NPTEL Conservation Geography Week 1 And 2 Assignment Answers 2024
1. Scarcity of food is a
A) chemical factor
B) demographic factor
C) push factor ✅
D) pull factor
✔ Explanation: A push factor is something that encourages people to leave their current location, such as scarcity of food, unemployment, or conflict.
2. The geographical discipline of climatology is most closely related to:
A) geology
B) meteorology ✅
C) hydrology
D) pedology
✔ Explanation: Climatology studies long-term weather patterns and is thus most closely related to meteorology, which focuses on atmospheric phenomena.
3. The Trinity explosion of 1945 is taken as the beginning of the
A) Holocene
B) Canocene
C) Anthropocene ✅
D) Eocene
✔ Explanation: The Anthropocene is a proposed epoch that highlights the significant human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems, marked symbolically by the Trinity nuclear test.
4. In the word root for conservation, con stands for
A) together ✅
B) to keep
C) house
D) manage
✔ Explanation: The Latin prefix “con” means “together”, indicating the combined effort to preserve or conserve something.
5. In the word root for conservation, servare stands for
A) together
B) to keep ✅
C) house
D) manage
✔ Explanation: “Servare” is Latin for “to keep” or “to save”, which directly relates to the idea of conservation.
6. Good climate is a
A) chemical factor
B) demographic factor
C) push factor
D) pull factor ✅
✔ Explanation: A pull factor is something attractive that draws people to a new area—favorable climate is a typical example.
7. “The rate of any biological process is limited by that factor in least amount relative to requirement…” is a statement of
A) Liebig’s law of the minimum ✅
B) Liebig’s law of the maximum
C) Shelford’s law of tolerance
D) Shelford’s law of intolerance
✔ Explanation: Liebig’s law of the minimum states that growth is controlled not by the total amount of resources, but by the scarcest one (limiting factor).
Q8. The discipline of demography is most closely related to:
A) Phytogeography
B) Zoogeography
C) Population geography ✅
D) Economic geography
✔ Explanation: Demography deals with population statistics and trends, making it most closely aligned with population geography.
9. “Allowing some places and some creatures to exist without significant human interference” is the definition of:
A) conservation
B) preservation ✅
C) environmentalism
D) ecology
✔ Explanation: Preservation focuses on maintaining natural areas and species untouched, unlike conservation which allows sustainable use.
10. The movement of lions across the Gir landscape is an example of
A) diffusion ✅
B) secular dispersal
C) jump dispersal
D) drifting
✔ Explanation: The gradual spread of lions in the Gir Forest is an example of diffusion, the slow, natural movement over time within an ecosystem.
NPTEL Conservation Geography Week 2 Assignment Answers
1. Which of these is true about P waves?
A) These are longitudinal waves ✅
B) These are transverse in nature
C) They cannot move through gases
D) They cannot move through liquids
✔ Explanation: P waves (Primary waves) are longitudinal (compressional) seismic waves. They can travel through solids, liquids, and gases and are the fastest seismic waves.
2. Inclusions are older than the host rock. This is known as
A) Principle of superposition
B) Principle of original horizontality
C) Principle of lateral continuity
D) Principle of inclusions ✅
✔ Explanation: According to the principle of inclusions, any rock fragments (inclusions) within a rock must be older than the rock in which they are included.
3. Mount Fuji is an example of
A) Shield volcano
B) Stratovolcano ✅
C) Caldera
D) Flood basalt province
✔ Explanation: Mount Fuji in Japan is a classic stratovolcano (also known as a composite volcano), characterized by explosive eruptions, steep slopes, and alternating layers of lava and ash.
4. Layers of rocks deposited from above (e.g. sediments and lava flows) are originally laid down horizontally. This is known as
A) Principle of superposition
B) Principle of original horizontality ✅
C) Principle of lateral continuity
D) Principle of inclusions
✔ Explanation: The principle of original horizontality states that sedimentary layers are initially deposited horizontally due to gravity.
5. Which of these is not a method of absolute dating?
A) Radioisotope dating
B) Thermoluminescence dating
C) Inclusion study ✅
D) Fission track dating
✔ Explanation: Inclusion study is a relative dating method, not an absolute one. Absolute dating methods like radioisotope, thermoluminescence, and fission track provide numerical ages.
6. Which of these is true about S waves?
A) They are longitudinal in nature
B) They are transverse in nature ✅
C) They cannot move through solids, liquids, and gases
D) They are the first to reach the surface of the Earth
✔ Explanation: S waves (Secondary waves) are transverse and can only travel through solids. They arrive after P waves during an earthquake.
7. Which of these is an example of direct source of information about Earth?
A) Earthquake
B) Volcanic eruption ✅
C) Magnetic survey
D) Gravity anomaly
✔ Explanation: Volcanic eruptions bring materials directly from the Earth’s interior, making them a direct source of geologic information.
8. Assemblage of fossils are unique to the time that they lived in, and so can be used to age rocks across a wide geographic distribution. This is known as
A) Principle of fossil succession ✅
B) Principle of original horizontality
C) Principle of superposition
D) Principle of cross-cutting relationships
✔ Explanation: The principle of fossil succession states that fossil groups appear in a consistent vertical order, allowing rocks to be correlated across large distances.
9. Within a depositional basin, strata are laterally continuous in all directions till the edge of the basin. This is known as
A) Principle of superposition
B) Principle of original horizontality
C) Principle of lateral continuity ✅
D) Principle of inclusions
✔ Explanation: The principle of lateral continuity states that sedimentary layers extend laterally until they thin out or encounter a physical barrier.
10. Krakatoa eruptions resulted in the formation of
A) Shield volcano
B) Stratovolcano
C) Caldera ✅
D) Flood basalt province
✔ Explanation: The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa resulted in the collapse of the volcanic island and the formation of a caldera — a large crater formed by the collapse of a volcano.