MPPSC 2021 Prelims Paper-I · Question 47 of 100

Correct — D, Iron ore. The Marquette Range lies in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and is one of the principal iron-ore ranges of the Lake Superior district (alongside the Mesabi, Menominee, Gogebic and Vermilion ranges) that made the United States a leading iron and steel producer through the 19th and 20th centuries.

• (a)Uranium — US uranium production is centred on the Colorado Plateau (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico) and Wyoming's basins, not the Marquette Range.
• (b)Copper — Michigan does have a famous copper belt — the Keweenaw Peninsula, 'Copper Country' — but that is a separate range from Marquette, which is known for iron, not copper.
• (c)Zinc — Not the mineral associated with the Marquette Range; the USA's major zinc districts lie elsewhere (e.g., the historic Tri-State district).

The Lake Superior region of the northern United States hosts a cluster of iron-ore ranges — Mesabi, Marquette, Menominee, Gogebic and Vermilion — formed from ancient Precambrian banded iron formations. Together they made the US a top iron-ore and steel producer, feeding steel centres such as Pittsburgh via Great Lakes shipping.

Exams test 'named range → mineral' matching for the world's classic mineral belts. The trap here is confusing Michigan's iron ranges (Marquette, Menominee, Gogebic) with the state's separate copper belt (Keweenaw), or with the larger, more famous Mesabi Range in neighbouring Minnesota — all part of the same Lake Superior iron district but distinct ranges.

• Marquette Range — Michigan's Upper Peninsula, USA
• Mineral: iron ore, part of the Lake Superior iron-ore district
• Sister ranges in the same district: Mesabi, Menominee, Gogebic, Vermilion
• Ore historically shipped via the Great Lakes to steel centres such as Pittsburgh

• Mixing up Marquette (iron) with Michigan's Keweenaw copper belt
• Confusing Marquette with the larger, better-known Mesabi Range — both are iron ranges, but distinct locations

Typically a direct name-the-mineral-for-the-named-range question, often paired with other world mineral belts (Witwatersrand-gold, Katanga-copper, Kimberley-diamonds) in the same paper.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Mesabi Range, the largest iron-ore producing range in the USA, is located in which state?

  • (a)Michigan
  • (b)Minnesota
  • (c)Wisconsin
  • (d)Ohio

  Answer(b) Minnesota — the Mesabi Range is the biggest of the Lake Superior district's iron ranges.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, distinct from the iron-bearing Marquette Range, is historically famous for which mineral?

  • (a)Iron ore
  • (b)Copper
  • (c)Bauxite
  • (d)Manganese

  Answer(b) Copper — the Keweenaw ('Copper Country') was a major native-copper mining district.