UPSC Prelims 2014 Geography questions: topic-wise weightage
UPSC Prelims 2014 asked 13 geography questions in GS Paper I, spread over 4 topics. See the geography weightage for 2014 below, then attempt each question with the official answer and an explanation.
Geography 2014: questions by topic
- Climate and oceans2
- India: relief, rivers, lakes and monsoon3
- India: soils, vegetation, agriculture, minerals, energy, industry, population6
- World geography and places in the news (mapping)2
Counted from the 13 questions on this page, tagged by topic in the Battle IAS PYQ bank.
Seeing 13 Geography questions spread over 4 topics can feel overwhelming. That's exactly why the Battle IAS PYQ Book maps every question topic by topic, so you know what to study first. Download free sample
Climate and oceans 2
Which of the following phenomena might have influenced the evolution of organisms?
- 1. Continental drift
- 2. Glacial cycles
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (c) & explanation
Both shaped evolution (c). Continental drift split and joined landmasses, isolating populations and changing climates; Australia's marsupials evolved in isolation after it separated from Gondwana. Glacial cycles shifted habitats, cut off species in refuges and drove extinctions as well as new species. Options (a), (b) and (d) each leave out one real factor.
Isolation is a key driver of speciation, as Darwin's finches on the Galápagos show. Notice how a geography topic (plate tectonics and ice ages) becomes a biology answer: earth history and the history of life are told together.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
The seasonal reversal of winds is the typical characteristic of
Answer (c) & explanation
Seasonal reversal of winds is the hallmark of the monsoon climate (c). The word comes from the Arabic mausim, meaning season. Land heats faster than the sea, so winds blow from sea to land in summer (south-west monsoon) and from land to sea in winter (north-east monsoon). The equatorial climate (a) has steady heat and rain all year without such reversal. The Mediterranean climate (b) sees a seasonal shift of rain belts, not a full wind reversal, so (d) fails too.
Notice how the monsoon links geography to farming, the economy and even festivals across India.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
India: relief, rivers, lakes and monsoon 3
Which one of the following pairs of islands is separated from each other by the ‘Ten Degree Channel’?
Answer (a) & explanation
The Ten Degree Channel runs along about 10° N and separates Little Andaman from Car Nicobar, so it divides the Andaman group from the Nicobar group (a). The other pairs have their own channels: the Great Channel lies between Great Nicobar and Sumatra (b); the Eight Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the Maldives (c); and the Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java (d).
The Nine Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the main Lakshadweep islands. Notice how these channels sit on busy sea lanes towards the Malacca Strait, which is why they matter for India's maritime security and trade.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following rivers :
- 1. Barak
- 2. Lohit
- 3. Subansiri
Which of the above flows/flow through Arunachal Pradesh?
Answer (b) & explanation
The Lohit and Subansiri flow through Arunachal Pradesh to join the Brahmaputra, so the answer is (b). The Barak rises in the Manipur hills, flows through Manipur, Mizoram and Assam's Cachar region, and enters Bangladesh as the Surma–Meghna, so options with 1 fail.
The Subansiri is the largest tributary of the Brahmaputra and hosts the Subansiri Lower hydroelectric project. The Lohit carries the Dhola–Sadiya (Bhupen Hazarika) bridge across it. Notice how hydropower in Arunachal links river geography to energy security and relations with China upstream.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Hills | Region
| 1. Cardamom Hills | Coromandel Coast
| 2. Kaimur Hills | Konkan Coast
| 3. Mahadeo Hills | Central India
| 4. Mikir Hills | North-East India
Which of the above pairs are correctly matched?
Answer (c) & explanation
Pairs 3 and 4 are correct (c). The Mahadeo Hills, with Pachmarhi, are part of the Satpura range in central India. The Mikir Hills (Karbi Anglong) are in Assam in the North-East. The Cardamom Hills are in the southern Western Ghats on the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border, not the Coromandel coast. The Kaimur Hills are the eastern end of the Vindhyas in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, not the Konkan coast.
Notice how matching hills to regions becomes easy once the major ranges are fixed on a mental map of India.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
India: soils, vegetation, agriculture, minerals, energy, industry, population 6
If you travel through the Himalayas, you are likely to see which of the following plants naturally growing there?
- 1. Oak
- 2. Rhododendron
- 3. Sandalwood
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (a) & explanation
Oak (banj) and rhododendron (burans, the state tree of Uttarakhand) are typical of the Himalayan montane temperate forests, roughly 1,500–3,000 m (a). Sandalwood grows naturally in the dry deciduous forests of the Deccan, mainly Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, so options with 3 fail.
Himalayan vegetation changes with height: tropical forests in the foothills, then oak, chir and deodar, then fir and birch, then alpine meadows. Notice how altitude acts like latitude here: climbing a mountain is like travelling towards the poles. Oak forests also protect springs that hill villages depend on.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
With reference to ‘Changpa’ community of India, consider the following statements :
- 1. They live mainly in the State of Uttarakhand.
- 2. They rear the Pashmina goats that yield a fine wool.
