IAS Topper Notes for Geography Optional

Prologue

In 2014, Mr. V.P.Gautham scored 3^rd rank in Indian Forest service and 138^th Rank in Civil Service exam.
At present, he is undergoing training as an IAS probationer and allotted to Andhra Pradesh cadre.
Mr.Gautham had prepared extensive notes on Geography optional subject spanning over 800 pages in 6 separate notebooks with personal mentoring from Shankar Sir of the ShankarIAS Institute, Chennai. He wishes to share these notes for the benefit of future aspirants.
Download link available at bottom of this article. But first, here is the index of the topics covered in his geography optional notes:

origin of Earth
interior of the earth, discontinuities
volcanism and earthquakes
Continental and ocean basins
continental drift theory: assumptions and evidences
seafloor spreading
Paleo-Magnetism
plate tectonics theory
landforms types: Mountains, geomorphic cycles, glaciation, desert landforms and arid landforms, Coastal landforms
climatology: evaporation and latent heat
atmosphere of the Earth, CFCs, stratosphere, atmospheric cells, doldrums
Seabreeze, mountain breeze, humidity, temperature inversion
types of rainfalls
Mediterranean climate, Brazilian Highlands

Jet streams,energy sources of cyclone, temperate and temperate cyclones, cloudbursts
geomorphology: glacial landforms, erosional landforms, caves,
heat budget of the earth
pressure belts, planetary winds, local winds, airmass
precipitation types
development and rainfall go hand in hand- discuss
global climate change
hydrological cycle
Koeppen’s classification, Koeppen vs Thronthwaite
oceanography,Salinity budget, major oceans of the world, laws of the Seas,Ocean deposits,oceanic resources,oceanic tides vs waves, coral reefs and atolls, Coral bleaching, El-Nino, Ocean acidification,
Marx vs. Malthuse
theory of demographic transition
seasonal variation of effective moisture

Forest, agriculture, resources, industry, population, rivers and transport.
Distribution of vegetation in India
forest conservation and social forestry
drought management
soil profile of India
major rivers of India
land and mineral resources of India
physical geography of India
Indian agriculture: institutional and infrastructural factors, agriculture regionalisation
roads, railway waterways, Sea ports and pipelines of India
industrial distribution in India

basis of humanism
slope development
functional classification of cities
Some notes on essay writing
difference between boundaries and frontiers, their classification
rural urban fringe characteristics, advantages, problems
National urbanisation policy
principles of urban planning
ocean heat budget and factors affecting
contact farming – features, types, benefits and problems
population distribution in the world, factors affecting, demographic attributes, distribution of total fertility rate, sex composition, rural urban composition, reasons for decline of cities, cities and natural hazards, regional disparities
languages of India
factors affecting rural settlements, their types and patterns
cities – hierarchical classification, morphological classification
channel morphology
slope development, approaches to its study- Fennman, Gilbert, Lawson
theories and models of slope distribution, Fisher-Lehmann model,
factors which modify erosion surfaces
applied geomorphology – bridges, tunnels, roads, airstrips

Sample page from V.P.Gautham’s Geography optional Note