Which of the following pairs is/are correctly matched? Plateau / Continent 1. Abyssinian : Africa 2. Patagonian : Australia 3. Anatolian : Asia 4. Iberian : North America Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 only
- (b)1 and 3 only
- (c)2, 3 and 4 only
- (d)1, 2, 3 and 4
Correct — B, 1 and 3 only. Pair 1 holds: the Abyssinian plateau is the older name for the Ethiopian Highlands, the great lava plateau of the Horn of Africa cut by the gorge of the Blue Nile, so Africa is right. Pair 3 holds: Anatolia is the peninsula that makes up most of Turkey, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and it is in Asia — the small remainder of Turkey west of the Bosphorus is the European part. Pair 2 fails: Patagonia is the dry, wind-swept plateau at the southern end of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile in the rain shadow of the Andes, and has nothing to do with Australia. Pair 4 fails too: the Iberian plateau, the Meseta Central, is the tableland that occupies the heart of Spain and Portugal, and Iberia is in Europe, not North America. Two right, two wrong, so 1 and 3 only.
- (a)1 only — Accepts Abyssinia and Africa but drops Anatolia and Asia, which is equally sound — Anatolia is the Asian portion of Turkey.
- (c)2, 3 and 4 only — Keeps both false pairs and drops the true Abyssinian one. Patagonia is South American and Iberia is European.
- (d)1, 2, 3 and 4 — The all-of-them option, which fails on the two continental misplacements. Two of these four pairs are wrong by a whole continent each.
Plateaus are broad uplands standing well above the surrounding country with a comparatively level top. They arise in different ways: the Abyssinian plateau is a volcanic pile built by basalt flows and later split by the East African rift; Anatolia is a block between fold mountains raised by the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates; the Iberian Meseta is an ancient worn-down massif; Patagonia is an intermontane and piedmont plateau lying in the rain shadow of the Andes. Their common examination value is that each is tied to one continent and one region.
A matching item on plateaus is really a test of whether a candidate can place a regional name on the world map without hesitating. Two of these are famous under older names — Abyssinia for Ethiopia, Iberia for the Spain-and-Portugal peninsula — and it is the older names that trip people, because they sound as though they might belong somewhere else. Patagonia is worth fixing by its climate: it is a cold desert produced by the Andes blocking westerly rain, which is a peculiarly South American geography. Anatolia comes up regularly in the news for reasons that have nothing to do with geography, and it is always Turkey.
- The Abyssinian plateau is the Ethiopian Highlands, a basalt plateau in Africa dissected by the gorge of the Blue Nile.
- Anatolia, also called Asia Minor, forms most of Turkey and lies in Asia.
- The Patagonian plateau lies in southern Argentina and Chile, in the rain shadow of the Andes — a cold desert of South America.
- The Iberian plateau, the Meseta Central, occupies the interior of Spain and Portugal, in Europe.
- Only two of the four pairs given in this question are correctly matched, which is what makes 1 and 3 the answer.
- Reading older regional names — Abyssinia, Iberia — as if they belonged to unfamiliar continents.
- Placing Patagonia in Australia because both suggest wide dry country.
- Forgetting that a small part of Turkey lies in Europe while Anatolia itself is Asian.
As a pairs item matching a regional plateau name to a continent or country, with one or two pairs shifted by a whole continent.
Consider the following pairs: Region often mentioned in the news — Country 1. Anatolia — Turkey 2. Amhara — Ethiopia 3. Cabo Delgado — Spain 4. Catalonia — Italy How many pairs given above are correctly matched?
- (a) Only one pair
- (b) Only two pairs
- (c) Only three pairs
- (d) All four pairs
Answer(b) Only two pairs
The same two regions, tested the same way. Anatolia and Turkey is a correct pair in both papers, and Amhara sits inside the Ethiopian Highlands that this question calls the Abyssinian plateau.
Consider the following statements : 1. Length of a terrestrial mile is lesser than that of a nautical mile. 2. Harmattan is a dusty land-wind of the East African Coast. 3. Greece and Albania form a part of the Iberian Peninsula. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
- (a) 1, 2 and 3
- (b) 2 and 3, only
- (c) 3 only
- (d) 1 only
Answer(d) 1 only
Iberia misplaced again, in the other direction. There the examiner moves Greece and Albania into the Iberian peninsula; here Iberia itself is moved to North America. The fix in both cases is to hold the peninsula firmly in Spain and Portugal.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Patagonian plateau lies in which continent?
- (a)Africa
- (b)Australia
- (c)South America
- (d)Asia
Answer(c) South America — a cold desert plateau in southern Argentina and Chile, in the rain shadow of the Andes.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Meseta Central is the plateau at the heart of which region?
- (a)The Balkan peninsula
- (b)The Iberian peninsula
- (c)The Anatolian peninsula
- (d)The Scandinavian peninsula
Answer(b) The Iberian peninsula — the tableland occupying the interior of Spain and Portugal.