Hydrosphere — Part 1 MCQs with Explanations

The Marine cliffs are formed mainly due to Ocean Currents. Moving water works as degradational agent (erosional). As oceanic currents move constantly in their definite path. They erode away rock against which they strike.

The main Hawaiian Islands are a group of inhabited islands situated in the northern Pacific Ocean.

Victoria Falls is one of the greatest attractions in Africa and one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world, Victoria Falls is located on the Zambezi River, the fourth largest river in Africa, which is also defining the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Atlantic Ocean routes are busier than the Pacific Ocean routes because Atlantic Ocean is surrounded on both sides by industrialised nations. The Atlantic ocean is the second largest ocean basin only behind the pacific ocean.Its bounded by North and South Americas in the west and Africa and Europe in the east. It also boasts of being the busiest ocean in the world.

The Humboldt Current, also known as the Peru Current, is an ocean current that flows along the western coast of South America, affecting the water and air temperatures of coastal Chile and Peru.

These are the shallow sea zones where cold and warm water currents mix well making them great breeding grounds for fishes. At Grand Bank cold Labrador and warm Gulf Stream meets. Dogger Bank in North Sea is shallow sea water zone which receives ample sunlight preparing grounds depression on earth. Both are main fish catching zone.

The Kuroshio, one of the three largest of the world’s ocean currents, has long fascinated humans. The Japanese named it Kuroshio, or black current, for its dark, cobalt blue waters. Physical oceanographer Steven Jayne said, “The Kuroshio is the strongest current in the Pacific Ocean, and is also one of the most intense air-sea heat exchange regions on the globe. It influences climate as far as North America.”

Rivers in "Annular" pattern flow in like a ring. In this pattern streams take roughly circular or concentric path along weak rock belt resembling ring like pattern. Example - The Amarkantak Plateau.

Tunnels is not formed by running water. A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through the surrounding soil/earth/rock and enclosed except for entrance and exit, commonly at each end.

Peru Current also know as Humboldt Current is a cold water current in Pacific Ocean, the rest of the current are of Atlantic Ocean.

One will not have to pass through the Suez Canal while going from Bombay to Suez.

Of the many processes involved in the water cycle, the most important are Evaporation – Condensation – Precipitation – Infiltration.

Due to action of water, inundation of shoreline takes place and such an inundation with a wide inlet and concave shape is called bay. Example- Hudson Bey.

River Ganga and river Brahmaputra make the largest river delta of the World. Its a combined delta ever increasing as the two keep pouring more and more sediments into the sea. New islands keep appearing every year.

The lake Ontario and St. Lawrence of USA and Canada lie to the south-east of Hudson Bay. Lake Ontario is located on the border of the US and Canada. It borders the US states of New York and the Canadian province Ontario.

The World's Ocean Fishing grounds are located in the cool waters of the northern hemisphere because in southern hemisphere commercial ocean fishing is less developed and best fishing grounds founded above continental shelves.

Rapids-Ox-bow lake-Estuary. Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake that forms when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea.

The main part of water in coastal areas of ocean which is located near the main region of continents are called Continental Shelf. Continental shelf is one of the features of continental landmass submerged under shallow sea water. Its average widths is approximately 80km, and depth varies to about 150m.

The Niger rises in Guinea at 9°05′ N and 10°47′ W on the eastern side of the Fouta Djallon (Guinea) highlands, only 150 miles (240 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean.

Oxbow lake is not a landform which results due to rejuvenation of a river. River rejuvenation involves a renewed period of vertical erosion to achieve a new and lower base level. An oxbow is a crescent-shaped lake lying alongside a winding river.

A steep sided canyon is formed by the river Colorado in the State of Arizona in U.S.A. The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon faces a battery of threats, each with a critical decision point.

A ship met with an accident at 30ºC and 35ºN. The ship was sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. The latitude of Mediterranean Sea is 34.553127, and the longitude is 18.048012. Mediterranean Sea is located at Italy country in the Seas place category with the gps coordinates of 34° 33' 11.2572'' N and 18° 2' 52.8432'' E.

