← HCS syllabus
HCS (Haryana)Stage 2: Main Written Examination
Salient Features of World Physical Geography
What the official syllabus says
General Studies-I (Paper III), Main Written Examination:
- Salient features of world’s physical geography.
Topics in detail
Geomorphology
- The earth’s interior: crust, mantle, core; discontinuities
- Continental drift, sea-floor spreading, plate tectonics; plate boundaries
- Rocks and the rock cycle; weathering and erosion
- Landforms made by rivers, glaciers, wind, groundwater (karst) and the sea
- Mountains, plateaus and plains: types and origin
Climatology
- The atmosphere: composition and layers
- Insolation and the heat budget; temperature distribution
- Pressure belts and planetary, seasonal and local winds; jet streams
- Humidity, condensation, clouds, precipitation
- Air masses, fronts, tropical and temperate cyclones
- The Indian monsoon: mechanism, El Niño, La Niña, the Indian Ocean Dipole
- Climate classification (Köppen) and the world’s climatic regions
Oceanography
- Relief of the ocean floor
- Temperature and salinity of ocean water
- Ocean currents and their effects, waves, tides
- Coral reefs and marine resources
Biogeography
- Soils: formation, classification
- Biomes: tropical rainforest, savanna, desert, temperate grassland, taiga, tundra
Physical geography of India
- Physiographic divisions: the Himalaya, the northern plains, the peninsular plateau, the Indian desert, the coastal plains, the islands
- Drainage: Himalayan and peninsular rivers
- Climate, soils and natural vegetation of India
Pressure belts and planetary winds
| Belt | Approximate latitude | Winds and features |
|---|---|---|
| Equatorial low | Near the equator | Rising air, calms (the doldrums); trade winds converge here |
| Subtropical high | About 30° N and S | Sinking air, calms (the horse latitudes); source of trade winds and westerlies |
| Subpolar low | About 60° N and S | Westerlies meet polar easterlies; temperate cyclones form |
| Polar high | Near the poles | Source of the polar easterlies |
Further points
- The geological time scale; endogenic and exogenic forces; folding and faulting; isostasy
- Drainage patterns (dendritic, radial, trellis) and river capture
- The Coriolis force, the ITCZ and the general circulation of the atmosphere
- Local winds: loo, chinook, foehn, mistral, sirocco
- The greenhouse effect, global warming and the ozone layer
- Thermocline, upwelling and their effect on fisheries
- The great mountain systems, deserts, river basins and grasslands of the world
Overlaps
- Indian and world geography in the Preliminary Examination.
- Haryana’s relief, rivers and climate: Haryana: Geography and Natural Resources.