Introduction The Australian plate is a major tectonic plate that comprises not only the continental crust of Australia (including Tasmania) but also adjacent continental fragments and extensive areas of oceanic lithosphere. Its geographic reach extends into parts of New Guinea and New Zealand and across significant tracts of the Indian Ocean basin, so its tectonic…
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Atmosphere
Introduction An atmosphere is the gravity-bound envelope of gases surrounding an astronomical body; the word derives from the Ancient Greek ἀτμός (atmós, “vapour, steam”) and σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “sphere”). The principal inventory of an atmosphere is established during a body’s primordial epoch, either by direct accretion of nebular material or by outgassing of volatile species from…
Atmosphere Of Earth
The atmosphere is a gravity-bound, mixed envelope of gases and suspended particles that envelops Earth. Its aerosols and particulates give rise to clouds and hazes and create the thin, blue limb visible from orbit above the tropospheric cloud tops. Viewed in clear space imagery, this atmospheric limb contrasts with celestial bodies such as the crescent…
Atlantic Ocean
Imagery acquired by the Expedition 29 crew aboard the International Space Station traces a ground track beginning just northeast of Newfoundland, crossing the North Atlantic and continuing southward across the basin into central Africa over South Sudan, illustrating the ocean’s longitudinal extent and north–south orientation. The Atlantic is the planet’s second-largest oceanic division, covering about…
Arabian Plate
Introduction The Arabian Plate is a relatively small lithospheric plate located in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres that functions as a discrete structural unit within the global plate-tectonic framework. Over geological time it has moved broadly toward the north, a trajectory it shares with other continental masses such as the African and Indian plates; this…
Antarctic Plate
Introduction — Antarctic Plate The Antarctic Plate is a major tectonic unit encompassing the Antarctic continental landmass, the Kerguelen Plateau, numerous remote Southern Ocean islands, and extensive adjacent oceanic crust. With an area of roughly 60.9 million km², it is the fifth-largest tectonic plate on Earth. Its geological evolution is rooted in the breakup of…
Anatolian Sub Plate
Introduction — Anatolian sub‑plate The Anatolian plate is a continental tectonic plate that underlies most of the Asian portion of Turkey (Anatolia) and constitutes the principal crustal element of the Anatolian Peninsula (Asia Minor). Its northern margin is defined by a major transform boundary with the Eurasian plate along the North Anatolian Fault zone (NAFZ),…
Amur Plate
Introduction The Amur (Amurian) Plate is a minor tectonic unit within the northeastern Asian plate mosaic, occupying parts of northeastern China and the Russian Far East. Its name derives from the Amur River, which demarcates a major geopolitical frontier between those two regions and signals the plate’s geographic position at the junction of East Asian…
Amateur Geology
Amateur geology, commonly practiced as rock collecting, comprises the non‑professional pursuit of locating, extracting and curating rock, mineral and fossil specimens by individuals who are not engaged in formal geological careers. Known regionally as “rockhounding” in North America and “fossicking” in Australia, New Zealand and parts of the UK (notably Cornwall), the activity occurs wherever…
Alpide Belt
The Alpide belt—often called the Alpine–Himalayan orogenic belt and, less commonly, the Tethyan orogenic belt—is a continuous seismic and mountain‑building system that traces more than 15,000 km along Eurasia’s southern margin, connecting Southeast Asia to the Atlantic. It extends from the islands of Java and Sumatra, across Indochina and the Himalayas, through the mountains of…
Age Of Earth
Introduction The current consensus age for Earth is 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years (Ga), a chronology that marks the late stages of planetary accretion and the transition to internal differentiation. This estimate is the product of multiple, independent constraints: high-precision radiometric ages of meteoritic material, concordant ages from the oldest terrestrial minerals and lunar samples,…
Aftershock
Introduction Aftershocks are smaller earthquakes that occur in the same region after a larger mainshock, produced as the crust adjusts to the altered stress field generated by the principal rupture. They are an integral element of the fault-system’s post-rupture relaxation and are readily recorded by modern seismometer networks. Large mainshocks commonly give rise to hundreds…
African Plate
Introduction The African plate, often referred to in tectonic literature as the Nubian plate, is the principal lithospheric plate beneath most of the African continent (excluding its easternmost sector) and includes adjoining oceanic crust to the west and south as well as a narrow continental extension along the eastern Mediterranean coast into parts of Western…
Aegean Sea Plate
Introduction The Aegean Sea plate (also termed the Hellenic or Aegean plate) is a relatively small lithospheric block beneath southern Greece and western Turkey that forms a discrete tectonic element within the eastern Mediterranean. Its southern margin is defined by the Hellenic subduction zone south of Crete, where the African Plate descends beneath the Aegean…
Active Volcano
Introduction An active volcano is a volcanic edifice that is currently erupting or retains the capacity to erupt in the future; in practice volcanologists commonly restrict the label to edifices with confirmed eruptions during the Holocene (the past ~11,700 years). Volcanoes that are not erupting at present are classified on a spectrum from dormant—able to…
Abyssal Plain
Introduction Abyssal plains are extensive, near‑planar regions of the deep seafloor, typically found between about 3,000 and 6,000 m depth. Collectively they make up a majority of the oceanic floor—covering more than half of the Earth’s surface—and rank among the planet’s flattest and least explored geomorphic domains. Physically they occupy the broad basins between continental…
Abundance Of Elements In Earths Crust
