Our Environment

The question asks about the correct matching of National Highways with the cities they connect. Let's evaluate each pair:

• NH4: The correct connection is Bengaluru and Chennai, not Chennai and Hyderabad.
• NH6: The correct connection is Surat and Kolkata, not Mumbai and Kolkata.
• NH15: This highway does not connect Ahmedabad and Jodhpur.

Therefore, none of the pairs are correctly matched, making the correct answer (d) None.

Source: NCERT: Class XII Geography Part II

Feeding on sea grass, dugongs are found in sea grass beds, sheltered waters, lagoons and bays. Fourteen sea grass species are found in the marine waters in the country of which 13 are found in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay areas.

Dugongs had been brought under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act; the punishment for its poaching is imprisonment.

Source Attribution: NCERT: India Physical Environment Std XI

The ecological niche is the ecological role and space that an organism fills in an ecosystem. The ecological niche involves both the place where an organism lives and the roles that an organism does in its habitat.

For example, the ecological niche of a sunflower growing in the backyard includes:

• absorbing light, water and nutrients (for photosynthesis)
• providing shelter and food for other organisms (e.g. bees, ants, etc.)
• giving off oxygen into the atmosphere.

Source: 12th NCERT: Unit 9 Ecology and Environment

Electromagnetic radiation causes temperature change which induces metamorphism of rocks.

Gravity, besides being a directional force activating all downslope movements of matter, also causes stresses on the earth’s materials.

Plate movement results in continent building.

The energy emanating from within the earth is the main force behind endogenic geomorphic processes. This energy is mostly generated by radioactivity, rotational and tidal friction, and primordial heat from the origin of the earth.

This energy, due to geothermal gradients and heat flow from within, induces diastrophism and volcanism in the lithosphere.

Due to variations in geothermal gradients and heat flow from within, crustal thickness and strength, the action of endogenic forces are not uniform and hence the tectonically controlled original crustal surface is uneven.

Source: NCERT: Fundamentals of Physical Geography Chapter - Geomorphic Processes

Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) is a type of hydroelectric energy storage. It is a configuration of two water reservoirs at different elevations that can generate power as water moves down from one to the other (discharge), passing through a turbine. Hence option (c) is the correct answer.

Source Citation:

• Business Standard
• NCERT