RAS Pre 2021, held on 27 October 2021. Question text as printed in RPSC's booklet; answer as per RPSC's final answer key.

Match list-I with list-II and choose the correct answer from the code given below- List–I (Landform) (A) Aconcagua (B) Meseta (C) Serengeti Plains (D) Gibson desert List–II (Continent) (i) Australia (ii) Africa (iii) Europe (iv) South America Code -

Q: What is the answer to RAS Pre 2021 Q70?

(4). Correct — option (4), A-(iv), B-(iii), C-(ii), D-(i). A-(iv), Aconcagua – South America. Wikipedia describes Aconcagua as a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes, in Mendoza Province, Argentina, and the highest mountain outside Asia. B-(iii), Meseta – Europe. Wikipedia describes the Meseta Central as a plateau covering a large part of the interior of the Iberian Peninsula; meseta is Spanish for plateau. C-(ii), Serengeti Plains – Africa. The Serengeti spans the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania and extends into south-western Kenya. D-(i), Gibson desert – Australia. Wikipedia calls the Gibson Desert a large desert in Western Australia. A-(iv) is shared by options (3) and (4), and B-(iii) appears only in option (4), A-(iv), B-(iii), C-(ii), D-(i).

(1)A-(iii), B-(ii), C-(iv), D-(i)
(2)A-(ii), B-(iv), C-(i), D-(iii)
(3)A-(iv), B-(ii), C-(iii), D-(i)
(4)A-(iv), B-(iii), C-(ii), D-(i)

Answer

(4)

Why

Correct — option (4), A-(iv), B-(iii), C-(ii), D-(i).

A-(iv), Aconcagua – South America. Wikipedia describes Aconcagua as a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes, in Mendoza Province, Argentina, and the highest mountain outside Asia.

B-(iii), Meseta – Europe. Wikipedia describes the Meseta Central as a plateau covering a large part of the interior of the Iberian Peninsula; meseta is Spanish for plateau.

C-(ii), Serengeti Plains – Africa. The Serengeti spans the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania and extends into south-western Kenya.

D-(i), Gibson desert – Australia. Wikipedia calls the Gibson Desert a large desert in Western Australia.

A-(iv) is shared by options (3) and (4), and B-(iii) appears only in option (4), A-(iv), B-(iii), C-(ii), D-(i).

Why the others are wrong

(1)
A-(iii), B-(ii), C-(iv), D-(i) — Only D-(i), Gibson desert – Australia, is right. The code puts Aconcagua in Europe, the Meseta in Africa and the Serengeti in South America.
Aconcagua is an Andes peak in Argentina, and the Serengeti lies in Tanzania and Kenya. Neither belongs to the continent this code gives it.
(2)
A-(ii), B-(iv), C-(i), D-(iii) — Every pair here is wrong: Aconcagua – Africa, Meseta – South America, Serengeti – Australia and Gibson – Europe.
The correct continents are South America for Aconcagua, Europe for the Meseta, Africa for the Serengeti and Australia for the Gibson Desert. This code moves all four.
(3)
A-(iv), B-(ii), C-(iii), D-(i) — Aconcagua – South America and Gibson – Australia are right, but B and C are swapped: the Meseta goes to Africa and the Serengeti to Europe.
The Serengeti is in Tanzania and Kenya, so it cannot be the European landform. Africa's place is taken, and the Meseta Central of the Iberian Peninsula is Europe's.

Concept

The four names cover four kinds of landform: a mountain, a plateau, a plain and a desert, each on a different continent.

Wikipedia says Aconcagua was formed by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate, and counts it among the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of the seven continents.

The Meseta Central is crossed by the Sistema Central range, with a northern part drained by the Douro and a southern part drained by the Tagus and Guadiana.

The Gibson Desert is named after Alfred Gibson, a member of Ernest Giles's party who was lost there in 1874.

RPSC's 2021 Prelims syllabus lists "Major Landforms-Mountains, Plateaus, Plains & Deserts" under World Geography. Placing named landforms on the right continent falls under that head.

Landform names can come from local languages. Meseta is Spanish for plateau. Wikipedia gives a Maa word meaning endless plains as the source of the name Serengeti, but flags that etymology as dubious: it does not appear in Maa dictionaries.

Australia has several large deserts. Wikipedia ranks the Gibson fifth by size, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts.

Key facts

Wikipedia: Aconcagua is in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes, Mendoza Province, Argentina, and is the highest mountain outside Asia.
Wikipedia: Aconcagua is one of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.
Wikipedia: the Meseta Central is a plateau covering a large part of the interior of the Iberian Peninsula; meseta is Spanish for plateau.
Wikipedia: the Serengeti spans the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania and extends into south-western Kenya.
Wikipedia: the Gibson Desert, in Western Australia, is named after Alfred Gibson, of Ernest Giles's party, lost there in 1874.

Landform – continent

(A) Aconcagua — mountain→(iv) South America (Argentina)

(B) Meseta — plateau→(iii) Europe (Iberian Peninsula)

(D) Gibson desert — desert→(i) Australia (Western Australia)

The code A-(iv), B-(iii), C-(ii), D-(i) is option (4). B-(iii) and C-(ii) appear in no other code.

Study next

The Seven Summits: highest peaks of each continentPlateaus of Europe and the Iberian PeninsulaGrasslands of East AfricaDeserts of AustraliaThe Andes and the subduction of the Nazca Plate

Common traps

Two Mesetas. Wikipedia lists a Moroccan Meseta in Africa besides the Meseta Central of Spain; in this list Africa goes to the Serengeti, so the Meseta is Europe's.
Plains taken for a desert. The Serengeti's habitats include grasslands, woodlands and swamps; the desert in the list is the Gibson, in Australia.
Stopping at a shared pair. A-(iv) is in two codes, so the Meseta's pair has to be checked as well.

A question can match landforms to continents through a code, as this one does.

A question can also match peaks, deserts or plateaus to countries, ask for the highest peak of a continent, or ask which landform lies in a given region.

Related PYQs

RPSC_2024_PRE_GS_Q1442024Open & attempt →

Match List – I with List – II and select the correct answer by using the codes given below : List – I (Desert) – List – II (Location) A. Gobi – i. Southern Africa B. Patagonia – ii. Asia C. Victoria – iii. South America D. Kalahari – iv. Australia Codes :

(1) A-ii, B-iii, C-iv, D-i
(2) A-iv, B-ii, C-iii, D-i
(3) A-ii, B-i, C-iii, D-iv
(4) A-iii, B-iv, C-i, D-ii

Answer(1)

Same matching of world landforms to locations. That item matches the Gobi, Patagonia, Victoria and Kalahari deserts to their locations (RPSC's key: option (1), A-ii, B-iii, C-iv, D-i); this one matches a mountain, a plateau, plains and a desert to continents.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Meseta Central plateau is a part of the –
- (a)Iberian Peninsula
- (b)Balkan Peninsula
- (c)Scandinavian Peninsula
- (d)Arabian Peninsula
Answer(1) — Wikipedia describes the Meseta Central as a basic geographical unit of the Iberian Peninsula, covering a large part of its interior. Option (2), the Balkan, option (3), the Scandinavian, and option (4), the Arabian Peninsula, are other peninsulas that do not hold it.
practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following deserts is in Australia?
- (a)Gibson
- (b)Kalahari
- (c)Patagonian
- (d)Gobi
Answer(1) — The Gibson Desert is in Western Australia. Option (2), the Kalahari, is in southern Africa; option (3), the Patagonian Desert, is in Argentina and Chile; option (4), the Gobi, is in Mongolia and China.