UPSC Prelims 2017 · Question 94 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2017 question on Chandipur Receding Sea
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2017
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectGeography
- TopicIndian Geography
- DifficultyHard
- TypeDirect
At one of the places in India, if you stand on the seashore and watch the sea, you will find that the seawater recedes from the shore line a few kilometres and comes back to the shore, twice a day, and you can actually walk on the sea floor when the water recedes. This unique phenomenon is seen at
Show answer
Answer: C. Chandipur
Verdict
The answer is Chandipur. The sea recedes several kilometres twice a day at Chandipur beach in Odisha.
Analysis
Chandipur, in Balasore district of Odisha, is known for a tidal phenomenon in which the water retreats between one and five kilometres from the shoreline during low tide and returns slowly at high tide, twice each day, allowing people to walk on the exposed sea floor. It is popularly called the hide and seek beach. Bhavnagar in the Gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal range in India but not this walkable retreat, while Bheemunipatnam and Nagapattinam are ordinary coastal towns without the phenomenon.
Source
Travel and press reporting on Chandipur.
How to crack it
A very large horizontal tidal excursion requires an extremely gentle offshore gradient combined with a reasonable tidal range, so the answer must be a beach on a shallow shelving coast rather than merely a high tide location. That reasoning separates Chandipur from Bhavnagar, which is the intended trap since the Gulf of Khambhat is famous for tidal range. Distinguishing vertical range from horizontal extent is the conceptual point worth carrying.