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Q1. Which of the following landforms is/are weathering dominated?
Weathering is the breaking down of rock in place. 'Duricrusts' are hard layers formed when chemicals weather and cement the soil. 'Inselbergs' and 'Tors' are leftover towers of hard rock that survived while the softer rock all around them weathered away.
Q2. Which of the following statement(s) related to ore-forming processes is/are CORRECT?
'Lateritization' is extreme weathering in tropical rains where water washes some chemicals away (eluviation) and deposits others deeper down (illuviation). Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) formed globally when the early Earth's oceans first rusted due to ancient bacteria producing oxygen (The Great Oxidation Event).
Q3. Moon is considered to have been formed due to high temperature condensation of post-collisional ejected material. Which of the following statement(s) related to its mantle composition as compared to CI carbonaceous chondrite is/are CORRECT?
The Moon formed from a massive fiery collision. Because of the extreme heat, elements that boil easily ('volatiles' like Potassium/K) vaporized and escaped into space. Elements that withstand heat ('refractories' like Uranium/U) stayed behind. So, the Moon lacks volatiles and has a lower K/U ratio compared to primitive space dust.
Q4. Which of the following characteristics of fossils is/are necessary for biostratigraphic applications?
Biostratigraphy uses fossils to act as a timeline for rocks. To be a reliable time-marker, the creature must have lived all over the world ('Wide geographic distribution') and left hard parts that don't easily rot away ('Good preservation of hard shells').
Q5. Which of the following is/are characteristic feature(s) of Brachiopods?
Brachiopods are ancient sea shells. Unlike clams (which have matching left and right shells), brachiopods have a top and bottom shell. Because the top and bottom are different sizes, they are 'inequivalved'. However, if you cut one shell straight down the middle, the left and right sides mirror each other perfectly ('equilateral').
Q6. Which of following combinations of sedimentary environments and their features is/are CORRECTLY matched?
Environments leave specific clues in rocks. Rivers (fluvial) leave angled sand layers called tabular cross-stratification. Beaches have flat, parallel layers washed by waves called planar lamination. Supratidal zones (above high tide) dry out in the sun, leaving mud-cracks.
Q7. Which of the following statements related to stratigraphy is/are CORRECT?
A delta grows out into the ocean, dumping fine mud first, then coarser sand on top (coarsens upward). The Paleogene period consists of the Paleocene, Eocene, and Oligocene epochs. When sea level drops, rivers must flow further outward to reach the new, lower ocean.
Q8. Which of the following property/properties of a mineral indicate(s) uniaxial negative optic sign?
When light enters certain minerals, it splits into two rays (Ordinary and Extraordinary). If the Ordinary ray moves slower than the Extraordinary ray, the mineral has a 'uniaxial negative' optic sign. This physically means the refractive index of the ordinary ray (nw) is numerically greater than the extraordinary ray (ne).
Q9. Which ones of the following are formed by brittle deformation?
'Brittle deformation' means a rock acts like a hard dinner plate and shatters or grinds when put under pressure. When rocks slide past each other on a fault line, they shatter into broken chunks (Breccia), grind into sandy powder (Cataclasite), or turn to clay-like paste (Gouge). 'Mylonite' forms from rocks stretching like plastic, not shattering.
Q10. Which of the following processes are correctly matched with corresponding deformation structures?
When rocks are squeezed, they deform. Squeezing dissolves minerals and creates parallel lines called 'cleavage' (Pressure solution). When rocks crack open (Jointing), the broken surface often has feather-like patterns called 'plumose markings'. If you push a flat layer of rock from the sides (compression), it wrinkles into 'buckle folds'. 'Slickensides' are polish marks from rocks grinding together, not from just losing cohesion.