Complete solutions to NCERT Vistas, Book 2 Chapter 3, “Journey to the End of the Earth”: the two questions printed in the margin of the essay, then the “Reading with Insight” exercise, exactly as printed in the book, with a full model answer under each. Write your own answer first, then compare.
1 In-Text Questions
Q. How do geological phenomena help us to know about the history of humankind?
Answer: Geological phenomena record changes that took millions of years, and Antarctica holds that record. Six hundred and fifty million years ago India and Antarctica were part of one supercontinent, Gondwana, which thrived for 500 million years before it broke apart, around the time the dinosaurs were wiped out. The essay traces what followed: India pushed northwards and jammed against Asia, buckling its crust to form the Himalayas; South America drifted off to join North America, opening the Drake Passage and creating the cold circumpolar current that keeps Antarctica frozen. Studying Cordilleran folds, pre-Cambrian granite shields, ozone and carbon, evolution and extinction helps us “get a grasp of where we’ve come from and where we could possibly be heading.” Against this geological clock, human civilisations have existed for only “a paltry 12,000 years.”
Q. What are the indications for the future of humankind?
Answer: The indications are worrying. In only 12,000 years humans have spread villages, towns, cities and megacities across the planet, are battling other species for limited resources, and, through the unmitigated burning of fossil fuels, have created “a blanket of carbon dioxide” that is slowly but surely raising the average global temperature. The essay asks whether the West Antarctic ice sheet will melt entirely, whether the Gulf Stream ocean current will be disrupted, and whether it will be “the end of the world as we know it”, and answers only: “Maybe. Maybe not.” Visitors to Antarctica can see glaciers retreating and ice shelves collapsing, and scientists warn that further depletion of the ozone layer will affect phytoplankton and, through them, the marine animals and birds of the region and the global carbon cycle. As the writer puts it, “for humans, the prognosis isn’t good.”
2 Reading with Insight
Q. “The world’s geological history is trapped in Antarctica.” How is the study of this region useful to us?
Answer: Antarctica’s rocks and ice hold a direct record of the planet’s deep past. It was once part of Gondwana, a supercontinent that existed 650 million years ago and thrived for 500 million years before breaking apart, so studying it helps explain events as far away as the formation of the Himalayas, when India, once part of the same landmass, pushed north against Asia, and the opening of the Drake Passage, when South America drifted to join North America.
Its ice-cores also hold half-a-million-year-old carbon records trapped in layers of ice, giving scientists a direct archive of the Earth’s past climate. Because it is the only place that has never sustained a human population, it remains relatively pristine, making it a rare, relatively pristine place for studying evolution, extinction and the climate-change debate. Studying Antarctica therefore helps us understand the earth’s past, present and possible future all at once.
Q. What are Geoff Green’s reasons for including high school students in the Students on Ice expedition?
Answer: Geoff Green had grown tired of carting celebrities and retired, rich curiosity-seekers who could only “give” back in a limited way. He chose high-school students instead because they are the future generation of policy-makers, at an age when they are ready to absorb, learn and, most importantly, act.
The essay’s own explanation for the programme’s success is that “it’s impossible to go anywhere near the South Pole and not be affected by it.” Seeing glaciers retreating and ice shelves collapsing makes the threat of global warming very real.
Q. “Take care of the small things and the big things will take care of themselves.” What is the relevance of this statement in the context of the Antarctic environment?
Answer: Antarctica’s simple ecosystem and lack of biodiversity make it the perfect place to see how a small change can cause large consequences. Microscopic phytoplankton, “those grasses of the sea,” nourish and sustain the entire Southern Ocean’s food chain through photosynthesis.
The essay explains that further depletion of the ozone layer would affect phytoplankton’s activities, which would in turn affect marine animals and birds of the region, and finally the global carbon cycle. A tiny, easily overlooked organism therefore turns out to hold up an entire ecosystem. The essay calls it “a great metaphor for existence”: take care of the small things and the big things will fall into place.
Q. Why is Antarctica the place to go to, to understand the earth’s present, past and future?
Answer: For the past, Antarctica was part of Gondwana and its geology explains major events like the formation of the Himalayas and the Drake Passage. For the present, it stores 90 per cent of the Earth’s ice, has never sustained a human population, and remains relatively pristine, a place where small ecological changes, like the phytoplankton example, can be studied clearly. For the future, its ice-cores hold half-a-million-year-old carbon records that scientists use to understand climate change, including open questions about the West Antarctic ice sheet and the Gulf Stream.
This is why the essay calls Antarctica “the place to go to.”
- The four Reading with Insight questions all ask, in different ways, what makes Antarctica useful for understanding the planet.
- A strong answer usually anchors to one of three angles: deep geological past (Gondwana), pristine present (ecosystem and phytoplankton), or climate-future archive (ice-cores)
- Name Geoff Green and Students on Ice by name wherever the question concerns education or the programme