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APPROACH – ANSWER : GEOGRAPHY TEST 3- 2186 (2023)

1. Explain the role of river as a geomorphic agent with suitable examples of landforms formed during its
course of flow. ( 250 words) 15
Approach:
• Explain the role of running water as an agent of gradation.
• Discuss the role of river as a geomorphic agent in its different stages (youth, mature and old) with
suitable examples of various landforms formed by it.
Answer:
Running water is the main agent of gradation and forms both erosional and depositional features. Most of
the erosional landforms are associated with youthful stage of the rivers flowing over steep gradients. With
time, stream channels over steep gradients turn gentler due to continued erosion, and as a consequence,
lose their velocity, facilitating active deposition. A river can be divided into three courses– upper course,
middle course and lower course.

Erosional Landforms (Upper Course)

• Valleys- Gorges, Canyon
o A gorge is a deep valley with very steep to straight sides.
A gorge is almost equal in width at its top as well as
bottom and is formed in hard rocks.
o A canyon is characterized by steep step-like side slopes
and may be as deep as a gorge. Canyon is wider at its top
than at its bottom and is formed in horizontal bedded
sedimentary rocks.
• Potholes, Plunge pools
o Potholes are more or less circular depressions over the rocky beds of hills streams formed due to
hydraulic and Erosional power of river stream.
o Plunge pools are nothing but large, deep potholes commonly found at the foot of a waterfall.
• Incised or Entrenched Meanders

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 o They are very deep wide meanders (loop-like channels)
found cut in hard rocks.
• River Terraces
o They are surfaces marking old valley floor or flood
plains and are result of vertical erosion by the river
stream.
o When the terraces are of the same elevation on either
side of the river, they are called as paired terraces.
o When the terraces are seen only on one side with none on
the other or one at quite a different elevation on the other side, they are called as unpaired
terraces.
Depositional Landforms (Middle and Lower Course)
• Alluvial Fans
o When the stream moves from the higher-level break into foot slope plain of low gradient, it loses
its energy needed to transport much of its load. Thus, they get dumped and spread as a broad low
to the high cone-shaped deposits called an alluvial fan. The deposits are not roughly very well
sorted.
• Deltas
o Deltas are like an alluvial fan but develop at a different location. They are found in the mouth of
the river, which is the final location of depositional activity of a river.
o Unlike alluvial fans, the deposits making up deltas are very well sorted with clear stratification.
• Flood Plains, Natural Levees
o A riverbed made of river deposits is the active flood plain and the flood plain above the bank of
the river is the inactive flood plain.
o Natural levees are found along the banks of large rivers. They are low, linear and parallel ridges
of coarse deposits along the banks of a river.
• Braided Channels
o When selective deposition of coarser materials causes the formation of a central bar, it diverts the
flow of river towards the banks, which increases lateral erosion. When more and more such
central bars are formed, braided channels are formed.
o Riverine Islands are the result of braided channels.

2. What do you understand by heat balance or heat budget in meteorology? Also explain its importance in
deciphering the climate change phenomenon. (250 words) 15
Approach:
• Question seeks explanation on earth heat balance not on latitudinal heat balance. Answer should be
supplemented with sufficient facts as question is very basic.
• Describe effect of Green House Gasses on heat balance and how it impacts climate on earth.
Answer:
There has been a perfect balance between incoming heat absorbed by earth and outgoing heat escaping
from it in the form of radiation. If the balance is disturbed, then earth would get progressively warmer or
cooler with each passing year. This balance between incoming and outgoing heat is known as Earth’s heat
budget.
Mechanism of heat balance
Insolation is primary source of energy for earth atmospheric system. Consider that the insolation received
at the top of the atmosphere is 100 units. But while passing through the atmosphere some amount of this
solar energy is reflected, scattered and absorbed by clouds, dust particles and ice. Only the remaining part
reaches the earth’s surface.

