UPSC 3 Years course – English

Medium Geography
Geography
Our Planet Earth
Our Earth is the fifth biggest planet in the solar system. It’s uniqueness lies in its habitability because of air and
water. The Earth has a gravitational pull that binds atmosphere and hydrosphere making the life possible on the
earth.

Four Spheres of the Earth:

The Earth has 3 abiotic (non-living) spheres i.e. Atmosphere, Lithosphere and Hydrosphere and 1 biotic (living)
sphere i.e. – Biosphere.

1) Atmosphere – It is a thin gaseous envelop which surrounds the Earth, held by Earth’s gravity. During the
cooling of the earth, gases and water vapour were released known as ‘Degassing’ which led to formation of
atmosphere. Later atmosphere was modified by the living world through photosynthesis.
2) Lithosphere – The Earth’s crust and upper portion of mantle is known as Lithosphere. During the cooling of
Earth, due to the density difference, the heavier material sink towards Earth’s center and lighter material
moved upward forming different layers of the Earth. This process is known as ‘Differentiation’.
3) Hydrosphere – The water on the Earth remains in gaseous, liquid or solid forms in atmosphere, in rivers,
oceans and lakes and in the form of ice or glaciers respectively.The degassing process which led to the
formation of atmosphere was responsible for formation of hydrosphere. The gases which came out of the
earth were cooled and condensation took place leading to cloud formation. There was continuous rainfall for
around 40,000 years which led to formation of oceans.
4) Biosphere – The complex interconnected web that connects all organisms with their physical environment
is Biosphere/Ecosphere. It extends from seafloor to 8 km in the atmosphere.The biosphere finds it’s origin in
hydrosphere.

Origin and Evolution of the Earth :

1) Nebular Hypothesis of Laplace:

This hypothesis was originally put forward by Immanual Kant and later revised by Laplace. According
to the hypothesis, planets were results of a cloud of primordial material, which was existed in the form of
‘Nebula’. The solar system was formed from this nebular material. As nebular mass started cooling down, it
reduced it’s volume which led to increase it’s rotational speed. As a result, mass of nebula started
concentrating along the equator. Due to the centrifugal force, some of the mass separated from equator in
the form of rotating ring. This ring when cooled down gave rise to planets and sub-planets and remaining
mass became the sun.

2) Big bang Theory:

It is also known as ‘Expanding Universe Theory’ and it was a Edwin Hubble who provided evidences
regarding the expanding nature of the Universe. Initially all the Universe forming matter was in the form of ‘tiny ball’
(singular atom) with infinite temperature and infinite density. At 13.7 billion years ago this tiny ball exploded which
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 is known as `Big bang’ leading to the formation of Universe. This expansion of universe still continues today with a
slower rate. After 300,000 years of Big bang the temperature dropped to 4500 Kelvin and gave rise to a atomic
matter. Out of all other theories of origin of the Earth, this is the most widely accepted theory.

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE

• Latitudes and Longitudes are imaginary lines used to

determine the location of a place on earth.
• The shape of the earth is ‘Geoid’. And the location of a
place on the earth can be mentioned in terms of latitudes
and longitudes.
• Example: The location of New Delhi is 28° N, 77° E.
• Longitude is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes,
and seconds, of a point east or west of the Prime
(Greenwich) Meridian.
• Latitude is an angle which ranges from 0° at the Equator
to 90° (North or South) at the poles. Lines of
constant latitude, or parallels, run east–west as circles
parallel to the equator.
• Latitude is the angular distance of a point on the earth’s
surface, measured in degrees from the center of the earth.
• As the earth is slightly flattened at the poles, the linear
distance of a degree of latitude at the pole is a little longer
than that at the equator.
Important parallels lines of latitudes

• Besides the equator (0°), the north pole (90°N) and the south pole (90° S), there are four important parallels
of latitudes–
1) Tropic of Cancer (23½° N) in the northern hemisphere.
2) Tropic of Capricorn (23½° S) in the southern hemisphere.
3) Arctic circle at 66½° north of the equator.
4) Antarctic circle at 66½° south of the equator.
Latitudinal Heat zones of the earth

• The mid-day sun is exactly overhead at least once a year on all latitudes in between the Tropic of Cancer and
the Tropic of Capricorn. This area, therefore, receives the maximum heat and is called the torrid zone.
• The mid-day sun never shines overhead on any latitude beyond the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of
Capricorn. The angle of the sun’s rays goes on decreasing towards the poles. As such, the areas bounded by
the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic circle in the northern hemisphere, and the Tropic of Capricorn and the

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 Antarctic circle in the southern hemisphere, have
moderate temperatures. These are, therefore,
called temperate zones.
• Areas lying between the Arctic circle and the
north pole in the northern hemisphere and the
Antarctic circle and the south pole in the southern
hemisphere, are very cold. It is because here the
sun does not raise much above the horizon.
Therefore, its rays are always slanting. These are,
therefore, called frigid zones.

