Salient Features of World’s Physical Geography

What the official syllabus says

UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination, Paper II: General Studies I.

Salient features of world’s physical geography.

Topics in detail

The Earth and its interior

• The solar system and the Earth’s motions; latitudes, longitudes and time
• Interior of the Earth: crust, mantle, core; seismic waves as evidence
• Rocks and the rock cycle; minerals

Geomorphology

• Continental drift (Wegener), sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics; plate boundaries
• Mountain building, folding and faulting
• Weathering, mass movement and erosion
• Landforms made by running water, groundwater (karst), glaciers, wind and waves
• Major mountains, plateaus and plains of the world

Climatology

• Composition and layers of the atmosphere
• Insolation, the heat budget and temperature distribution
• Pressure belts, planetary winds, monsoons and local winds; jet streams
• Humidity, condensation, clouds and precipitation
• Air masses, fronts, tropical and temperate cyclones
• El Niño, La Niña and the Indian Ocean Dipole
• Climatic classification (Köppen) and the world’s climatic regions
• The Indian monsoon: mechanism and variability

Oceanography

• Relief of the ocean floor
• Temperature and salinity of ocean water
• Waves, tides and ocean currents of the world
• Coral reefs and marine resources

Biogeography and soils

• Soil formation and soil types of the world and India
• Biomes: tropical forests, savannas, deserts, temperate grasslands, taiga, tundra
• Ecosystems and the biosphere

India’s physical geography

• Physiographic divisions: Himalaya, northern plains, peninsular plateau, coastal plains, islands
• Drainage systems: Himalayan and peninsular rivers
• Climate, soils and natural vegetation of India

Overlaps

• Prelims General Studies Paper I tests the same geography in objective form; environment and ecology are in General Studies III.
• The Optional Subject Geography goes deeper into the same areas.