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 Amounts lost through scattering and reflections are:
a. Through Clouds- 27 units
b. By dust particles – 6 units
c. By Ice Caps and Glaciers- 2 units
Total 35 units are reflected back into space which is known as albedo of earth.
Now, the units received by earth and its atmosphere = 100- 35 = 65 units
These remaining 65 units are absorbed, 14 units within the atmosphere and 51 units by the earth’s
surface.

The earth radiates back 51 units in the form of terrestrial radiation. Of these, 17 units are radiated to space
directly and the remaining 34 units are absorbed by the atmosphere (6 units absorbed directly by the
atmosphere, 9 units through convection and turbulence and 19 units through latent heat of condensation).
48 units absorbed by the atmosphere (14 units from insolation +34 units from terrestrial radiation) are also
radiated back into space. Thus, the total radiation returning from the earth and the atmosphere respectively
is 17+48=65 units which balance the total of 65 units received from the sun. This is termed the heat
budget or heat balance of the earth. This explains why the earth neither warms up nor cools down despite
the huge transfer of heat that takes place.
Significance of the concept of heat budget
It is important to keep track of the Earth's radiation budget because the production of greenhouse gases
seems to be affecting the natural balance. The atmosphere is highly selective in its absorptive properties
i.e. all gases cannot absorb all ranges of radiation. The major atmospheric gases (oxygen and nitrogen) are
transparent to incoming sunlight, and are also transparent to outgoing thermal infrared. However, water
vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gases (referred as Greenhouse gases) are opaque to
many wavelengths of thermal infrared energy. They absorb thermal infrared energy radiated by the
surface. This has a very important insight into how atmospheric heating can change if the component of
these greenhouse gases increases. Any abnormal rise in proportion of these gases can create serious
problem of global warming.
Thus heat budget is not only an insight into how balance is maintained but also throws light into how the
balance can be disturbed. In heat budget perspective we understand the role of different components and

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 processes and how they operate in unison. Researchers with an interest in climate science use the heat
budget in their calculations and projections to learn more about current weather patterns and to predict
what may emerge in the future.

3. What is inversion of temperature? Discuss the various mechanisms of occurrence of this phenomenon
along with its climatic and economic significance. (150 words) 10
Approach:
• Explain the concept of temperature inversion.
• Then discuss various mechanisms of occurrence of this phenomenon.
• Finally discuss its climatic and economic impacts on locality of its occurrence.
Answer:
Normally, temperature decreases with increase in altitude, which is called normal lapse rate. However,
sometime the temperature increases with altitude. This phenomenon is called inversion of temperature.
Various mechanisms
• Inversion of temperature is generally witnessed during winter season. A long winter night with clear
skies and still air is ideal situation for temperature inversion. The heat of the day is radiated off
during night, and by early morning hours, the earth is cooler than the air above. Over polar areas,
temperature inversion is normal throughout the year.
• The inversion takes place in hills and mountains due to air drainage. Cold air at the hills and
mountains, produced during night, flow under the influence of gravity and moves down the slope to
pile up deeply in pockets and valley bottoms with warm air above.
• A frontal inversion occurs when a cold air mass undercuts a warm air mass and lifts it aloft; the front
between the two air masses then has warm air above and cold air below.
Climatic significance
• Surface inversion promotes stability in the lower layers of the atmosphere due to which smoke and
dust particles get collected beneath the inversion layer and spread horizontally causing dense fogs in
morning during winters.
• Inversion of temperature causes frost when the condensation of warm air due to its cooling by cold air
below occurs at temperature below freezing points.
• Inversion of temperature causes atmosphere stability which stops upward and downward movement
of air, a condition unfavourable for rainfall.
• Hills top are warmer during freezing winter.
Economic significance
• Frost caused due to inversion damages crops in foothills, whereas trees and vegetation at top of hills
and mountains are not damaged. The valley floors in the hills of Brazil are avoided for coffee
cultivation because of frequent frosts.
• Due to this phenomenon, air pollutants fine air pollutants do not disperse in the valley bottom forcing
houses and farms in intermountain valleys to relocate along upper slopes.
• Fogs lower visibility affecting traffic movements. Though generally fogs are unfavourable for many
agricultural crops such as grams, peas, mustard plants, wheat etc. but sometimes they are also
favourable for some crops such as coffee plants in Yemen hills of Arabia where fogs protect coffee
plants from direct strong sun’s rays.

