Acid cauldron on Earth: World''s largest acidic lake looks spooky from space

Kawah Ijen

• Kawah Ijen is a volcanic crater lake located in East Java, Indonesia.
• It is part of the larger Ijen volcano complex, which includes several other craters.
• The main attraction of Kawah Ijen is its stunning turquoise-colored crater lake.
• The vibrant colour of the water is due to the high concentration of dissolved sulfuric acid and other minerals.
• The lake is the largest, highly acidic crater lake in the world.
• The lake has been included in UNESCO’s World Biosphere Reserves.
• The Ijen volcano complex is still active, and Kawah Ijen is one of the areas where volcanic activity is observed.
• The volcano releases sulphur gases, which can be ignited and produce impressive blue flames, especially at night. These flames are often referred to as "blue fire."
• The area around Kawah Ijen is known for traditional sulphur mining.

Copernicus Sentinel-2 Mission

• It is a European wide-swath, high-resolution, multi-spectral imaging mission.
• It comprises a constellation of two polar-orbiting satellites placed in the same sun-synchronous orbit, phased at 180° to each other.
• It aims at monitoring variability in land surface conditions, and its wide swath width (290 km) and high revisit time (10 days at the equator with one satellite and 5 days with 2 satellites under cloud-free conditions, which results in 2-3 days at mid-latitudes) will support monitoring of Earth''s surface changes.

Circular temple dedicated to Maya serpent deity discovered in Mexico

Mayan Civilization

• The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica.
• Originating in the Yucatán Peninsula around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize, and western Honduras.
• Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems, and hieroglyphic writing.
• The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces, and observatories, all built without metal tools.
• They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rainforest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater.
• The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.
• The Maya made paper from the inner bark of wild fig trees and wrote their hieroglyphs on books made from this paper. Those books are called codices.
• Their society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centres. It started to decline around A.D. 900.
• The Maya people never disappeared, neither at the time of the Classic period decline nor with the arrival of the Spanish conquerors and the subsequent Spanish colonisation of the Americas.
• The Maya remain in contemporary Mesoamerican societies and maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs, combined with more recent practices such as the almost total adoption of Roman Catholicism.

Yucatan Peninsula

• The Yucatan Peninsula is Mexico’s southeastern projection, extending into the Atlantic Ocean.
• It separates the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

Mesoamerica

• It refers to a geographical and cultural area which extends from central Mexico down through Central America, including the territory, which is now made up of the countries of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Ancient Temple Caves Discovered In Ratnagiri

Elephanta Caves

• It is a specimen of rock-cut art and architecture from the times of mediaeval India.
• The Elephanta Caves are located in Western India on Elephanta Island (otherwise known as the Island of Gharapuri), about 7 km from Mumbai’s mainland shore.
• The rock-cut Elephanta Caves were constructed in the mid-5th to 6th centuries AD, and most of them are dedicated to Lord Shiva.
• There are two groups of caves on the site of the Elephanta Caves, the first is a large group of five Hindu caves, and the second is a smaller group of two Buddhist caves.
• The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock. Except for a few exceptions, much of the artwork is defaced and damaged.
• The caves are an expression of art, and a number of important images are sculpted here, which include ''Trimurti'' or three-headed Shiva, ''Gangadhar'', which is a manifestation of the river Ganga as she descends to the earth, and ''Ardhnareshwar'', which is a representation of Shiva and Parvati in the same body.
• It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nasa''s Lucy Spacecraft successfully flies past asteroid ''Dinky''

Lucy Mission

• It is a first-of-its-kind mission of NASA that will explore Jupiter’s elusive Trojan asteroids.
• It was successfully launched on October 16, 2021, from the Kennedy Space Centrein Florida, US.
• Over its 12-year mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids: it will fly by two in the belt of asteroids that circle the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and then 10 Trojans, which includes five asteroid targets and the satellites of three of those.
• Lucy will also fly by Earth three times to get a push from its gravity, making it the first spacecraft to return to the vicinity of Earth from the outer solar system.
• The spacecraft carries two infrared spectrometers and four cameras.

Trojan Asteroids

• Asteroids that share an orbit with a planet but are located at the leading (L4) and trailing (L5) Lagrangian points are known as Trojan asteroids.
• These asteroids occupy a stable Lagrangian point in a planet’s orbit around the Sun.
• They are some of the oldest remnants from the formation of our solar system5 billion years ago.
• There are currently over 4,800 known Trojan asteroids associated with Jupiter.
• They orbit the Sun in two loose groups: one group leading ahead of Jupiter in its orbit, the other trailing behind at the same distance from the Sun as Jupiter.

