GATE — Environmental Science and Engineering (ES) · India · IITs and IISc on rotation (2026: IIT Guwahati)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe earth as a system: its origin, rocks and minerals, weathering, landforms, plate processes, geochemical cycles and natural hazards. UGC NET gives it a whole unit; it underlies soil, water and hazard subjects.
In the exams: UGC NET Environmental Sciences Unit 4 (environmental geosciences); CSIR NET Earth Sciences; GATE ES Section 4 (aquifer formations)
GATE ES (Section 4) and UPSC CSE
Aquifer formations and groundwater geology; for UPSC, plate tectonics and the Himalaya, earthquakes and seismic zones, tsunamis, cyclones, landslides, coastal regulation, mining conflicts and critical minerals.
How our questions for GATE spread across the units of Earth Systems & Environmental Geoscience. Difficulty: 21 easy, 10 medium, 3 hard.
| Earth's interior, plate tectonics and earthquakes | 5 | |
| Geochemical cycles and the residence time concept | 4 | |
| Coastal processes, sea-level change and coastal hazards | 4 | |
| Paleoclimate records: ice cores, sediments, tree rings | 4 | |
| Origin and evolution of the earth and its spheres | 3 | |
| Minerals and rocks: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic | 3 | |
| Weathering and soil formation from parent material | 3 | |
| Groundwater geology and aquifer formations | 3 | |
| Geomorphic processes and landforms | 2 | |
| Natural hazards: volcanoes, landslides, tsunamis | 2 | |
| Mineral resources and the environmental impact of extraction | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
The Great Oxidation Event, when oxygen began to accumulate in the atmosphere, occurred about:
C. 2.4 billion years ago
Cyanobacterial photosynthesis eventually outpaced oxygen sinks such as reduced iron.
The thin layer of the earth where life exists is the:
B. Biosphere
It spans parts of the other spheres. The lithosphere is the rigid outer shell; the asthenosphere and mesosphere are other layers.
The Himalaya formed mainly through:
D. Continent-continent collision of India with Eurasia
Collision began about 50 million years ago. Mid-ocean spreading, transform faults and hotspots build other landforms.
On Mohs' scale, which mineral has hardness 7?
D. Quartz
Talc 1, calcite 3, diamond 10. Quartz scratches glass; topaz is 8.
Frost wedging is an example of:
B. Physical weathering
Water expands on freezing, widening cracks. Chemical weathering changes mineral composition instead.
Karst landscapes form mainly by:
C. Dissolution of limestone by carbonic acid
CaCO3 + H2O + CO2 -> Ca2+ + 2HCO3-. Freezing, wind abrasion and iron oxidation do not create karst.
Wind-deposited silt that forms thick soils in northern China and the US Midwest is called:
C. Loess
Till is glacial; colluvium is slope deposits. Laterite is a tropical weathering product.
The atmosphere holds about 13,000 km3 of water and precipitation is about 500,000 km3/yr. What is the residence time of atmospheric water?
A. About 9 days
tau = 13,000/500,000 yr = 0.026 yr x 365 = 9.5 days.
In hard-rock aquifers such as granite, water is stored mainly in:
B. The weathered zone and fractures
Yields are low and wells fail quickly when over-pumped.
A narrow ridge of sand extending from the shore into the sea is a:
B. Spit
Stacks are erosional; cirques and moraines are glacial.
Ten here, 34 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to GATE in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
Free for ten days, then one subscription of US$10 a month. We would rather say so here than have you find it later.
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