1. Settlements: site and services
- The site of a settlement is the exact spot where it stands. Good sites have water (stream, tank, well), gentle fertile land, a road or track, and safety from floods.
- Services are shown by letters beside a small black square: PO (post office), PS (police station), Dis (dispensary).
- On the imagined practice sheet (not a real place, not a Survey of India sheet) Nandiwadi has a PO and a PS, Sonakhedi a dispensary and Pathrali none. All three villages stand on gentle ground near water and a track.
| Village | Services |
|---|---|
| Nandiwadi | PO, PS |
| Sonakhedi | Dispensary |
| Pathrali | None shown |
Key terms
- Site
The exact location of a settlement and its local advantages.
- Service centre
A settlement whose facilities (post office, police station, dispensary) serve nearby villages.
2. Land use and land cover
- Yellow: cultivated land. Green: forest. White (with small green ticks): open scrub, uncultivated land. Blue: water.
- Fallow land is cultivated land left unsown for a season; the imagined sheet does not mark it separately.
- On the imagined sheet about 45% is cultivated, 33% open scrub and 22% forest.
- Inferring occupations: yellow land with a tank or canal suggests agriculture; green steep land with no huts suggests forestry; white scrub with scattered huts suggests grazing or dry farming.
| Evidence | Occupation |
|---|---|
| Yellow, tank, canal | Agriculture |
| Green, steep, no huts | Forestry |
| White, scattered huts | Grazing, dry farming |
Key terms
- Land use
The way an area of land is used, such as farming or forest.
- Open scrub
Uncultivated land with scattered bushes and grass, shown white with small ticks.
3. Transport and communication
- Metalled road: thick red line (about 10.9 km on the sheet). Unmetalled road: thick black broken line. Cart track: thin black line. Pack track: thin broken line. Footpath: dotted line.
- A bridge carries a road across a river. A canal is a blue line that follows a contour.
- Communication also includes the post office. The metalled road links Sonakhedi and Nandiwadi; the unmetalled road links Sonakhedi, Pathrali and Nandiwadi.
| Type | Symbol |
|---|---|
| Metalled road | Thick red line |
| Unmetalled road | Thick black broken line |
| Cart track | Thin black line |
| Footpath | Dotted line |
Key terms
- Metalled road
A road with a hard surface, shown in red.
- Pack track
A track for pack animals, shown by a thin broken line.
4. Drainage: direction of flow
- Rivers flow from higher to lower ground: heights along the river decrease downstream.
- Where a river crosses contours, the V-shaped bends point upstream (towards higher ground).
- Tributaries join at acute angles pointing downstream.
- On the imagined sheet the main river flows south-east, falling from about 274 m to about 41 m; a tributary at A (217 m) flows east to B (149 m).
| Clue | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Heights fall along the river | Direction of flow |
| V-bends of contours | Point upstream |
| Acute junctions | Point downstream |
Key terms
- Tributary
A stream that flows into a larger river.
- Upstream
Towards the source of a river, where the ground is higher.
5. Drainage patterns
- Dendritic: tree-like; tributaries join at acute angles; the pattern on the imagined sheet.
- Trellis: long parallel streams with short tributaries at right angles (shown here only as a separate schematic).
- Radial: streams flow outwards from a central high point, like the spokes of a wheel (schematic only).
| Pattern | Looks like | Forms on |
|---|---|---|
| Dendritic | Tree branches | Uniform ground |
| Trellis | Garden fence | Folded or banded rock |
| Radial | Wheel spokes | Dome or cone |
Key terms
- Dendritic pattern
A tree-like drainage pattern on fairly uniform ground.
- Trellis pattern
A fence-like pattern of parallel streams joined at right angles.
- Radial pattern
Streams flowing outwards from a dome or conical hill.
6. Settlement patterns and natural or man-made features
- Clustered: huts close together (about 0.1 km apart in each village on the sheet); reasons: water, road, safety, shared fields.
- Dispersed: huts far apart (over 1 km in the north-west); reasons: thin land, grazing, dry farming, no single water source.
- Natural: river, streams, hill, ridge, escarpment, forest, scrub. Man-made: canal, embankment, bridge, roads, tracks, huts, wells, tank (dug and banked), temple, post office.
| Natural | Man-made |
|---|---|
| River, hill, ridge, forest | Canal, bridge, road, hut, well, tank |
Key terms
- Clustered settlement
A settlement in which the huts stand close together.
- Dispersed settlement
A settlement in which the huts are scattered far apart.
Exam tips
Common mistakes
- Giving a one-word reason such as "water" instead of naming the source on the map.
- Naming an occupation without citing the tint, water or facilities.
- Saying a river flows uphill, or placing the V-bends the wrong way.
- Naming a pattern without describing its shape.
- Calling the tank or canal natural.
How marks are usually awarded
- Site (2 to 3 marks): each reason tied to map evidence.
- Land use and occupation (2 marks): the tint and the inference.
- Drainage (2 marks): direction with evidence; pattern with its shape.
- Settlement pattern (2 marks): the pattern and a reason.