Anticlines and Synclines: An anticline is a fold with strata sloping downwards on both sides from a common crest to form an arch. The top of the arch, being pressed upward is the loosest and weakest part and as such is quickly eroded. A syncline is a low trough like area in bedrock with rocks inclined together from opposite sides. the rocks at the lowest part are under great pressure from all sides; they become compact and hard and erode slowly. Atoll: A coral reef in the shape
of a horse shoe or ring with a lagoon in the centre, e.g. Murora Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
Asthenosphere: Soft semifluid layer of rock on which the earth’s continents and ocean floor float. The asthenosphere is a part of the earth’s mantle, the rest of which is solid both above and below.
Attrition: The constant wearing down of pieces of rock into even finer particles as they are carried of along by wind, water or ice.
Bog: An area of water-logged, spongy ground with rotting vegetation lying on the surface. Eventually the layer turns into a layer of peat. Bora: A cold and dry wind
which blows along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and northern Italy in winter.
Cloud Burst: A phenomenon in which a huge mass of
moisture-carrying clouds bursts into a heavy downpour on account of condensation of its entire volume of water vapour at the same time.
Coriolis Force: The force exerted on the atmosphere by earth’s rotation.
Crater: Is the small mouth of a volcano. It is usually cup- shaped and serves as a vent for lava to flow out of the volcano.
Creek: A small stream; a smaller inlet or tidal estuary of a river.
Escarpment: A steep inland cliff. An escarpment is found where layers of hard rock slope upwards to the surface over softer rocks below. Estuary: A channel formed by
mixing of sea and river water, e.g., Thames Estuary. Foehn: A warm dry wind
which blows down the ice- ward slope of a mountain, best known in the valleys of the northern alps.
Gale: A strong wind that blows at a speed of 62-101 kmph.
Isogonic lines: Contour lines of magnetic declination. Isohyte: A line drawn on a
map joining places receiving equal amount of rainfall over a certain period.
Isoneph: A line on a map joining places having equal average cloudiness over a certain period.
Isostasy: The state of balance or equilibrium that is said to exist between highlands and lowlands of the earth due to difference in the density of their respective rock material.
Khamsin: The hot, dry wind experienced in Egypt corresponding to the Sirocco of North Africa. ‘Khamsin’ in the Arabic word for 50; the wind is said to blow during the period of 50 days from April to June.
Kurosiwo: Warm oceanic current of the Pacific Ocean which flows near the east coast of Japan and ultimately drifts along the west coast of Canada. It raises the temperature of Canada and Japan.
Smoke Screens: Smoke clouds formed by firing smoke shells, dropping smoking bombs, burning smoke pots or operating mechanical smoke generators in war to conceal their movements from enemies.
Sirocco: A hot, normally dry and dust - laden wind that blows from the deserts of North Africa across the Mediterranean into South Europe. It occurs only in spring. The name ‘Sirocco’ is also applied to any hot oppressive wind.
Stratus clouds: Clouds which are like a dark grey sheet extending from one side of horizon to the other and have uniform base.
Terrain: The physical characteristics and features of any stretch of country. Troposphere: Troposphere is
the lower most layer of the atmosphere. It extends upto 8 km at the equator and 16 km at the poles. The word ‘‘Tropo’’ means ‘‘change’’. This layer acts as a warm blanket to moderate the extremes of outer space. The
thickness is greater at the equator, because the heated air rises to greater heights. Stratosphere: Stratosphere
lies above the troposphere. It is a region of uniform temperature extending from an altitude of about 11 km above the earth to a height of nearly 50 km. It is free from water vapour, clouds and dust. The upper part of this layer has plenty of ozone which affords protection to human beings on the earth against the fatal effects of UV radiations. It also provides ideal conditions for flying aeroplanes.
Ionosphere: It extends from 65 km to nearly 400 km above the earth’s surface. It is an electrically charged layer characterised by the ionisation of atoms. Due to the presence of electric charge in this layer, radio waves transmitted from the earth are reflected back to the earth by this layer. Its also benefits man by absorbing the sun’s deadly rays. Aurora are produced by charged particles from the sun captured by the earth’s magnetic field at a height of about 100 km.
Longtitudes are equi-distant lines drawn east and west of the Greenwich meridian. They denote the angular distances of a place due east or west of the Greenwich meridian. There are 360 meridians of longtitudes. One hour is equal to 15o of
longtitude. Longtitude is an important factor in determining the time in all parts of the world. Local time of a place is calculated with
respect to the mid day position of the sun at that place.
