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Q23 (IAS/2025) Geography › Maps & Locations › Geographical lines and coordinates Answer Verified

Consider the following water bodies : I. Lake Tanganyika II. Lake Tonlé Sap III. Patos Lagoon Through how many of them does the equator pass?

Result
Your answer: —  ·  Correct: D
Explanation

The correct answer is option D - None of these water bodies is crossed by the equator.

Lake Tanganyika is located in East Africa[1], situated in the western Rift Valley region between approximately 3°S to 9°S latitude, well south of the equator. Lake Tonlé Sap is the largest permanent freshwater lake in Southeast Asia,[3] located in Cambodia[2], which lies entirely in the Northern Hemisphere between roughly 10°N to 15°N latitude. Patos Lagoon is definitely not on the equator[4] - it is located in southern Brazil (around 30°S to 32°S latitude), far south of the equator near the city of Porto Alegre.

The equator (0° latitude) passes through only a few African lakes like Lake Victoria, but none of the three water bodies mentioned in this question are located on or near the equatorial line. Therefore, the equator passes through none of them.

Sources
  1. [1] https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/WCMC-008.pdf
  2. [2] https://iucn.org/sites/default/files/import/downloads/indo_burma_report_complete_low_res_28_aug_1.pdf
  3. [3] https://iucn.org/sites/default/files/import/downloads/indo_burma_report_complete_low_res_28_aug_1.pdf
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Q. Consider the following water bodies : I. Lake Tanganyika II. Lake Tonlé Sap III. Patos Lagoon Through how many of them does the equat…
At a glance
Origin: Mostly Current Affairs Fairness: Low / Borderline fairness Books / CA: 0/10 · 3.3/10
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This is a classic 'Line Tracing' map question. While Patos Lagoon seems obscure, the question is solvable by knowing the standard locations of Tanganyika (South of Equator) and Tonlé Sap (Cambodia = North). The strategy is not to memorize every lagoon, but to master the 'Equatorial Belt' and eliminate options based on macro-regions.

How this question is built

This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.

Statement 1
Does the Earth's equator pass through Lake Tanganyika in Africa?
Origin: Weak / unclear Fairness: Borderline / guessy
Indirect textbook clues
Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 9: Divergent Boundary > Rift Valley Lakes > p. 128
Strength: 5/5
“• If the rift valleys, which are a result of subsidence related to movement on faults within a rift zone, are formed deeper within the continents, rainwaters accumulate forming rift lakes. Rift lakes are bound by large steep cliffs along the fault margins. The largest and the deepest freshwater lakes on earth are mostly rift lakes.• Lake Baikal in Siberia lies in an active rift valley. It is the deepest lake in the world (the deepest point is 1642 meters below the surface). It is also the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface freshwater.• Lake Tanganyika, the second largest freshwater lake by volume, is in the Albertine Rift, the westernmost arm of the active East African Rift.”
Why relevant

Identifies Lake Tanganyika as being in the Albertine Rift, the western arm of the East African Rift, locating the lake within a specific African rift region.

How to extend

A student can take this regional location and check a map of Africa to see whether the Equator (0° latitude) crosses that rift segment or the countries bordering the lake.

Certificate Physical and Human Geography , GC Leong (Oxford University press 3rd ed.) > Chapter 9: Lakes > LAKES FORMED BY EARTH MOVEMENT > p. 81
Strength: 4/5
“Water collects in these troughs and their floors are often below sea-level. The best known example is the East African Rift Valley which runs through Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia, and extends along the Red Sea to Israel and Jordan over a total distance of 4800 km (3000 miles)”
Why relevant

Describes the East African Rift's course through specific countries including Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia—countries associated with East African rift lakes.

How to extend

Using this list of countries, a student can consult a world map or lat/long data to determine whether the Equator passes through the particular country or part of the rift where Lake Tanganyika lies.

Exploring Society:India and Beyond. Social Science-Class VI . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 1: Locating Places on the Earth > b) Latitudes > p. 14
Strength: 5/5
“Such a line is called a parallel of latitude and it draws a circle around the Earth. Again, it is easy to note on the globe that the largest circle is the Equator, while the circles marked by the parallels of latitude grow smaller as we move northward or southward (Fig. 1.3). Latitudes are expressed in degrees; by convention, the Equator is latitude 0° (zero degree), while the latitudes of the two poles are 90° North and 90° South respectively; this is noted 90°N and 90°S. There is a connection between latitude and climate. Around the Equator, the climate is generally hot (it is also called 'torrid').”
Why relevant

Defines the Equator as the latitude 0° and explains parallels of latitude encircle the Earth, providing the basic concept needed to test if a place lies on the Equator.

How to extend

Combine this definition with the lake's geographic location (from the rift/country clues) and a map or coordinates to check if the lake's latitude is 0°.

Certificate Physical and Human Geography , GC Leong (Oxford University press 3rd ed.) > Chapter 2: The Earth's Crust > Mathematical Location of Places on the Globe > p. 10
Strength: 4/5
“West, parallel to the equator, are called lines of latitude. The other set runs north and south passing through the poles and are called lines of longitude (Fig. 1.16). The intersection of latitude and longitude pin-points any place on the Earth's surface (Fig. 1.17). For example, Kuala Lumpur is 3° L0' N and 101° 40' E; London is 51° 30'N and 0° 5'W, and Sydney is 33° 55' S and 151° 12' E.”
Why relevant

Explains that intersection of latitude and longitude pinpoints any place on Earth and gives examples of coordinates, showing how to precisely locate places by latitude.

How to extend

A student could use this method to look up or read off the latitude coordinate for Lake Tanganyika to see if it equals 0°.

Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 18: Latitudes and Longitudes > The Shape of The Earth and Latitudinal Heat Zones > p. 241
Strength: 3/5
“• The earth's shape is Geoid (some sources mention it as an oblate spheroid). That is, the earth is slightly flattened at the poles and bulged at the equatorial region. The radius at the equator is larger than at the poles due to the long-term effects of the earth's rotation (the speed of rotation, and hence the centrifugal force, is greater at the equator than at the poles. This caused the bulge at the Equator). • The gravitation force is not the same at different latitudes on the surface. It is greater near the poles and less at the equator.”
Why relevant

Clarifies the Equator as the region of maximum bulge and references latitudinal concepts, reinforcing the centrality of latitude in identifying equatorial locations.

How to extend

Use this latitudinal framework together with the lake's regional placement to assess whether Lake Tanganyika sits at or near the 0° latitude line on a map.

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