Hydrosphere — Part 2 MCQs with Explanations

The Balearic Islands is a Spanish archipelago located in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous community of Spain. It has four major islands and several minor ones.

Bulgaria does not border mediterranean sea, shares the boundary with Black-sea.

The factors that effect the movement of ocean currents are Earth's gravity, Atmospheric pressure, Winds, Salinity of the water and Seasonal Variations.

Fishing grounds are concentrated in the high latitudes. The reasons are there great length of indented coastline, extensive continental shelves and water temperatures lower than 20°C.

The Kiel Canal links the North Sea and Baltic Sea. The canal constitutes the safest, most convenient, shortest, and cheapest shipping route between the two seas.

The deepest known depression on the earth is the Mariana Trench, which lies east of the Mariana Islands in the western North Pacific Ocean; it reaches 11,034 metres (36,200 feet) at its deepest point.

Major source of oceanic salinity is rivers. There are many chemicals in seawater that make it salty. Most of them get there from rivers carrying chemicals dissolved out of rock and soil. The main one is sodium chloride, often just called salt.

The average depth of the Indian Ocean is about 12,750 feet. The deepest is 24,440 feet in the Java Trench in the extreme northeast corner of the basin.

"The deepest point in the ocean is generally believed to be in the Marianas Trench in the Western Pacific Ocean at approximately 36,160 feet (11,021 m), according to the Rand McNally Atlas (1977)."

These margins coincide with the plate margins best explains the reason for the eastern and western boundaries of the Pacific Ocean experiencing frequent earthquake.

The oceanic current named as 'Kuroshio - Kurile and Alaskan' are located in North Pacific Ocean.

Phnom-Penh cities is associated with the river Mekong. The river flows through Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam before draining into the South China Sea south of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Vientiane (Viangchan), the capital of Laos, and Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, both stand on its banks.

The most important navigable river in, Central Europe that provides a link between seven countries-Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Rome, Russia and Yugoslavia is Danube.

Potomac river is a river in United States of America which drains an area of about 14,700 square miles and empties into Chesapeake Bay. Washington, D.C., is the capital city of the United States, located between Virginia and Maryland on the north bank of the Potomac River.

The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula and Russia, is the smallest among the following water bodies.

Fresh water are not favourable for the growth of coral reefs. Coral require fairly good amount of sunlight to survive. The ideal depths for coral growth are 45 m to 55 m below sea surface, where there is abundant sunlight available. Clear salt water: Clear salt water is suitable for coral growth, while both fresh water and highly saline water are harmful.

The state of Hawaii consists of eight larger islands (seven of which are populated), also called the Main Hawaiian Islands, and 124 small, uninhabited islands, reefs and shoals, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where the majority of the Hawaiian coral reef, about 70% of it, is located.

The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, with an area of approximately 7,050,000 square kilometres (2,720,000 sq mi).

The ocean surface currents follow clockwise circulatory paths in the northern parts of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans due to the Corioli's force. The Coriolis effect shifts surface currents by angles of about 45°. In the Northern Hemisphere, ocean currents are deflected to the right, in a clockwise motion.

North Atlantic warm currents flow in this region the ports of Baltic sea opened for trade in winter. Extended Gulf stream current above 40N latitude in Atlantic is termed as North Atlantic Drift, a warm water current, flowing from tropics towards pole affecting climate of near by coastal regions. Hence, sea ports in West Europe between 50N - 60N Latitude remain open in winters also.

The reason behind broadening the river valley is soil erosion. As the river water comes in contact with soil and rocks on its banks, it weathers up the material & after sometime this weathered up material is eroded away by same river water. Hence river valley is broadened.

Indian Ocean has Monsoon drift factors is responsible for the change in the regular direction of the ocean currents in the Indian Ocean. The currents in the northern portion of the Indian Ocean change their direction from season to season in response to the seasonal rhythm of the monsoons.

isohaline is a line or surface drawn on a map or chart to indicate connecting points of equal salinity in the ocean.

The ideal conditions for coral growth are water temperature around 20°C, tropical waters (between 30°N and 30°S) and adequate oxygen.

The water currents are responsible to influence the climate of their nearby regions. Gulf Stream is warm water current, its extension North Atlantic Drift passes by European shore raising the temperature of the region.

The correct decreasing order of the share of different salts in sea water are Sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, magnesium sulphate, potassium sulphate.

European countries Portugal borders Atlanic Ocean. The European (North East) Atlantic borders the five Member States of the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal, covering a vast area and a diverse range of ecosystems. More broadly, these ecosystems are split into the Celtic Seas, Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast.

Lena river is a major river of Russia. It is a 440 km long river which originates from Lake Baikal and flows into the Arctic Ocean.

The factors that influence ocean currents are Coriolis force, Waves and Continent shape.

Ganga delta is one of World's most fertile deltas constituted by river Ganga & Brahmaputra in the east of India. Forming Bangladesh Plains, it is also known as Sunderban delta & Ganga - Brahmaputra delta. It is also called Green delta because of its fertility.

The Coast of Norway is an example of Fjord Coast. The fjords were formed by the giant glacier tongues that through several ice ages have shaped the landscape. A fjord is thus a U-shaped undersea valley, and on the west coast, this valley is often surrounded by dramatic mountain scenery.

In terms of salinity, the water of Dead Sea is highly saline when being compared to the other 3 given options.

Ring of Fire is found commonly in Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire is a ring of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean that result from subduction of oceanic plates beneath lighter continental plates.

The waterfalls of Niagara Falls are located on the Niagara River which connects two of the five Great Lakes, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Collectively the waterfalls are named Niagara Falls. They consist of three different waterfalls. The American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls in the USA and the Canadian “Horseshoe” Falls in Canada.

The Dogger Bank, the main fishing area of Europe, lies in North Sea. For centuries it has been a well-known fishing ground. The large amounts of food available to the fish result in the catch of sizable quantities of plaice, cod, haddock, turbot, dabs, and herring.

The major fishing areas of the world confined to the temperate zone are Cold and warm currents meet, creating conditions favourable for plankton growth, The fish of these waters are highly palatable as human food, There is a ready mark, in the land masses of the zone and The existence of submarine plateaus help in growth of fish population.

Continental slope connects the ocean floor level with the continental level. A continental shelf typically extends from the coast to depths of 100–200 metres (330–660 feet). It is gently inclined seaward at an average slope of about 0.1°. In nearly all instances, it ends at its seaward edge with an abrupt drop called the shelf break.

It lies within the Northern Atlantic Subtropical Gyre . The Gulf Stream establishes the Sargasso Sea's western boundary, while the Sea is further defined to the north by the North Atlantic Current, to the east by the Canary Current, and to the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current.

Peru Current, also called Humboldt Current, cold-water current of the southeast Pacific Ocean, with a width of about 900 km (550 mi). The cold flow is intensified by upwelling of deep water caused by the combined effects of the drag of surface winds of the Southeast Trades and the Earth’s rotation.

There are five major fishing grounds of world. It includes Grand Bank and the Georges Bank area of the Northwest Atlantic.