April 1, 2013

Miscellaneous Facts: WORLD


1. The eastern regions of humid subtropical areas receive rainfall throughout the year like equatorial regions. Isotherms are irregular but closely spaced in Northern Hemishpere.

2. Alpha centauri is also known as Proxima Centauri. Asthenosphere lies above mesosphere. Ox Bow lake is a characteristic of the river in its old age.

3. Steam fog occurs when cold air blows over warmer waters & Advection fog occurs when moist air blows over cold surface. The only gas, not uniformly distributed over the entire atmosphere is ozone.

4. One nautical mile is equal to 1.85 kilometers & one mile is equal to 1.6 kms. Albatross Cordillera is in

Pacific ocean.

5. Prince Edward Crozet ridge & Amsterdam – St. Paul Plateau are located in the Indian ocean. Lakshadweep-Chagos ridge, St. Paul ridge, Amsterdam-St. Paul plateau divide the Indian ocean into
almost two basins.

6. Emperor Seamount chain is in the Pacific Ocean. The maximum width of the continental shelf is off the arctic coast of Siberia. The deepest continental shelves surround Antarctica. In most of the areas the continental shelf is formed by constructive ocean.

7. The evolution of mid-Atlantic ridge can be dated back to Pliocene age.

8. Continental shelf has maximum depth of 200m. Continental slope has a depth of about 3600 m. Abyssal hills have height of 1000 m & guyots are 1100 m high.

9. Zaire canyon is riverine, Canyons of south California are dendritic, Canyons of Bering Sea are the largest & Oceanographer canyon is small gorge.

10. Atlantic Ocean has the maximum percentage of continental shelf area followed by Pacific & Indian.

11. Red clay deposit is widely found in Pacific Ocean. Pteropod is found mainly only in the Atlantic ocean. Radiolarian & Diatom ooze can be found at greater depth than Pteropod & globigerina ooze because siliceous ooze are less soluble while calcareous oozes are easily soluble.

12. A zone in which the density of water increase with increasing depth is called Pycnocline zone.

13. Silt is smaller in size than sand but larger than clay. Pebble is smaller than cobble.

14.Salinity of ocean is a function of latitude. Gulf of Bothnia records the lowest salinity of less than 2 %.

15. Lower the salinity higher is the freezing point.

16. Kiel Canal shortens the distance between London & Kaliningrad.

17. C horizon is not a part of mineral horizon. The dominant species of an ecosystem are more prone to climatic changes. Trasnfromation process of pedogenic regime includes humification & mineralization. Entisols are also highly productive in some regions. Chelating agents are associated with the process of podzolization.

18. Climate & biotic factors are active soil forming factors whereas time, topography & parent rock are passive. The transition zone between two ecosystems is called ecotone. Allelopathy is a phenomenon in which toxins produced by one species inhibit the growth of other.

19. USDA soils & their zonal equivalents are: Vertisols (grumusols), Mollisols (Chernozem), Spodosols
(Podzols) & Alfisols (Degraded chernozems). The loess serves as an ideal parent material for chernozem soils.

20. Soils & the vegetation supported are: brown earths (deciduous forests), podzol (heath forest), chernozem (steppe grasses), grumusol (savanna grasses). Tropical heath forest, also known as Kerangas forest, is a type of forest found on the island of Borneo, especially in Brunei.


21. The types of humus in terrestrial environment are: mor, moder & mull. Mor is a type of humus, which occur largely in coniferous forest soils and the moorlands soils. This humus arise under conditions of lowbiological activity in soil. Moder is a transitional form of humus between mull and moder, characteristic for sod-podzolic soils, loesses and mountain grassland soils. Mull is a type of humus characteristic for chestnut soils & arises under grassland conditions. Mull is well humified organic matter. The favourable pH for the growth of cereal crops is 6.5.

22. Climax (community) which is the hypothetical optimal community that would eventually develop under ideal conditions and without human interference. If climate dictates the nature of this community we describe this as a climactic climax whereas if the soil conditions limit the type of climax that develops we speak of an edaphic climax (E.g. Savannah). Where there has been some interference that degrades the climax we say that secondary succession has occurred and if we now view this secondary community as on its way back to the climax we can refer to this as a sub-climax.

23. Aestivation refers to the state of inactivity adopted by desert animals during the hottest & driest season. The oldest animal fossil has been found in Zambia.

24. Devonian period is the age of fishes. Ambhibians & reptiles evolved during carboniferous period.

25. Sun Spots are cooler areas of the sun. The dark lines in corona are called ‘Fraunhofer lines’.

26. For an earthquake at a particular spot the shadow zone of P-waves invariably exist between 103 & 143 degree form the earthquake focus.

27. The variation of wind with elevation through the friction layer is represented by an equi angular spiral known as the Ekman spiral. Beaufort scale ranges from 0 to 12.

28. Saturn is known as Jewel Planet & Venus as veiled planet.

29. Primary waves can change into secondary waves under certain conditions due to refraction. Surface waves or long period waves cover the longest distance of all seismic waves. Focus is also known as hypo centre.