4. Differentiate between planetary winds and local winds in terms of their origin, influence and scales of
operation. Also illustrate the impact of local winds in influencing the climate of any area.(150 words) 10
Approach:
• The difference should cover all the relevant parts. Also the question is very specific and there is no
need of a general discussion on circulation patterns or pressure cells.

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Answer:
• Planetary winds are the winds, which provide for a general circulation of the atmosphere. These include
the winds like Trade winds, Westerlies and the Polar Easterlies. These winds are caused by the latitudinal
variation of atmospheric heating and the pressure gradient force. Also the rotation of the earth and the
coriolis force are the reasons for these wind movements. These winds work on a macro scale and are
responsible for transfer of heat from lower latitudes to the higher latitudes. Moreover, these winds also
affect the oceanic circulations, which in turn influence the coastal climates.
• Local winds on the other hand are the winds, which are caused by local factors like local temperature
difference as in the case of land and sea breezes or the mountain and valley winds. They may also be
caused by local pressure differences as in the case of Foehn where the cause is pressure difference on
either side of a mountain range. These winds work on a meso scale and transfer heat at a smaller scale.
These winds play a big role in determining the climate of a region because in some cases, these are the
dominant climate influencing factor in comparison to the planetary winds.
• For instance let us consider the land and sea breezes which are local winds. They work on a diurnal
timescale resulting from the differential heating and cooling between land surfaces and adjacent sea areas.
When the land heats up rapidly each morning, lower pressure forms and a gentle breeze begins to blow
from the sea to the land. By early afternoon, this breeze has strengthened sufficiently to bring a freshness,
which, in the tropics particularly, is much appreciated by tourists at the beach resorts. By sunset, the air
and sea are both calm again. The impact of these winds can reach as deep as 20 km inland and can lower
the coastal temperatures by 15 degree Celsius.
• At night, when the sea retains heat longer than the land, there is reversal of the pressure gradient and
therefore of the wind direction. The land breeze thus begins just after sunset and dies away by the sunrise.

5. Why deserts are formed on the west coast in mid-latitudes of the continents? (150 words) 10
Approach:
• Introduction can highlight the major factors involved in deserts being on the west coast.
In body discuss these major factors in brief with a map. Conclude with significance of the
phenomenon.
Answer:
The presence of cold currents, anti-cyclonic conditions, offshore trade winds and rain-shadow effect on
the coasts leads to formation of deserts on the west coast in mid-latitudes of the continents.
1. Offshore areas of trade winds: When the moisture laden trade wind flows from east to west, they shed
their moisture on the eastern part and by the time they reach the western margin, they become dry. These
dry winds make the soil more and this led to the formation of the desert.

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 2. Anticyclonic conditions: The areas between 20 ° -30 ° latitude on western margins of continents are
the regions of descending air. Because of this, the air gets compressed and warm as it descends and thus
the moisture keeps decreasing.
3. Formation of Rain-shadow Zone: A region in the lee of mountains that receives less rainfall than the
region windward of the mountains is called rain-shadow zone. For example: Mohave Desert’s formation
in North America is attributed to this factor.
4. Presence of cold ocean currents along the western coast of continents tends to stabilise the air over
the coast. This prevents cloud formation and rainfall resulting in arid conditions and contributing to the
desert formation.
Thus, understanding the physical features helps us better appreciate the geographical phenomenon and
diversity on the Earth.

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