Resources, soil and agriculture
Class 10 Social Science · Geography · 19 questions with answers
Class 10 Geography carries the most reliable marks on the whole paper, because a large block of them is map work that needs no reasoning at all. The rest is 'why there' - why a soil is where it is, why a crop grows where it does - and answers that name without explaining lose half every time.
- Classifies resources and explains what sustainable development means
- Names the major soil types with where they are found and one property
- Explains a method of soil conservation by the problem it solves
- Distinguishes the three cropping seasons with examples
Exercise 1 of 3 · 7 questions
Name the soil, give one region where it is found, and one property.
Write the answer · Warm-up
Here’s one done for you
Black soil is the one that ties everything together. It is made of lava, it holds moisture for long periods, and that is precisely why it suits cotton - a crop that needs steady moisture through a long growing season. Naming the soil is one mark; connecting the property to the crop it supports is the answer, and it is the shape most of this chapter's questions take.
- 1)Formed by the deposition of river sediment, and the most widespread soil in India
- 2)Made of lava, black in colour, and able to hold moisture for a long time
- 3)Develops on crystalline igneous rocks in areas of low rainfall
- 4)Formed by intense leaching in areas of heavy rain and high temperature
- 5)Found in western Rajasthan, sandy and saline
- 6)Rich in humus, found in the hilly forested areas of the Himalayas
- 7)Formed in areas of high rainfall on old crystalline rock, and low in fertility
Answers
- 1) Alluvial soil - found across the northern plains and the river deltas. It is very fertile, rich in potash and lime, and supports intensive cultivation.
- 2) Black soil, also called regur - found in the Deccan trap region of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. It holds moisture well and is ideal for cotton.
- 3) Red and yellow soil - found in the eastern and southern parts of the Deccan plateau. Its colour comes from iron diffusing through the crystalline rock.
- 4) Laterite soil - found in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and parts of the north-east. Leaching removes most nutrients, so it needs manure and fertiliser, though it suits tea, coffee and cashew.
- 5) Arid soil - found in western Rajasthan. It is sandy and saline, low in humus and moisture, and needs proper irrigation to be cultivated.
- 6) Forest soil. It is found on the Himalayan slopes, is rich in organic matter in the valleys, and is used for tea, fruit and spices.
- 7) Laterite soil. It is found in Karnataka, Kerala and parts of the north-east, and is used for cashew and tea after heavy manuring, because leaching has removed much of its nutrient content.
Exercise 2 of 3 · 6 questions
Explain the method and say which problem it solves.
Write the answer · Guided
Here’s one done for you
Each answer names the method and then the problem it addresses - water erosion for the first two, wind erosion for the last two. Sorting the four into those two groups is worth doing once out loud, because it turns four separate facts into two ideas, and questions that ask 'suggest a method for a hilly region' or 'for a desert region' then answer themselves.
- 1)Contour ploughing
- 2)Terrace farming
- 3)Strip cropping
- 4)Shelter belts
- 5)Ploughing along the contours instead of up and down a slope
- 6)Planting rows of trees along the edge of a field
Answers
- 1) Ploughing along the contour lines of a slope rather than up and down it. The furrows run across the slope and act as barriers, slowing the flow of water and reducing the soil it carries away.
- 2) Cutting a hillside into steps and cultivating the flat surfaces. It reduces the steepness of the slope, which slows run-off and limits erosion in hilly regions.
- 3) Growing crops in alternating strips with strips left uncultivated. The uncultivated strips break the force of the wind and reduce wind erosion.
- 4) Rows of trees planted in lines to reduce wind speed. They protect the soil from being blown away and have helped stabilise sand dunes in western India.
- 5) Contour ploughing. Each furrow runs across the slope and holds water back rather than letting it run down, which stops the running water carrying soil away.
- 6) Shelter belts. The rows of trees slow the wind, which stops it lifting and carrying away loose topsoil - the main cause of erosion in dry, open regions.
Exercise 3 of 3 · 6 questions
Answer in two or three sentences.
Write the answer · Practice
Here’s one done for you
The sustainable development definition is worth learning word for word, because the board asks for it directly and the phrase 'without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' is the mark. This is one of a small number of places in the paper where an exact definition is expected rather than an explanation in the child's own words.
- 1)What are the three cropping seasons, and give two crops for each?
- 2)Why is rice grown mainly in the eastern and coastal regions?
- 3)What is sustainable development, and why does it matter for resource use?
- 4)Why are commercial crops sometimes a risk for small farmers?
- 5)What is the difference between a food crop and a commercial crop, with one example of each?
- 6)Why does India need to import edible oil and pulses despite being a large agricultural producer?
Answers
- 1) Rabi is sown in winter and harvested in spring - wheat and mustard. Kharif is sown with the monsoon and harvested in autumn - rice and maize. Zaid is the short summer season between them - watermelon and cucumber.
- 2) Because rice needs high temperature, high humidity and heavy rainfall above about 100 cm, and standing water during growth. Those conditions occur naturally in the east and along the coasts, while in drier regions rice depends on irrigation.
- 3) Development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It matters because resources are finite, and using them at a rate that exhausts them shifts the cost onto people who had no say in the decision.
- 4) Because their price depends on markets a farmer cannot control, and many require expensive inputs bought on credit. A single bad price year can leave a smallholder in debt in a way that a subsistence crop would not.
- 5) A food crop is grown mainly to be eaten, such as rice or wheat. A commercial crop is grown mainly to be sold or processed, such as cotton, jute or sugarcane - though the line moves, since rice sold to market is also commercial.
- 6) Because so much of the best irrigated land went to rice and wheat after the green revolution, while pulses and oilseeds were left largely to rain-fed land with low yields. Demand has risen faster than that production, so the gap is met by imports.
While your child works
- Practise map work weekly on a blank outline. It is the most reliable block of marks on the paper.
- Sort the four conservation methods into water erosion and wind erosion. Four facts become two ideas.
- The sustainable development definition should be learned exactly. The board asks for it as a definition.