- 3. They are kept in the category of Scheduled Tribes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer (b) & explanation
The Changpa are semi-nomadic herders of the Changthang plateau in eastern Ladakh, not Uttarakhand, so statement 1 is wrong. They rear the Changthangi (Pashmina) goat, whose fine underwool becomes pashmina shawls (2 correct). They are recognised as a Scheduled Tribe (3 correct), so the answer is (b).
The goats grow this wool to survive winters of –30 °C or colder. Climate change, shrinking pastures and youth moving to towns now threaten the Changpa way of life. Notice how geography, livelihoods and a GI-tagged craft (Kashmir Pashmina) meet in one community.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Which of the following have coral reefs?
- 1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- 2. Gulf of Kachchh
- 3. Gulf of Mannar
- 4. Sunderbans
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (a) & explanation
Coral reefs are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Gulf of Kachchh and the Gulf of Mannar, so the answer is (a). Lakshadweep is the fourth major reef area. The Sundarbans delta has muddy, low-salinity water full of sediment, which suits mangroves but not corals, so options with 4 fail.
Corals need warm, clear, shallow salt water. They are threatened by bleaching when sea temperatures rise, and India's reefs suffered in the global bleaching events. Notice how corals and mangroves are neighbours in many places, yet each needs very different water.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
In India, the problem of soil erosion is associated with which of the following?
- 1. Terrace cultivation
- 2. Deforestation
- 3. Tropical climate
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (b) & explanation
Deforestation strips away the plant cover whose roots hold soil, and is a major cause of erosion (2 correct). Terrace cultivation is a way to check erosion on slopes, not cause it, so statement 1 is wrong. UPSC's key does not count a tropical climate as a cause by itself, so the answer is (b).
Heavy rain can speed up erosion, but it does the damage mainly where cover has already been removed. Other conservation methods include contour ploughing, strip cropping, shelter belts and check dams. Notice how good farming practice, not climate alone, decides whether soil stays or goes.
Terracing is a remedy for soil erosion, not a cause of it.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| Region | Well-known for the production of
| 1. Kinnaur | Areca nut
| 2. Mewat | Mango
| 3. Coromandel | Soya bean
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
Answer (d) & explanation
None of the pairs is correct (d). Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh is known for apples, chilgoza pine nuts and grapes, not areca nut, which grows mainly in Karnataka, Kerala and Assam. Mewat, in Haryana and Rajasthan, is a dry region growing millets and mustard, not famous for mangoes. Soya bean is mainly a crop of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, not the Coromandel coast, which is known for rice.
Madhya Pradesh is often called the "Soya State". Notice how crop geography follows climate and soil: temperate fruit in high valleys, oilseeds on the black soils of the Deccan.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following pairs :
| National Highway | Cities connected
| 1. NH 4 | Chennai and Hyderabad
| 2. NH 6 | Mumbai and Kolkata
| 3. NH 15 | Ahmedabad and Jodhpur
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?
Answer (d) & explanation
No pair is correct (d). Under the old numbering used in 2014, NH 4 ran Mumbai–Pune–Bengaluru–Chennai, not Chennai–Hyderabad. NH 6 ran from Hazira (Surat) through Nagpur and Raipur to Kolkata, not from Mumbai. NH 15 ran Pathankot–Bikaner–Jaisalmer–Samakhiali, not Ahmedabad–Jodhpur.
Since 2010 highways carry new numbers: even numbers run east–west and odd numbers north–south, increasing from north to south and east to west. Old NH 7 from Varanasi to Kanyakumari is now largely NH 44, India's longest. Notice how numbering systems change, so read such questions in their year.
This question uses the old highway numbers. Do not apply today's numbering.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
World geography and places in the news (mapping) 2
Turkey is located between
Answer (b) & explanation
Turkey has the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean, with its arm the Aegean, to the south and west (b). The Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, joined by the Sea of Marmara, link these two seas and split Turkey between Europe and Asia. The Caspian Sea (a) lies further east, beyond Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Gulf of Suez (c) is in Egypt, and the Gulf of Aqaba and Dead Sea (d) are around Jordan, Israel and Egypt.
Notice how control of these straits has made Turkey strategically vital, from the Ottoman era to the Black Sea grain trade during the Ukraine war.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
What is the correct sequence of occurrence of the following cities in South-East Asia as one proceeds from south to north?
- 1. Bangkok
- 2. Hanoi
- 3. Jakarta
- 4. Singapore
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer (c) & explanation
Use latitudes. Jakarta (about 6° S) lies south of the equator. Singapore is at about 1° N, Bangkok about 14° N and Hanoi about 21° N. So from south to north the order is Jakarta–Singapore–Bangkok–Hanoi, that is 3-4-1-2 (c). Options (a) and (d) start with Singapore, ignoring that Jakarta is south of the equator, and (b) puts Hanoi too early.
Hanoi lies in northern Vietnam, close to China, while Ho Chi Minh City is in the south. Notice how a rough latitude for each capital turns map-sequence questions into simple arithmetic.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
All years by topic
Every question from 2011 to 2026, grouped by syllabus topic, with year-wise trends.