[Download] IAS Topper Notes for Geography Optional- VP Gautham (AIR-138/CSE-2013)

1. Prologue
2. Note1: Geomorphology and climatology (partial)
3. Note2: climatology, Oceanography and Geomorphology
4. Note3: Indian geography
5. Note4: Indian Geography, Current Affairs-Maps
6. Note5: Migration, Ecology, Soil profile
7. Note6: Environmental behaviourism, humanism
8. Download Link

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:

Note1: Geomorphology and climatology (partial)

1. origin of Earth
2. interior of the earth, discontinuities
3. volcanism and earthquakes
4. Continental and ocean basins
5. continental drift theory: assumptions and evidences
6. seafloor spreading
7. Paleo-Magnetism
8. plate tectonics theory
9. landforms types: Mountains, geomorphic cycles, glaciation, desert landforms and arid landforms, Coastal landforms
10. climatology: evaporation and latent heat
11. atmosphere of the Earth, CFCs, stratosphere, atmospheric cells, doldrums
12. Seabreeze, mountain breeze, humidity, temperature inversion
13. types of rainfalls
14. Mediterranean climate, Brazilian Highlands

Note2: climatology, Oceanography and Geomorphology

1. Jet streams,energy sources of cyclone, temperate and temperate cyclones, cloudbursts
2. geomorphology: glacial landforms, erosional landforms, caves,
3. heat budget of the earth
4. pressure belts, planetary winds, local winds, airmass
5. precipitation types
6. development and rainfall go hand in hand- discuss
7. global climate change
8. hydrological cycle
9. Koeppen’s classification, Koeppen vs Thronthwaite
10. 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,
11. Marx vs. Malthuse
12. theory of demographic transition
13. seasonal variation of effective moisture

Note3: Indian geography

1. Forest, agriculture, resources, industry, population, rivers and transport.
2. Distribution of vegetation in India
3. forest conservation and social forestry
4. drought management
5. soil profile of India
6. major rivers of India
7. land and mineral resources of India
8. physical geography of India
9. Indian agriculture: institutional and infrastructural factors, agriculture regionalisation
10. roads, railway waterways, Sea ports and pipelines of India
11. industrial distribution in India

Note4: Indian Geography, Current Affairs-Maps

1. Maps related to current affairs
2. Ocean topography, midoceanic ridge
3. Indian mountain system
4. monsoon
5. Geomagnetism
6. tourism in India: Benefits, challenges
7. ecotourism, ecological succession
8. daily farming in India
9. climate change and its impact on Indian agriculture
10. biogeography – meaning, approaches
11. Algaculture
12. agroforestry,
13. soil erosion, wind erosion
14. National Forest policy
15. groundwater and flash floods
16. Indian desert system

Note5: Migration, Ecology, Soil profile

1. migration: Push factors and pull factors
2. emigration during colonial, post-independent and post-liberalisation period
3. internal versus world migration
4. tribal population of India
5. demographic attributes of India
6. geographic perspectives of federalism
7. urbanisation process in India. morphology of urban settlements
8. town planning and patterns of rural settlement
9. settlement types of the world
10. planning and regional development in India
11. ecology principles, ecological issues in India, environmental impact assessment
12. disaster management and sustainable development
13. soil profile, soil classification

Note6: Environmental behaviourism, humanism

1. basis of humanism
2. slope development
3. functional classification of cities
4. Some notes on essay writing
5. difference between boundaries and frontiers, their classification
6. rural urban fringe characteristics, advantages, problems
7. National urbanisation policy
8. principles of urban planning
9. ocean heat budget and factors affecting
10. contact farming – features, types, benefits and problems
11. 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
12. languages of India
13. factors affecting rural settlements, their types and patterns
14. cities – hierarchical classification, morphological classification
15. channel morphology
16. slope development, approaches to its study- Fennman, Gilbert, Lawson
17. theories and models of slope distribution, Fisher-Lehmann model,
18. factors which modify erosion surfaces
19. applied geomorphology – bridges, tunnels, roads, airstrips

Download Link

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

• Format: PDF files
• Size: 6 PDFs x ~(25MB each) = Total ~150MB
• Pages: Over 800
• Type: Handwritten Notes
• Language: English