World Physical Geography MCQs for UPSC Prelims

Correct answer: B - Atlas Mountains : North-Western Africa

The Atlas Mountains run across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in north-western Africa, so option (b) is correctly matched. Option (a) is wrong because the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) Plateau lies in Ethiopia, East Africa, not Arabia. Option (c) is wrong because the Guiana Highlands are in north-eastern South America, not south-western Africa. Option (d) is wrong because the Okavango Basin is in southern Africa (Botswana), whereas Patagonia is in southern South America.

Correct answer: B - Central Asian Steppe

The Central Asian Steppe has an extreme continental climate with very hot summers and bitterly cold winters, scanty rainfall, and was historically home to nomadic pastoralists such as the Mongols and Kazakhs, so option (b) fits the description best. The African Savannah has a tropical wet-and-dry climate with a distinct rainy season, not scanty rainfall throughout, so option (a) is wrong. The North American Prairie is largely a settled, mechanised grain-farming belt rather than one of nomadic herders, ruling out option (c). The Siberian Tundra is too cold and barren for pastoral herding of the steppe type and is associated with reindeer-based subsistence in a polar climate, so option (d) is incorrect.

Correct answer: D - 1, 2 and 3

Equatorial rainforests are characterised by tall, densely packed trees whose crowns interlock to form a continuous canopy (statement 1), by exceptional biodiversity with a large number of coexisting plant and animal species (statement 2), and by abundant epiphytes such as orchids and ferns growing on the trees in the humid environment (statement 3). Since all three are hallmark features of equatorial forests, option (d) is correct and the partial options (a), (b) and (c) are incorrect.

Correct answer: C - Only four

The Andes run along the western edge of South America and pass through Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela among the listed countries, giving four. Brazil lies to the east and is dominated by plateaus and the Amazon basin, while landlocked Paraguay lies in the interior lowlands, so neither is crossed by the Andes. Hence the range passes through only four of the listed countries.

Correct answer: B - Equatorial

The passage describes a daily cycle of clear mornings, intense afternoon heating, towering clouds and convectional thundershowers that pass quickly. This is the classic equatorial (hot, wet, doldrums) climate where convectional rain falls almost every afternoon throughout the year. Savannah has a marked dry season, the monsoon has seasonal (not daily) rainfall reversal, and the Mediterranean climate has dry summers and winter rain, so they do not fit.

Correct answer: B - Only two

The Appalachians of North America and the Andes of South America are both fold mountains, so rows 3 and 4 are correctly matched, giving two correct rows. Row 1 is wrong because the Vosges are a block or horst mountain, not a fold mountain. Row 2 is wrong because the Alps are a classic fold mountain, not a block mountain. With exactly two rows correct, option (b) is right.

Correct answer: C - 3 and 4 only

The Volga, Europe's longest river, drains into the landlocked Caspian Sea, and the Zambezi empties into the Indian Ocean off Mozambique, so pairs 3 and 4 are correct. The Mekong does not reach the Andaman Sea; it flows through Southeast Asia and discharges into the South China Sea. The Thames flows through London and drains into the North Sea, not the Irish Sea. Hence only 3 and 4 are correctly matched.

Correct answer: A - 1 only

Only the Aral Sea has shrunk dramatically, mainly because Soviet-era diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for irrigation cut off its inflow. So 'A' (1 only) is correct. The Black Sea is a large sea connected to the Mediterranean and has not dried up, and Lake Baikal, the world's deepest freshwater lake, remains essentially intact. Hence statements 2 and 3 are wrong.