UPHESC Assistant Professor Geology PYQs

Concept: Ranjit Singh (b. 1780, Gujranwala) was the son of Maha Singh, chief of the Sukerchakia misl; he unified the misls and took Lahore in 1799.

1. Phulkian misl – Patiala, Nabha, Jind.
2. Ahluwalia misl – Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (Kapurthala).
3. Dallewalia – another of the 12 misls.

Short trick: Sukerchakia → Sher-e-Punjab Ranjit Singh.

Concept: The Indian Councils Act, 1909 is called the Morley–Minto Reforms (John Morley – Secretary of State; Lord Minto – Viceroy).

1. It introduced separate electorates for Muslims.
2. GoI Act 1919 = Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms (dyarchy in provinces).

Short trick: 1909 Morley–Minto (separate electorate); 1919 Mont–Ford (dyarchy).

Concept: The Deccan Education Society (Pune, 1884) was founded by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, M. B. Namjoshi and others; it started Fergusson College (1885).

1. G. K. Gokhale joined the Society in 1886 as a life member – he was not a founder.
2. Lala Lajpat Rai is linked with DAV institutions; Indira Gandhi is irrelevant.

Short trick: DES 1884 = Tilak + Agarkar + Chiplunkar → Fergusson College.

Concept: 'The Indian Struggle' (1920–1942) was written by Subhas Chandra Bose; Part I was published in London in 1935.

1. Gandhi: Hind Swaraj, My Experiments with Truth.
2. Nehru: Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History.

Short trick: Bose struggled → 'The Indian Struggle'.

Concept: Meghalaya's hills from west to east are the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia Hills; the Nagas live further east in Nagaland.

1. Garo Hills (west Meghalaya) → Khasi Hills (centre, Shillong) → Jaintia Hills (east) → Naga Hills (Nagaland).

Short trick: G-K-J-N: 'Go Keep Journey North-east'.

Concept: Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary is in Mandsaur–Neemuch districts of Madhya Pradesh (on the Chambal), not in Rajasthan.

1. Dampa Tiger Reserve – Mizoram ✔.
2. Valmiki Tiger Reserve – West Champaran, Bihar ✔.
3. Rohla National Park – Kullu, Himachal Pradesh ✔.

Short trick: Gandhi Sagar dam/sanctuary = MP (Chambal; now cheetahs' second home).

Concept: Under Article 110(3), if any question arises whether a Bill is a Money Bill, the decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is final.

1. The Speaker endorses a certificate on the Bill before it goes to Rajya Sabha (Art. 110(4)).
2. Rajya Sabha can only delay a Money Bill by 14 days.

Short trick: Money Bill → Speaker's certificate is final (Art. 110(3)).

Concept: In 1922 Mahatma Gandhi wrote that Swaraj would not be a free gift of the British Parliament but must be framed by the freely chosen representatives of the people of India.

1. Motilal Nehru drafted the Nehru Report (1928) – a constitution draft, not the 1922 demand.
2. M. N. Roy (1934) first proposed a Constituent Assembly explicitly; INC adopted it in 1935.

Short trick: 1922 Gandhi (idea) → 1928 Motilal (Nehru Report) → 1934 M. N. Roy (CA).

Concept: Fundamental Duties are in Part IV-A (Article 51A), added by the 42nd Amendment, 1976 – not Part VI-A.

1. Part II (Arts. 5–11) – Citizenship ✔.
2. Part III (Arts. 12–35) – Fundamental Rights ✔.
3. Part VIII (Arts. 239–242) – Union Territories ✔.

Short trick: Duties follow DPSP: Part IV → IV-A (51A).

Concept: India is a founder member of the IMF: it took part in Bretton Woods (1944) and joined when the Articles came into force on 27 December 1945.

1. The IMF began financial operations in 1947.
2. India also joined the World Bank (IBRD) as a founder member in 1945.

Short trick: Bretton Woods 1944 → IMF born 27 Dec 1945 with India as founder.

Concept: At the Gutenberg discontinuity (core–mantle boundary, ~2900 km) density jumps from about 5.6 to about 9.9 g/cm³ – the largest jump inside the Earth.

1. Moho (crust–mantle): ~2.9 → 3.3 g/cm³ (small jump).
2. Lehmann (outer–inner core): ~12.2 → 12.8 g/cm³.
3. Lithosphere–asthenosphere is a rheological (strength) boundary with hardly any density change.