Lagrange point

• Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system like the Sun and the Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion.
• Lagrange Points are positions where the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
• These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.

Bolivia severs ties with Israel, others recall envoys over Gaza

Bolivia "has decided to cut diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive being carried out in the Gaza Strip

Bolivia

• Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in western-central South America.
• It is named after independence fighter Simon Bolivar.
• The country is located in the rugged Andes Mountains, with a highland plateau and lowland plains in the Amazon basin.
• One-third of the country is within the Andean mountain range.
• Bordering Countries: It borders the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru.
• Capital: The constitutional capital is Sucre, while the seat of government and executive capital is La Paz.
• Bolivia shares control of Lago Titicaca, the world’s highest lake navigable to large vessels, at 12,500 feet above sea level.
• History:
  • During the 15th and 16th centuries, an ancient civilization called the Inca reigned over the region.
  • In 1538, Spanish conquistadors (or ‘conquerors’) arrived from Europe and gained control of the territory.
  • It broke away from Spanish rule in 1825.
  • Much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of coups and countercoups, with the last coup occurring in 1978.
  • Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982.
• Government:
  • The government system is a republic; the new constitution defines Bolivia as a “Social Unitarian State.”
  • The chief of state and head of government is the president.
• Currency: Bolivian boliviano
• Official Language: It has 37 official languages, including Spanish.
• Bolivia has a mixed economic system that includes a variety of private freedoms combined with centralised economic planning and government regulation.

RBI to oversee all cross-border payment services

Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB)

• PAs-CB facilitates cross-border online payments for the import and export of permissible goods and services.
• The RBI has set a minimum net worth requirement of Rs 15 crore for these entities, which will be categorised as PA-CB.
• They will be accountable for ensuring that they do not facilitate payment transactions for the import of any restricted or prohibited goods and services.
• If the amount involved exceeds Rs 2.5 lakh, the PA-CB must carry out due diligence on the buyer as well.

Payment Aggregator (PA)

• A PA (also known as a merchant aggregator) is a third-party service provider that allows merchants to accept payments from customers by integrating it into their websites or apps.
• It facilitates different types of payment transactions, including cash and cheques, online payments through multiple payment sources, or offline touchpoints.
• It allows merchants to accept bank transfers without setting up a bank-based merchant account. It means a merchant need not have a merchant account directly with the bank.
• A PA in India is incorporated under the Companies Act 2013.
• A PA can be a bank or a non-bank entity.
• Since a PA handles funds, it requires a license from the RBI.
• Only non-bank payment aggregators require unique authorization from the RBI, as ‘handling funds’ is considered a part of the normal banking relationships for bank PAs.
• Examples: Amazon (Pay) India, Google India, Razorpay, Pine Labs, etc.

Payment Gateway

• It is a software service that connects your bank account to the platform where you need to transfer your money.
• It authorises you to conduct an online transaction through different payment modes like net banking, credit card, debit card, UPI, or other online wallets.
• A Payment gateway plays the role of a third party that securely transfers your money from the bank account to the merchant’s payment portal.

Payment Aggregator vs. Payment Gateway:

• A payment gateway is software that allows online transactions to take place, while a payment aggregator is the inclusion of all these payment gateways.
• While a payment gateway is an intermediary, the payment aggregator is the interface where the payment gateway processes the transactions.
• Most payment aggregators own payment gateways to offer various exclusive services to their merchant customers.

UP govt proposes chopper services to DTR, experts raise concern

Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

• It is located on the Indo-Nepal border in the district of Lakhimpur-Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.
• It includes Dudhwa National Park and two nearby sanctuaries, , Kishanpur and Katerniaghat.
• It was established in 1988 and covers an area of 1,284 square kilometres.
• It is a typical Tarai-Bhabar habitat of the upper Gangetic Plains Biogeographic province.
• Rivers: The Sharda River flows by the Kishanpur WL Sanctuary, the Geruwa River flows through the Katerniaghat WL Sanctuary, and the Suheli and Mohana streams flow in the Dudhwa National Park, all of which are tributaries of the mighty Ghagra River.
• Flora: The vegetation is of the North Indian Moist Deciduous type, containing some of the **finest examples of Sal forests (**Shorea robusta) in India, as well as the most extensive tracts of moist grasslands that remain in this region.
• Fauna: It is home to a large number of rare and endangered species, which include the Tiger, Leopard cat, Sloth beer, rhinos (One horn), Hispid hare, Elephants, Black deer, Swamp deer, etc.

