Archive · 4 Sep 2026
UPSC Environment Geography Quiz Covers Glaciers Rivers Lakes Climate
This quiz helps students revise environment and geography topics for the UPSC examination.
It explains that hanging glaciers form on steep slopes and can cause dangerous floods when they break.
The Gandak River begins in Tibet and flows through parts of India.
Several Great Lakes, including Ontario, Huron and Erie, lie along the United States-Canada border.
The Paris Agreement is an international plan to limit global warming.
The quiz also discusses Neelakurinji, a flower that blooms roughly once every 12 years.
This flower grows in high grasslands of the Western Ghats.
The questions test facts about geography, climate agreements and natural hazards.
The quiz identifies three correct statements about hanging glaciers, including their instability and potential to trigger GLOFs.
The Gandak River originates north of Dhaulagiri in Tibet and forms the boundary between Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and Lake Erie are among the lakes situated on the US-Canada border.
The Paris Agreement seeks to keep global warming well below 2°C, preferably limiting it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Neelakurinji is a Western Ghats flower with a roughly 12-year cycle and belongs to the Acanthaceae family.
- Who
- UPSC Essentials, an Indian Express initiative, presents the subject-wise quiz for civil-service aspirants.
- What
- A five-question multiple-choice quiz covering hanging glaciers, the Gandak River, North American lakes, the Paris Agreement and Neelakurinji.
- When
- The quiz is identified as Environment and Geography, Week 178; the material also references August 2026 and August 27.
- Where
- The topics cover the Himalayas and India, the US-Canada border, global climate policy and the Western Ghats.
- Why
- It is designed to help UPSC candidates revise important static topics and assess their preparation.
- Quiz series
- UPSC Essentials daily subject quiz, Environment and Geography, Week 178
- Hanging glaciers
- The article states that 219 hanging glaciers have been identified in the Alaknanda basin, with nearly one-third concentrated in the Upper Alaknanda basin.
- Gandak River
- The river originates at 7,620 metres above mean sea level north of Dhaulagiri in Tibet, near the Nepal border.
- Border lakes
- Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and Lake Erie are listed among the lakes bordering the United States and Canada.
- Climate agreement
- The 2015 Paris Agreement aims to keep warming well below 2°C and preferably at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
- Neelakurinji
- Scientifically known as Strobilanthes kunthiana, it has a roughly 12-year flowering cycle and belongs to the Acanthaceae family.