Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists :
List-I (Country)
A. Spain – France
B. Switzerland
C. Bulgaria
D. Italy
List-II (Mountain)
1. Alps
2. Ape

Question

Match List-I with List-II and choose the correct answer using the codes given below the lists :
List-I (Country)
A. Spain – France
B. Switzerland
C. Bulgaria
D. Italy
List-II (Mountain)
1. Alps
2. Apennine
3. Pyrenees
4. Balkan
Codes :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2. Each pair is a straight fact of European physical geography. Spain–France goes with the PYRENEES (List-II 3): the range runs for roughly 430 kilometres from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean and forms the political frontier between the two countries, with the tiny state of Andorra tucked inside it and Aneto, at about 3,400 metres, as its highest peak. Switzerland goes with the ALPS (List-II 1): the Alps sweep in a great arc through France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Liechtenstein and Monaco, but Switzerland is the country most completely defined by them, with roughly three-fifths of its territory Alpine and its icons — the Matterhorn, the Jungfrau, the Eiger — standing in the range. Bulgaria goes with the BALKAN mountains (List-II 4): the Stara Planina, literally 'old mountain', runs west to east across the whole width of Bulgaria from the Serbian border to the Black Sea, and it is this range that gave its name to the entire Balkan Peninsula. Italy goes with the APENNINES (List-II 2): they form the spine of the Italian peninsula, running some 1,200 kilometres from the Ligurian Alps in the north down to Calabria, with Corno Grande in the Gran Sasso, at about 2,900 metres, as their highest point. That gives A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2, which is option (b).

Why the other options are wrong — (a) This is the designed near-miss and the option that catches most candidates. It gets the two easy pairs right — Spain–France with the Pyrenees, Switzerland with the Alps — and then swaps the last two, giving Bulgaria the Apennines and Italy the Balkan mountains. It is exactly the wrong way round: the Apennines are the backbone of the Italian peninsula, while the Balkan range, the Stara Planina, crosses Bulgaria and lent its name to the peninsula it stands on. Whenever two options share their first half, the answer is decided entirely by the second half — compare only C and D and you settle this in one step.  (c) Every pair is wrong. It puts the Apennines on the Spanish–French border, the Pyrenees in Switzerland, the Alps in Bulgaria and the Balkan range in Italy. Switzerland with anything other than the Alps should end the discussion immediately; that single check is enough to eliminate this option.  (d) Only the Alps pairing survives. It sends the Balkan mountains to the Spanish–French border, the Apennines to Bulgaria and the Pyrenees to Italy. The Pyrenees are the classic textbook example of a mountain range serving as an international boundary between Spain and France, so A-4 is the first pair to strike out.

Concept: The Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines, Balkan mountains, Carpathians and Caucasus are all young fold mountains of the Alpine orogeny, thrown up when the African plate pushed north into Eurasia and the Tethys Sea between them was closed — the same collision belt that continues eastward through the Zagros and on to the Himalaya. That is why they share a family look: high relief, sharp crests, folded and thrust sedimentary rock, and continuing seismic activity. Their political significance is just as examinable. Ranges make frontiers: the Pyrenees separate Iberia from the rest of Europe and carry the Spain–France border, the Alps historically divided the Italian peninsula from central Europe, and the Balkan range fragments the peninsula it names.

State PCS 2024 Q61 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q61 — Geography PYQ with Answer