KERALA PSC / PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY / WAVES / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

 

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