Introduction The tabulated estimates present the mass concentration of each chemical element in Earth’s crust, expressed in milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg), which is numerically identical to parts per million (ppm) by mass. Because 10,000 ppm equals 1% by mass, for example, 100 ppm corresponds to 0.01% of the crust. Reporting abundances in mg/kg (ppm) allows…
Abrasion (Geology)
Abrasion — Introduction Abrasion is a mechanical weathering process in which moving particles wear down a surface by repeated frictional contact, producing scratches, scuffs, polished surfaces and general removal of material. It is especially pronounced where moving ice interacts with bedrock, but occurs wherever transported solid matter repeatedly rubs against a substrate. Four principal settings…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 11: Performance, Profile, and the Global South
Performance, Profile, and the Global South The concurrence of India’s Chandrayaan-3 landing with the BRICS Summit in South Africa crystallized a salient feature of India’s contemporary statecraft: performance as diplomacy. The lunar touchdown did more than validate technological competence; it reframed the summit’s atmospherics and discourse. Leaders across the Global South claimed vicarious pride that…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 10: Recalling Leaders, Revisiting History
Recalling Leaders, Revisiting History The Contingent Inheritance of Early Foreign Policy India’s early foreign policy was not a settled canon but a product of contingent choices made under the towering influence of Jawaharlal Nehru. For nearly two decades after Independence, Nehru’s personal predilections were projected as national tenets, even as peers who differed ideologically mounted…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 9: Corrosion as the New Mode of Competition
Corrosion as the New Mode of Competition The contemporary strategic environment is characterized less by the exclusive use of open force and more by a slow, diffuse process best described as “corrosion.” Under this rubric, states and non-state actors leverage interdependence, information flows, economic linkages and social vectors to infiltrate, influence and degrade rivals over…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 8: The Nehru–Patel cleavage and its enduring imprint
The Nehru–Patel cleavage and its enduring imprint The debate that frames India’s policy toward China has been, from the outset, a contest between two political-philosophical postures: a Nehruvian internationalism that trusted in ideological affinity, moral persuasion and pan‑Asian solidarity; and a Patel‑like realpolitik that read power relations, geography and the historical behaviour of large neighbours…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 7: Indo-Pacific Realignments and the Quad’s Strategic Maturation
Indo-Pacific Realignments and the Quad’s Strategic Maturation The Indo-Pacific has emerged as the decisive geopolitical theatre where technological, economic, and security trends are reshaping the global order. This evolution predates the Covid-19 pandemic, yet the crisis sharpened perceptions of interdependence and vulnerability, catalysing patterns of cooperation that had been gathering momentum for more than a…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 6: Navigating Twin Fault Lines in the Amrit Kaal
Navigating Twin Fault Lines in the Amrit Kaal India’s aspiration to be a leading power unfolds amid two simultaneous and sharpening fault lines. The first is the East–West divide, accentuated by the Ukraine conflict and the strategic contestation it has unleashed across military, economic, and technological domains. The second is the North–South gap, aggravated by…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 5: From Aspiration to Strategy: India’s Leading-Power Horizon
From Aspiration to Strategy: India’s Leading-Power Horizon India’s foreign policy over the past decade has been animated by a declared ambition to be a “leading power,” a formulation first articulated publicly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015. It was an aspiration, not a claim of arrival; nonetheless, a decade on, it has become serious…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 4: As National Security Balances Globalization
As National Security Balances Globalization Receding Certitudes: From Globalization’s Optimism to Strategic Caution Until the mid-2010s, much of India—like large parts of the world—treated globalization as a structural reassurance. The European integration project appeared to validate notions of irreversible interdependence, and the prevailing policy wisdom prized efficiency-enhancing linkages in technology, finance, trade, and resource flows….
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 3: A World in Transition: 2020–Present
A World in Transition: 2020–Present In September 2022 at Samarkand, the prime minister’s assertion that this is not an era of war resonated far beyond its immediate setting. It captured, in a single phrase, the hard reality that dense interdependence renders conflict costly for all, even for those not directly engaged. It functioned as a…
Why Bharat Matters Chapter 2: Citizen-Centric Criteria for a “Good” Foreign Policy
Citizen-Centric Criteria for a “Good” Foreign Policy A foreign policy is “good” only when it tangibly serves individual citizens while securing national interests. In practical terms, it must make everyday needs easier to meet, assure national security, enable aspirations, and deliver concrete dividends—access to technology, capital, best practices, and work opportunities. Effectiveness is therefore judged…
Calculations, Culture and Clarity
Calculations, Culture and Clarity Strategic plurality under stress An earlier articulation of India’s external posture argued for a multi-vector strategy: simultaneous engagement with the United States, management of China, cultivation of Europe, reassurance of Russia, activation of Japan, drawing in neighbours, extending the periphery, and enlarging traditional constituencies of support. The subsequent years have validated…
Government Exam Guru
Forward and Futures Contracts Forward and Futures Contracts Forward and futures contracts are fundamental derivative instruments in financial markets, serving critical roles in risk management and speculation. At their core, both are agreements between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price on a specified future date. The asset could be…