Torrid Zone: which is the hottest zone lies between 23½o
north and 23½o south. ie.,
between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Temperate Zone : lies
between 23½o N and 66 ½o N
is the North Temperate zone and South Temperate zone lies between 23½o S and
66½oS. This zone has a
marked annual range of temperature.
Frigid zone lies between 66½o
N and 90oN in the case of
north frigid zone and 66½o S
and 90o S in the case of south
frigid zone. They are extremely cold regions. Hurricane Ivan: The
Hurricane Ivan is a tropical cyclone. The winds are more violent and cause severe damage to life and property. Recently, it occured in the Carribean Sea, and moved forward to the Gulf of Mexico. Further it went upward and made vast destruction in the U.S.A.
Tropic of Cancer: Tropic of cancer is an imaginary line of latitude of 23½o N. It marks
the limit of that portion of the earth where the sun’s rays fall vertically on June 21st. Tropic of Capricorn: In the
southern hemisphere, an imaginary line of latitude of 23½o S is termed as tropic of
capricorn. This line marks the limit of that portion of the earth where the sun’s rays fall vertically on December 21st. Chinook: A very warm, dry
wind that descends the mountain slopes causing
rapid melting of snow. Sometimes, during spring season, it triggers avalanches. It is developed when warm, moist air is drawn towards a mountain range from an area of relative high pressure. This wind blows in Andes and Rockies mountains.
Equatorial Regions: The equatorial region is found between 5o and 10o north and
south of the equator. The mid- day sun is always near the vertical and it is overhead twice a year, at the equinoxes. Uniformity of temperature throughout the year is the most outstanding feature of the region. The relative humidity is very high. Here, annual rainfall is between 160 and 350 cm. It is of the convectional type. Squalls and thunderstorms occur frequently, followed by brilliant sunshine. The four seasons of the temperature zone are unknown.
Tsunamis: It is the Japanese name given to the huge waves caused by an earthquake. Tsunamis are quite common along the coasts of Japan and other regions in the pacific ocean.
Fold mountains: Mountains which have been thrown into massive folds or ridges by the earth movements are known as fold mountains. They are characterised by ruggedness of relief. The higher and more pointed the peaks, the more recently the mountain was formed. Some young fold mountains are the Himalayas, the Alps, the Rockies and the Andes and some old fold mountains are the Pennines, Applachians,
Cape Ranges of South Africa and the Great Dividing Range of Australia.
Block mountains: Block mountains are formed when a mass of land was pushed up between parallel cracks or faults in the earth’s crust or by sinking of the land around them. They are usually very steep-sided and are flat- topped. Black forest; Meseta are examples of block mountains.
Rift Valley Lakes: Lakes formed by the movements of the earth cause subsidence in the earth’s crust and the hollows lying in the bed of the Rift Valley is termed as Rift Valley lake. Lake Baikal in Siberia, the Dead Sea are examples of this type of lakes. Lava Dam Lakes: Sometimes, a lava stream may flow across a valley and form a natural dam. It is called lava dam lakes. The sea of Galilee in Palestine was formed by lava which flowed across the Jordan Valley.
Crater Lakes: Crater lakes occur on the extinct volcanoes. They are circular and steep-sided. Mar’s mission space craft ‘spirit’ landed on Gustav Crater. Temperate Grasslands: The
temperate grasslands are found between latitudes 40o
and 55o N and S. They lie far
away from the influence of the sea in the heart of the continents, and most of them are interior lowlands consisting of level, generally treeless, plains. The temperate grasslands are known by different names in different countries. They are known as
‘prairies’ in North America, ‘pampas’ in South America, ‘veldt’ in Southern Africa, ‘downs’ in Australia, ‘pustaz’ in Hungary and ‘steppes’ in Russia.
There is no typical temperature for any one priarie type region. However, as all the grasslands in the northern hemisphere lie in the interior of the large continents the climate is very extreme. Summers are short and quite warm. There is abundant sunshine and the skies are clear. The region falls in the zone of the westerlies. The rainfall in the grasslands are of convectional type, but very light.
Savannah is a region which lies on both sides of the equator roughly between 5 degrees and the tropics. Here summers are hot and moist and winters are warm and dry. Characteristic vegetation is tall grass.
