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THE RAMAN’S BOOKS
differ in date by a day (12 hours + 12 hours = 24 hours).To overcome the confusion that would otherwise arise,the International Date Line has been established. It runsalong 180
o
E or W. Westward-bound vessels crossingthe Date Line drop a day from the calendar, while thosegoing eastward add a day by giving the same date to twoconsecutive days. Instead of changing the time exactlyaccording to change in degrees at the rate of 4 minutesper degree, certain time zones have been established. Allplaces in the same area or time zone or time belt, usewhat is called
Standard Time
. Thus we have theGreenwich Mean Time (G.M.T) and the Indian StandardTime (I.S.T). There are five time-belts in Canada and fourin United States.
The Lithosphere:
The mass of the Earth is generally divided into threelayers, namely, Crust, Mantle and Core. The
Lithosphere
is the name given to the outer Crust which is not morethan 10 miles thick. It is made up of a great variety of rocks, soils, etc.
Rocks:
1.
Sedimentary Rocks:
These rocks are made up of deposits laid down on the floor of river beds, lakesand seas.
Examples:
Sand and sandstone, clay, lime stone,chalk and carbonaceous rocks, such as lignite, coaland anthracite.2.
Igneous Rocks:
These are primary rocks which areformed by cooling and solidification of molten lava.When such rocks are poured out on the surfacethey are known as
Volcanic rocks
, e.g. basalt. Whenthe molten material solidifies at considerable depth,
plutonic rocks
are formed, e.g. granite.3.
Metamorphic Rocks:
These rocks are formed as aresult of alteration by extreme heat and or pressureof igneous or sedimentary rocks.
Example
, slate,gneiss, schist etc.
Soil:
The upper layers of rocks weather to form the soil.There are three distinct layers of soil. The uppermostlayer forms the top soil. The second layer is called thesubsoil. The third layer is made up of decomposing andmuch-broken rock, known as mantle- rock. The type of soil depends on a number of factors, namely, climaticconditions, the nature of the parent rock, relief, vegetationand the period over which it has been worked by man.Soils may by broadly classified as (a) Forest, (b) Grasslandand (c) Desert types.
Mountains:
In past geological ages disturbances in the Earth’sinterior have caused crumpling and cracking of the crust.This has resulted in great upholds forming
Fold-Mountains
which are mainly made up of folded strata of sedimentary rocks, e.g. the Alps, the Rockies, the Andes,and the Himalayas. The mountain structures worn downby prolonged denudation are known as ResidualMountains, e.g. Highlands of Scotland and Scandinavia.
Denudation:
The process known as denudation or the wearingaway of the land is continually going on. The chief causesof such erosion are (a) changes in temperature; (b) frost;(c) winds; (d) water, including rivers; (e) ice; and (f) theaction of the sea. Steps to combat soil erosion include (i)terracing; (ii) contour ploughing; (iii) strip cropping (iv)planting shelter belts of trees; and (v) plugging the gulliesby building small dams etc.
The Atmosphere:
The air is composed mainly of nitrogen (78%) andoxygen (21%) with small proportions of carbon dioxide,water vapour and rarer gases like argon and neon.Atmosphere is 200 miles thick, but nine-tenths of the aircomposing it is found within 12 miles, and half within 3½miles of the earth’s surface. We are concerned mainlywith the lower layer of
troposphere
. The upper layers inthe ascending order are
Stratosphere, Mesosphere
and
Ionosphere. Troposphere
extends to a distance of aboutten kilometres.
Stratosphere
is a region extending froman altitude of about 11 Km to 50 Km above the earth. Theupper part of stratosphere has plenty of ozone whichprotects us from the fatal effects of Sun’s ultravioletradiation.
Mesosphere
is the next layer extending from 50to 80 Kms above the earth. It is a very cold region.
Ionosphere
extends from about 60 Kms upwards. Itincludes
Thermosphere
and
Exosphere
which marks theouter limits of the earth’s atmosphere.
Wind is air in motion:
The chief cause of wind is difference in atmospherepressure. One of the main reasons for differences inpressure is unequal heating of the air. From the highpressure belts the air flows outwards to the regions of low pressure. Owing to the rotation of the earth, the windsdo not blow due north and south, but are deflected. Inthis deflection they obey
Ferrel’s Law
which states, “Anymoving body on the earth surface including a current of air, tends to be deflected, the deflection being to the rightin the northern hemisphere and to the left in southernhemisphere.”
Land and seabreezed
are local winds causedby the unequal heating of land and water. During the daythe land becomes very much hotter than the sea, with theresult that there is marked low pressure over the land.Thus the air over the sea flows rapidly loses heat, but thesea remains warm for a longer time. Thus at night, heavycool air blows from the land to take the place of warm airrising over the sea. The
monsoon
or seasonal winds maybe regarded as land and sea breezes on a large scale, inwhich the time-frame is a year instead of a day. Thisphenomenon is to be found in south-east Asia, but isespecially marked in the subcontinent of India. A cycloneis a portion of the atmosphere in which the pressure islowest in the centre. The winds blow inwards in anti-clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere. In the
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