Residents concerned about thick layer of foam on Pavana River

Pavana River

• It is situated in the west of Maharashtra state, in the Pune District.
• The river is a notable river that crosses Pune City and divides Pune City and the Pimpri-Chinchwad area.
• Origin: It originates from the Western Ghats, about 6 km south of Lonavala.
• It is a tributary of the Bhima Riverand merges with the Mula River in Pune city.
• Course: Flowing eastward initially, it becomes southbound and passes through the suburbs of Dehu, Chinchwad, Pimpri, and Dapodi before its confluence with the Mula River.
• A dam is built on this river at Pavana Nagar, called the "Pavana Nagar Dam".
• Pavana Nagar Dam:
  • It is an earthfill gravity dam.
  • It is 1**,329 m (4,360 ft) long** and 42.37 m (139.0 ft) high, with a gross storage capacity of 30,500.00 km3.
  • It was built to provide sufficient water to the nearby localities. It is the main source of water in the region.

Survey identifies over 50 grass species at Gundla Brahmeswaram Wildlife Sanctuary

Gundla Brahmeswaram Wildlife Sanctuary

• Location: It is located in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.
• It is located between two important hill passes known as "Mantralamma Kanuma" and "Nandi Kanuma."
• It spreads over the Nallamallai hill range.
• The sanctuary derives its name from the Gundla Brahmeshwaram plateau.
• It was declared a wildlife sanctuary on September 18, 1990, and covers an area of around 1,194 kilometres square.
• The northern part of this Sanctuary forms a major part of the southern boundary of the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve.
• River: The Gundlakamma River stretches across the sanctuary.
• Vegetation: Dry mixed deciduous forest, moist dry deciduous, semi-evergreen, dry deciduous scrub forest, and dry savannahs.
• Climate: The climate is hot throughout the year, with most of the precipitation occurring during the monsoon months.
• Flora: It consists of trees like Teak, Dalbergia, Boswelia, Shisham, Andug, Prerocarpuss, Terminalia, Albizzia, Anogeissius, and Bamboo.
• Fauna: The varied wildlife found here includes langur, jungle cat, panther, tiger, mouse deer, hyena, and bonnet monkey.

Scientists discover two new coral reefs, unexplored seamounts in Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Islands

• Location: It is situated in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador.
• The Archipelago is a group of 19 islands, 13 large and 6 small, and dozens of islets and rocks that cover an area of over 17,000 square miles.
• It is distributed on either side of the Equator with an underwater wildlife spectacle with abundant life.
• Repeated volcanic eruptions helped to form the rugged mountain landscape of the Galápagos Islands.
• In comparison with most oceanic archipelagos, the Galapagos are very young, with the largest and youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, with less than one million years of existence, and the oldest islands, Española and San Cristóbal, somewhere between three to five million years.
• Mount Azul, at 5,541 feet, is the highest point of the Galapagos Islands.
• Climate: It is characterized by low rainfall, low humidity, and relatively low air and water temperatures.
• It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978.
• Biodiversity:
  • The Galápagos are best known for their diverse array of plant and animal species. Many species are endemic, as they are not found anywhere else in the world.
  • These include the giant Galápagos tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra), the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), the flightless cormorant (Phalacrocoraz harrisi), and the Galápagos penguin.
  • The Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) is the only penguin species to live in the Northern Hemisphere.

Seamounts

• A seamount is an underwater mountain with steep sides rising from the seafloor.
• Most seamounts are remnants of extinct volcanoes.
• Typically, they are cone-shaped but often have other prominent features such as craters and linear ridges and some, called guyots, have large, flat summits.
• There is a broad size distribution for seamounts, but to be classified as a seamount, the feature must have a vertical relief of at least 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) above the surrounding seafloor.
• They are found in every ocean basin in the world.
• They function as “oases of life,” with higher species diversity and biomass found on the seamount and in the waters around it than on the flat seafloor.
• Seamounts also provide substrate (a location for attachment) where organisms can settle and grow.