Taiga: This region lies between 55o and 70o C in
northern hemisphere only. It stretches as an almost continuous belt across southern Canada, Northern Europe and Russia. The Tundra region lies on the north and the temperate grasslands on the south. In the Taiga region, summers are short, lasting for 3 or 4 months and winters are cold and severe. For 6 to 7 months, this region has temperatures below freezing point. In this region lies Verkhoyansk, the ‘cold pole’, colder than Arctic region. Rainfall varies from 25 to 100 cm. Most of the rain comes from cyclonic weather.
Richter Scale: It is a scale used for measuring the magnitude of the earthquake at its focus. According to it, the magnitude ranging ‘7’ is severe and ‘8’ is devastating. Seismograph: It is used to measure the intensity and location of earthquake. Norwesters: Norwesters are
violent thunderstorms which occur on the passages of a strong wind that approaches from the west or north-west, hence the name ‘norwesters’. They occur in the Bengal and Assam region during the hot season before the onset of the south-west monsoon. Rainbows: Rainbows are
caused by refraction and internal reflection of light from the sun in raindrops. Each raindrop acts like a tiny prism which breaks up the white light into the primary colours. In the main rainbow the colours are: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red (VIBGYOR). We are able to see a rainbow only when we are facing the falling raindrops with the sun behind us.
Greenland
Greenland is a self-governing Danish province located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. Though geographi- cally and ethnically an Arctic island nation associated with the continent of North America, politically and historically Greenland is closely tied to Europe, specifically Iceland, Norway and Denmark. It is the largest island in the world that is not also considered a continent.
Fill in the Blanks
1. Deforestation has an alarming effect on ... 2. ‘Sharbati Sonora’ refers to
...
3. Kisan-Khad is an example of fertilizer ...
4. Commercial Cork is obtained from the bark of ... 5. The National Bureau of Plant
Genetic Resource is located at ...
6. Blood-Pressure is measured by using ...
7. Origin of species was published by ...
8. The deficiency of ... in the body leads to diabetis. 9. Botany is the study of ... 10. Neurology is the study of
...
11. Genes are located in ... 12. The total number of bones in
human body is ... 13. Deficiency of Vitamin E
results in ... 14. Antibiotics are ... 15. A gas which is atmospheric
pollutant and most fatal for man ...
16. An instrument to hear and analyse movements of heart and lungs ...
17. Largest reptile is ... 18. Life span of RBC is ... 19. An adult person will have
... liters of blood. 20. In GM food, GM stands for
... Answers 1. Soil erosion, 2. A variety of wheat 3. N-P-K 4. Oak, 5. New Delhi 6. Sphygmomanometer 7. Charles Darwin 8. Insulin 9. Plants
10. The nervous system 11. chromosomes 12. 206,
13. in fertility
14. drugs prepared from moulds and mould like organisms 15. Carbon Monoxide 16. Stethescope 17. Crocodile 18. 120 days 19. 5-6 20. Genetically modified
Answer in a Word
1. Vaccine for influenza has been discovered by:
2. Penicillin was discovered by: 3. Oncology is the study of : 4. The number of chromosomes
in a normal human body cell is: 5. Who is known as the father
of Genetics?
6. The average length of human pregnancy is:
7. Colour vision is made possible by the cells in the retina called:
8. The naturally occuring anticoagulant in the human body is:
9. The cellular energy is made available in the form of: 10. Osteomalacia symptomised
by bone softening is due to the deficiency of:
11. 1 gm of carbohydrate food gives energy which is about :
Answers
1. Salk,
2. Alexander Fleming 3. Cancer
4. 46
5. Gregor Johann Mendel 6. 36-38 weeks 7. cone cells 8. Heparin 9. ATP 10. Vitamin D 11. 4.2 k.cal. The nervous system is a highly
specialized tissue network whose principal component are neurons. These cells are interconnected to each other in a complex arrange, and have the property of conducting, using electrochemical signals, a great variety of stimuli within the nervous tissue as well as from and towards most of the other tissues. Thus, neurons coordinate multiple functions in organisms. The classif- ication of the nervous system is mostly similar in humans as in other vertebrates.
Nervous system
brian Cerebellum Spinal cord Intercostal Nerves Subcostal nerve Lumbar plexus Sacral plexus Formal nerve Pudendal nerve Sciatic nerve Muscular branches of femoral nerve Saphenous nerve Tibial nerve Superficial peroneal nerve Deep peroneal nerveCommon peroneal nerve Ulnar nerve Obturator nerve Genitofernoral nerve Median nerve liohypogastic nerve Musculocutaneous nerve Brachial plexus