Longitude and Time

• When the Sun is at its highest point in the sky, it

is noon. The shadow is shortest at noon.
• The time of a place reckoned by the mid-day Sun
is called the local time.
• The Earth takes approximately 24 hours to complete one rotation, i.e., it takes 24 hours to complete 360° of
its rotation.
• Places in the east see the Sun first. Places in the west see the Sun later.
• For each 1° of longitude towards the east, a time of four (4) minutes has to be added.
• For each 1° of longitude towards the west, a time of four (4) minutes has to be subtracted.
• When the local time of a central place is taken as the time for the whole country (or a large area), it is called
the Standard Time of that country or area.
• Since it takes 24 hours for the earth to make one rotation, Standard Fleming, a Canadian, suggested dividing
the earth into 24 time zones.
• In 1884, a group of countries established standard time zones for the whole world.
• Each time zone is almost 15Q wide, with adjustments made in some places so that a city or country may not
be divided into two time zones.
• A separation of one time zone indicates a difference of one hour between two places.
• Clocks to the east of a time zone are set for one hour later; clocks to the west, one hour earlier.
• Greenwich Mean Time: In order to maintain an International uniformity, one uniform time, corresponding
to the Prime Meridian, has been adopted by all countries. This is called Greenwich Mean Time (G.M.T).
Indian Standard Time

• The Indian Government has accepted the meridian of 82*5° east

which is 5hrs. 30 mins, ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. The line
passing through the area near Allahabad is considered the
Standard Meridian. This is known as the Indian Standard Time
(1ST).
Chaibagaan Time
• 150 years ago British colonialists introduced “chaibagaan time” or
“bagaan time”, a time schedule observed by tea planters, which was
one hour ahead of IST.
• This was done to improve productivity by optimizing the usage of
daytime.
• After Independence, Assam, along with the rest of India, has been
following IST for the past 66 years.
• The administration of the Indian state of Assam now wants to
change it’s time zone back to Chaibagaan time to conserve energy
and improve productivity.
• Indian government didn’t accept to such a proposal.
• India has only one time zone
The International Date Line

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 • The line at which a day is lost or gained is called the International Date Line.
• It is an imaginary zigzag line on the globe, approximately along the 180° meridian of longitude.
• If you are travelling eastward from Greenwich to a place A on longitude 180°, the time will be 12 hours
ahead of Greenwich time, e.g. 06: 00 a.m. on Tuesday.
• If you are travelling westward from Greenwich to the same place A on longitude 180°, the time will be 12
hours behind Greenwich time, i.e. 6:00 p.m. but on the previous day, Monday.
• A traveler going eastwards gains time from Greenwich until he reaches the meridian 180°E, when he will be
12 hours ahead of G.M.T.
• Similarly in going westwards, he loses 12 hours when he reaches 180°W. There is thus a total difference of 24
hours or a whole day between the two sides of the 180° meridian.
• This is the International Date Line where the date changes by exactly one day when it is crossed. A traveler
crossing the date line from east to west loses a day; and while crossing the dateline from west to east he
gains a day.

Motion of the Earth-Rotation and Revolution

• Rotation is the turning around of the Earth on its

axis, from west to east.
• As the Earth rotates in west-east direction, we see
the Sun rising every day in the east and setting in
the west.
• The North Pole and South Pole lie at the ends of the
axis.
• The Earth’s axis is not vertical. It makes an angle of
23°30' with the vertical or 66°30' with the plane of
the Earth’s orbit.
• The Earth’s axis always remains pointed in the same
direction (towards the Pole Star) as the Earth moves
around the Sun.
• The tilt of the Earth’s axis is known as the
inclination of the Earth’s

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Solstice and Equinox

Solstice
• Solstice is one of the two dates in the year on
which the sun reaches greatest altitude north or
south of the equator and is directly overhead along
one of the lines of the tropics.
Summer Solstice
• On June 21, the earth is so located in its orbit that
the sun is overhead on the Tropic of Cancer.
• On this date the northern hemisphere is tipped
towards the sun having the longest day, while the
southern hemisphere is tipped away from the sun
having the shortest day.
Winter Solstice :
• On December 22, the earth is in an equivalent
position on the opposite points in its orbit, so the
southern hemisphere is tipped towards the sun and the northern hemisphere away from it.
• The sun is overhead on the Tropic of Capricorn, resulting in the shortest day in the northern hemisphere.
Equinoxes
• Two days in a year when day and night are equal throughout the
Country Time Zone
world are equinoxes.
INDIA 1
• Falling midway between the dates of solstices, on these dates, the
earth’s axis lies at 90° to the line joining the centre’s of the earth and CHINA 1
the sun and neither the northern nor the southern hemisphere is USA 11
inclined towards the sun. RUSSIA 11
• The ‘vernal equinox’ occurs on March 21 and it is also called the FRANCE 12 (MAXIMUM)
spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. AUSTRALIA 9
• The ‘autumnal equinox’ occurs on September 23. UK 9
Midnight Sun BRAZIL 4
• This phenomenon is observed in the Arctic and Antarctic zones INDONESIA 3
around mid-summer, when the sun does not sink below the horizon MEXICO 4
throughout 24 hours of the day and therefore, may be seen at DENMARK 5
midnight. CANADA 6
• This is the direct consequence of the inclination of the axis of the
earth to the plane of the orbit.
• Norway is the place of midnight sun where the sun is continuously visible between May and July.
• In the southern hemisphere, the phenomenon is seen in the Antarctica continent.
Latitude Longitude
• Parallels • Meridian
• Angular distance of a point from the center of the earth • Angular distance along the equator
• Equator = 0° Latitude • Prime meridian = longitude
• Latitudes are named south and north of equator • Longitudes are named east or west of
• Their length decreases from equator to poles prime meridian
• Equator has the maximum length • All longitudes are equal in length
• Equator, Tropic of Cancer 23.5° N, Tropic of Capricorn 23.5° • Prime meridian 0° and International Date
S, Arctic circle 66.5° N, Antarctic circle 66.5° S, North Pole Line 180° E or 180° W are important
90° N and South Pole 90° S are important latitudes longitudes
• They help in determining the intensity of sunlight received • Used to determine time and date at a
at a point location
• They divide earth into torrid, temperate and frigid zones