The rise & fall of sea water due to gravity is termed as tide. It is combined effect of gravitational forces of moon and sun. As moon is closer to Earth than Sun, its gravitational pull is more as compared to that of Sun.

When water freezes in the polar seas the salts remain in the subsurface water that does not freeze. Seawater of typical saltiness freezes at about -1.8 °C. The water in contact with the freezing ice is cold and contains some of the salt excluded from the ice, so it is more dense than the warmer water below, and it sinks, mixing with the deeper water. This mixture ends up on the bottom of the ocean.

Of the following the busiest oceanic trade route is North Atlantic route. It connects the South America to North America(Panama Canal), Africa to Europe and Europe to Asia (through Gibraltar Strait connecting Mediterranean Sea ). It is the trade route between the continents and is always full of cargo ships being carried around continent to page on continent.

Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, it is considered to be the deepest part of the Earth’s surface. In fact, it is the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench that is known as the deepest point.

The average salinity of the sea water is 35 parts per thousand. The average ocean salinity is 35 ppt and the average river water salinity is 0.5 ppt or less. This means that in every kilogram (1000 grams) of seawater, 35 grams are salt.

Orinoco, Amazon and Congo rivers falls into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Sargasso Sea is a huge patch of ocean that is completely surrounded by water on all sides. It’s located within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre and is surrounded by strong currents, which makes it the only sea in the world that doesn’t have a land boundary.

The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and stretches to the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

The 'Water table' refers to the upper limit of the zone of saturation. The upper most surface or top level of the zone of saturation is called the water-table. It can also be defined as the level at and below which soil particles are completely saturated. Water table generally follows the relief Unsaturated Zone of the ground.

Two main cold currents in the North Pacific Ocean are known as Oyashio and California currents. The Oyashio cold current is also known as Kurile cold current. This cold current flows through the Bering Strait in southerly direction and thus transports cold water of the Arctic Sea into the Pacific Ocean. Near 50°N latitude this current is bifurcated into two branches. The California current, an example of cold current, is similar to the Canary cold current of the Atlantic Ocean in most of its characteristics. In fact, this current is the eastward extended portion of the North Pacific drift.

Depletion of dissolved oxygen is observed in a lake after its eutrophication. Eutrophication is the process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients (as phosphates), stimulating the growth of aquatic plant life usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen.

North East Monsoon Drift flows in the Indian Ocean during winter season. North-East Monsoon Drift is formed when, in winter, the North-East Monsoon causes a westward and southward drift along the eastern coats of India and along the Arabian coast.. Kuroshic current in the Pacific Ocean is like Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. The Kuroshio System consists of several currents and drifts is similar to the Gulf Stream system of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Diamantina Trench is a deep sea trench in the South East Indian Basin. With a maximum depth of 8,047 meters, it is the deepest trench of the Indian Ocean, deeper than the better-known Java Trench.

A narrow piece of land that connects two landmasses is known as an isthmus. It is generally surrounded by water bodies on two of its sides.

Rome is not situated on the banks of the river Danube. The Danube River flows directly through many significant European cities, including four national capitals – Vienna (Austria), Bratislava (Slovakia), Budapest (Hungary) and Belgrade (Serbia). It originates in Germany’s Black Forest, and flows in a southeasterly direction through central and eastern Europe to the black sea.

The Yangtze River in China is the longest river in Asia, the third longest river in the world and the longest river to flow entirely in one country.

The Indira Gandhi Canal is the longest canal in India and the largest irrigation project in the world. Indira Gandhi Canal is 649 km long and consists of Rajasthan feeder canal and Rajasthan main canal and runs through 167 km in Punjab and Haryana and remaining 492 km in Rajasthan.

The Strait connecting Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal is Palk Strait. It connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with Palk Bay in the southwest. The strait is 53 to 82 kilometres (33 to 51 mi) wide.