Short trick: Gutenberg = Greatest jump (≈4.3 g/cm³).

Concept: Archaeopteryx, the earliest generally accepted bird, comes from the Solnhofen Limestone of Bavaria – Upper (Late) Jurassic, ~150 Ma (Tithonian).

1. It shows reptilian features (teeth, clawed fingers, long bony tail) with true feathers.
2. Cretaceous birds (Confuciusornis, Hesperornis, Ichthyornis) came later.

Short trick: Archaeopteryx – Solnhofen – Late Jurassic, 150 Ma.

Concept: Skolithos is a simple, straight, unbranched vertical burrow (pipe) in sandstones, made by suspension feeders in high-energy shallow water (Skolithos ichnofacies).

1. Cruziana – bilobed horizontal trilobite furrows (crawling traces).
2. Trypanites – borings into hard substrates (rock/shell), not tubes in loose sand.
3. 'Pipe-rock' of Cambrian quartzites is full of Skolithos.

Short trick: Skolithos = Straight Sand tubes (S-S-S).

Concept: Palynology is the study of pollen, spores and other organic-walled microfossils (palynomorphs), living and fossil.

1. Limnology – study of lakes/inland waters.
2. Dendrochronology – dating by tree rings.
3. Tephrochronology – dating/correlation by volcanic ash (tephra) layers.

Short trick: Palyno = dust (pollen) → palynology.

Concept: Benthic forams date from the Cambrian, but the first planktonic foraminifera (e.g. Conoglobigerina) appear only in the Middle Jurassic – i.e. in Mesozoic time.

1. They radiated strongly in the Cretaceous (Globotruncana) and again in the Cenozoic (Globigerina).
2. Palaeozoic forams (fusulinids etc.) were all benthic.

Short trick: Planktonic forams: born in Jurassic (Mesozoic), boomed in Cretaceous.

Concept: In Kutch, the upper, plant-bearing part of the Umia Member (Lower Cretaceous sandstones with Ptilophyllum flora) is called the Bhuj Formation (Bhuj Series/Bhuj sandstone).

1. Kutch Jurassic succession: Patcham → Chari → Katrol → Umia.
2. Ukra beds are marine Aptian beds within the Umia; Umia ammonite beds are marine.
3. Umaria marine beds belong to Madhya Pradesh (Permian marine bed in Gondwana).

Short trick: Bhuj = Umia plant beds (Ptilophyllum sandstones).

Concept: The Rajmahal Formation (Upper Gondwana, Early Cretaceous, Rajmahal Hills, Jharkhand) – intertrappean beds between lava flows – preserves one of the richest and best-preserved Mesozoic floras in the world, made famous by Birbal Sahni.

1. Typical plants: Ptilophyllum, Williamsonia, the unique Pentoxylon (described by Sahni), conifers and ferns, many petrified.
2. Talchir – glacial tillite with scanty flora; Barakar and Raniganj – coal-bearing Lower Gondwana with Glossopteris flora.

Short trick: Rajmahal = Sahni's treasure-house of fossil plants (Pentoxylon).

Concept: Rhynia is a primitive leafless, rootless vascular land plant preserved in the Rhynie Chert of Scotland – Early (Lower) Devonian, ~410 Ma.

1. Rhynie chert also yields Aglaophyton, Horneophyton and early arthropods.
2. Carboniferous is the age of coal forests (Lepidodendron, Calamites); Permian – Glossopteris.

Short trick: Rhynia – Rhynie chert – Devonian.

Concept: Jaduguda (Singhbhum shear zone, Jharkhand) is India's first uranium mine (UCIL, 1967).

1. Khetri (Rajasthan) – copper, not lead.
2. Panna (MP) – diamonds (Majhgawan kimberlite), not gold.
3. Malanjkhand (MP) – India's largest copper (porphyry-type) deposit, not iron.

Short trick: Jaduguda-U, Khetri-Cu, Panna-diamond, Malanjkhand-Cu.

Concept: Bombay (Mumbai) High is a large NNW–SSE doubly plunging anticlinal (domal) structure in the offshore Mumbai basin; oil and gas are trapped mainly in Miocene (L-III) limestones.

1. A doubly plunging anticline closes in all directions – a perfect four-way structural trap.
2. Synclines collect water, not oil.

Short trick: Oil rises to the crest: dome / doubly plunging anticline.