Consider the following statements:
- 1.The Red Sea receives very little precipitation in any form.
- 2.No water enters the Red Sea from rivers.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2
Both statements are correct. The Red Sea lies in an arid region: no river drains into it and rainfall is scant. With very high evaporation and little fresh water coming in, it is one of the saltiest seas.
- ✓ 1. The Red Sea region is arid with little precipitation. The UN Regular Process assessment calls it an arid area with high evaporation, and NOAA explains its high salinity by very high evaporation and little fresh-water inflow.
- ✓ 2. No river brings water into the Red Sea; the UN assessment marks it as a sea with 'no rivers'. With so little fresh water, evaporation keeps the sea very salty; NCERT gives its salinity as high as 41 parts per thousand.
Remember · Red Sea: arid, no rivers, scant rain, very high evaporation and very high salinity (about 41 parts per thousand).
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Ch 12 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- United Nations Regular Process, Regional perspectives on a global assessment (Red Sea and Gulf of Aden) ↗ “Arid area, high evaporation, high salinity, high transparency (no rivers)”
- NOAA JetStream, Sea Water ↗ “The saltiest ocean water is in the Red Sea and in the Persian Gulf region (around 40ppt) due to very high evaporation and little fresh water inflow.”
- NCERT Class 11 · Fundamentals of Physical Geography, Chapter 12 “In the land locked Red Sea, it is as high as 41o/oo, while in the estuaries and the Arctic, the salinity fluctuates from 0 - 35 o/oo, seasonally.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·