, spread
The Köppen Climate Classification System | UPSC – IAS To cope with the great diversity of information encompassed by the study of global climate distribution, we need a classification scheme to simplify, organize, and generalize a vast array of data. The Koppen climate classification system is by far the most widely used modern climate classification
Time zones and International date line | UPSC – IAS Comprehending time around the world depends on an understanding of both the geographic grid of latitude and longitude, and of Earth–Sun relations. As Malcolm Thomson, a Canadian authority on the physics of time has noted, there are really only three natural units of time: The
Origin and Interior of the earth and Age of Earth | UPSC – IAS Origin of Earth and Universe The origin of Earth, and indeed of the universe, is incompletely understood. It is generally accepted that the universe began with a cosmic event called the big bang. The most widely held view is that the
THE STRUCTURE OF EARTH | UPSC – IAS | Geography Optional Physical conditions of the Earth’s Interior | UPSC – IAS Our knowledge of the Earth’s Interior is based largely on indirect evidence. No human activity has explored more than a minute fraction of the vastness beneath the surface. No one has penetrated as much as one-thousandth
These two images of the Sun show how the number of sunspots varies over the course of a sunspot cycle. The image on the left, with many sunspots, was taken near solar max in March 2001. The right hand image, in which no spots are evident, was taken near solar min in January 2005. Images
Great Indian bustard (Ardeotis Nigriceps) – Population Fall | UPSC – IAS A recent study suggests that, Great Indian Bustard population has been falling continuously, from around 1,260 in 1969 to less than 200 in 2018. About Great Indian bustard (Ardeotis Nigriceps) It’s among the heaviest bird with a horizontal body and long bare legs
Blue Economy and its Components | UPSC – IAS As per the World Bank, Blue Economy is the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem. It covers several sectors linked directly or indirectly to the oceans such as – Fishing, minerals, shipping and
Different Areas under UNCLOS III :Internal waters Covers all water and waterways on the landward side of the baseline. The coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource. Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters. Territorial waters : Out to 12 nautical miles from the baseline, the
[ Image explanation – Lowest salinity (violet and blue areas) is found in areas of freshwater runoff, such as the mouths of rivers, and where rainfall is high (as in the ITCZ); highest salinity (red and yellow) is found where evaporation rates are highest.] Factors affecting the salinity of the sea or ocean water |
Theory of Isostasy | Geography Optional | UPSC – IAS Introduction to Theory of Isostasy The term “Isostasy” is derived from “Isostasios”, a word of Greek language meaning the state of being in balance or equal standing or in equipoise. The theory of isostasy explains, the tendency of the earth’s crust to attain equilibrium and the distribution of
