KERALA PSC / PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY / WAVES / NOTES /
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
KERALA PSC / PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY / WAVES / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
·
A
wave is an undulation that moves across the surface of the sea caused by the
transfer of energy from the wind to the sea
·
Standing
waves or stationary waves are caused by storm or sudden disturbances in water
or atmosphere
·
Tidal
waves or seismic waves of tsunamis are waves which are formed by
underwater earthquakes in volcanic eruptions at the sea bottom. They have a
long tidal period and a very high speed
·
A
canyon is a deep narrow valley with almost upright sides formed by the
denudation of soft rocks by rivers and rain water. Eg: Grand canyon on the
Colorado River in USA
·
Fringing
Reef is a belt of a reef that grows around island on
along the coasts. Fringing reefs occur on Southern Florida Coast New Hebrides
and near Rameshwaram
·
Barrier
reef was developed by the accumulation of corals of
various sizes
·
Coral
reef is a ridge of rock
in the sea that is composed chiefly of the skeletons of small animals called
reef-building coral polyps
·
The
most extensive of all the barrier reefs is the Great Barrier Reef of Australia
·
Atoll
is a circular or
horse-shoe shaped coral reef surrounding a lagoon either having an island or
submerged plateau in it. They are found chiefly in the Pacific Ocean
·
Lagoon
is a shallow
stretch of water separated completely or partly from the sea by a narrow strip
of land
·
Isthmus
is a narrow strip
of land joining two larger areas of land that would otherwise be separated by
water. The isthmus of Panama joins North and South America
·
Strait
is a narrow
passage of water connecting two seas or two large areas of water
·
A
bay is a part of the sea or of a large lake enclosed by a wide curve of the
shore
·
Gulf
is a part of the
sea almost surrounded by land. Gulf streams are warm currents flowing across
the Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Mexico towards Europe
·
High
seas are the open seas or oceans outside any territorial waters of countries. They
are also known as International waters
·
The
laws binding the territorial right over the sea has been fixed by the UN and
have been accepted since 1974. Within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) the
coastal state has the right to exploit all economic resources-fish, minerals,
oil and gas and energy production
·
An
estuary is the single
v-shaped mouth of a river when it merges into the sea. It is wider near the sea
·
A
delta is a triangular
tract of alluvium, usually fan shaped at the mouth of a river where it deposits
more material than can be carried away. The river gets divided into two or more
channels (distributaries), which may further divide and rejoin to form a
network of channels.
·
The
world’s largest delta Sunderbans, is formed by the Ganges and the Brahmaputra
in India and Bangladesh. Its area is nearly 75000 sq.km
·
Beach
is the shore of a
sea, consisting of a strip of pebbles, sand or mud lying between low and high
water marks
·
Shoal
is a shallow
region in a sea, river or lake
·
A
waterfall is simply the fall
of an enormous volume of water from a great height. Jog or Gersoppa Falls on
Sharavati (a tributary of Cauvery) in Karnataka is the highest waterfall in
India
·
A
glacier is a moving mass
of ice at a speed averaging between 30 to 40 cm and 15 to 18 meters per day. It
originates at high altitudes due to low temperatures and high orographic
precipitation
·
A
gorge is a narrow deep V
shaped valley. It has almost vertical sides. Himalayan rivers formed deep
gorges through middle and higher Himalayas
·
Rapids:
When the hard and
the soft rocks lines across the path of the river alternatively the harder
rocks areas remain slightly higher then the soft rock area due to differential
erosion. In such instance the river appears jumping over some what raised parts
of its bed which are called rapids
·
Meanders: The tendency of the river to more along a serpentine path
is called meandering and the curving bend in its course are called meanders.
KERALA PSC / PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY / WAVES / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
