🔆 Colorado Plateau

📍 Location:
• USA

📍 Significance:
✅ Known for the Grand Canyon: A world-famous landmark.
✅ Highly dissected by the Colorado River: Creating the iconic Grand Canyon and other geological formations.

🔆 Columbia Plateau

📍 Location:
✅ Volcanic Plateau: Known for its volcanic origin.
✅ Snake River Valley is here: A significant geographical feature.
✅ In USA: Located in the United States.

🔆 Important Rivers of Europe

📍 Volga
✅ Basin Countries: Russia
✅ Source: Valdai Hills, Russia
✅ Mouth: Caspian Sea

📍 Danube
✅ Basin Countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova (Germany HAS CRUMBS)
✅ Source: Black Forest, Germany
✅ Mouth: Black Sea

📍 Ural
✅ Basin Countries: Russia, Kazakhstan
✅ Source: Ural Mountains, Russia
✅ Mouth: Caspian Sea

📍 Dnieper
✅ Basin Countries: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine (RUB)
✅ Source: Valdai Hills, Russia
✅ Mouth: Black Sea

📍 Dniester
✅ Basin Countries: Ukraine, Moldova
✅ Source: Carpathian Mountains, Ukraine
✅ Mouth: Black Sea

📍 Tiber
✅ Basin Countries: Italy
✅ Source: Apennines, Italy
✅ Mouth: Tyrrhenian Sea

🔆 Important Trenches

📍 Mariana Trench
• Location: Western Pacific (Near Guam)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Philippine Plate. Includes the Challenger Deep (10,971m)

📍 Tonga Trench
• Location: South Pacific (Near Tonga)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Indo-Australian Plate

📍 Kuril-Kamchatka Trench
• Location: Northwest Pacific (Near Russia, Japan)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Eurasian Plate

📍 Peru-Chile Trench (Atacama Trench)
• Location: Eastern Pacific (Off South America)
• Plates Involved: Nazca Plate subducting under South American Plate

📍 Philippine Trench
• Location: West Pacific (Near Philippines)
• Plates Involved: Philippine Plate subducting under Eurasian Plate

🔆 Oceans (Pacific & Atlantic Oceans)

📍 Japan Trench
• Location: Northwest Pacific (Off Japan)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Eurasian Plate

📍 Kermadec Trench
• Location: South Pacific (Near New Zealand)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Indo-Australian Plate

📍 Aleutian Trench
• Location: North Pacific (Near Alaska)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under North American Plate

📍 Middle America Trench
• Location: Eastern Pacific (Off Central America)
• Plates Involved: Cocos Plate subducting under North American & Caribbean Plates

🔆Arctic circle

✅The Arctic Circle is a line of latitude at approximately 66.5° North, marking the southern boundary of the Arctic region.

✅It's a crucial geographical feature for understanding solar radiation and the experience of daylight, especially during the solstices.

✅ The Arctic Circle passes through parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and the United States (Alaska).

✅Geographical Significance:
The Arctic Circle defines the area where the Sun does not set for at least one day in the summer solstice (June 21) and does not rise for at least one day in the winter solstice (December 21)

✅The Arctic is home to a unique ecosystem, including polar bears, seals, whales, and various species of birds.

#mapping

UPSC CALENDAR- 2026
Prelims - 24 May
Mains - 21 Aug.

🔆 Grasslands of South America

📍 Pampas
✅ Located in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil
✅ Temperate Grassland
✅ Fertile plains known for extensive agriculture (wheat, corn, soybeans) and cattle ranching; home to the gaucho culture

📍 Llanos
✅ Located in Venezuela, Colombia
✅ Tropical Grassland
✅ Seasonally flooded grasslands; rich in biodiversity; major source of cattle grazing and oil reserves

📍 Campos
✅ Located in Southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
✅ Subtropical Grassland
✅ Includes regions like Campos Gerais; used for livestock grazing and agriculture

📍 Gran Chaco
✅ Located in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil
✅ Woodland Savanna
✅ A semi-arid region with grasslands interspersed with thorny shrubs; rich in wildlife and a critical ecological zone

🔆Dirang Geothermal Well

✅India’s Northeast witnessed a milestone in clean energy as Arunachal Pradesh’s Dirang became home to the region’s first geothermal production well

📍What it is?

✅A renewable geothermal energy project using closed-loop binary Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) to tap Earth’s subsurface heat for sustainable applications like electricity, heating, and agricultural processing.
✅Location: Situated in Dirang, West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh, nestled in the eastern Himalayan terrain.

📍Key Features:

✅Developed by: Centre for Earth Sciences and Himalayan Studies (CESHS), Itanagar
Supported by: Ministry of Earth Sciences, Arunachal Pradesh govt, with global scientific partners from Norway, Iceland, and Guwahati.
✅Temperature Reservoir: ~115°C — ideal for direct-use geothermal technologies.
Low-impact drilling with precision targeting fault zones between quartzite and schist formations.

📍Significance:

✅First such project in Northeast India, with potential to power Dirang entirely via geothermal energy.
✅Reduces dependence on diesel and wood in cold Himalayan climates.
✅Can improve agricultural productivity and quality of life in high-altitude areas.
✅Adds to India’s geothermal potential (~10,600 MW), ensuring base-load renewable power, unlike intermittent sources like solar/wind.

#gs3
#environment

@upsc_4_environment

🔆 ARCTIC CIRCLE

📍 Water Bodies

✅ Chukchi Sea: Connected to the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait at its southernmost end.

✅ East Siberian Sea: One of the least studied water bodies in the area, experiencing an extremely harsh climate.

✅ Laptev Sea: Surrounded on three sides by land.

✅ Kara Sea: Located north of Siberia, between the Barents Sea and the Laptev Sea.

✅ Barents Sea: Off the northern coasts of Russia and Norway; relatively shallower than other parts of the Arctic Ocean.
▪️ The sea is important for the exploration of hydrocarbon resources.
▪️ It is a productive fishing area.
▪️ The Pechora Sea and the White Sea are parts of the Barents Sea.

✅ Wandel Sea: Stretches from Greenland’s northeast to Svalbard.

📍 Note:
HIMADRI – India’s research laboratory in Svalbard, Norway; near the North Pole.