February 2026

In short: India's places in the news and physical geography this month — distilled for SI/Constable Prelims.

Current Affairs — India › Geography · 8 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu

Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.

A thin month for genuinely new Geography — a rare mud-volcano eruption on Diglipur Island, Andaman & Nicobar; first-ever recorded snowfall in Saudi Arabia's Al-Jawf desert; and the US pressing the UK not to hand Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius.

February 2026 — At a Glance

This month's genuinely new Geography content is thin — the Recital's own 'Places in News' feature is already fully used in this month's Science lesson, and items like the Durand Line/Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions and the Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority are already used (briefly) in the Polity lesson. What remains is three real physical- and political-geography stories: a rare mud-volcano eruption on Diglipur Island in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, first-ever recorded snowfall over Saudi Arabia's hyper-arid Al-Jawf desert, and renewed US pressure on the UK over the long-running Diego Garcia/Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute with Mauritius.

1. Physical Geography: Extreme & Rare Events

Diglipur, Andaman & Nicobar Islands — a Rare Mud Volcano Eruption

The news — A rare mud volcano eruption was reported on Diglipur Island, North Andaman, prompting scientific monitoring.
About Diglipur — The northernmost tehsil of North Andaman Island, Andaman & Nicobar Islands; home to Saddle Peak (738 m) — the highest point in the islands — and Saddle Peak National Park.
What a mud volcano is — A geological formation where a mixture of mud, water and gases (mainly methane) erupts to the surface, forming cone-like structures that resemble true volcanoes but without molten lava — typically found where natural gas is trapped, driven by tectonic pressure.
Why the Andamans — The islands sit near the highly active Andaman-Sumatra subduction zone (the same zone driving this month's Next-Generation Tsunami Warning System upgrade) — one of the very few places in India with recorded mud-volcano activity.

Al-Jawf, Saudi Arabia — Desert Snow for the First Time on Record

The news — The interior deserts of Al-Jawf, a province in northern Saudi Arabia, saw snow for the first time on record — an extraordinary event that made global headlines.
About Al-Jawf — Part of the Arabian Desert (An Nafud) system in the Arabian Peninsula's north; a hyper-arid region that ordinarily sees almost no precipitation of any kind, let alone snow.
Why it happened — Attributed to an unusual cold-air incursion sweeping into the northern Arabian Peninsula — the kind of atmospheric-pattern extreme increasingly cited alongside other rare regional weather events (e.g., cloud-seeding over Iran's drought-hit Lake Urmia basin, covered in this month's Science lesson).

2. Political Geography: A Territorial Dispute

Diego Garcia & the Chagos Archipelago

The news — The United States urged the United Kingdom not to hand over Diego Garcia — the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago — to Mauritius, under a UK-Mauritius sovereignty-transfer deal announced in 2024.
Where & what — The Chagos Archipelago is a group of islands in the central Indian Ocean; Diego Garcia, its largest island, has hosted a major joint UK-US military and naval base since the 1970s.
Roots of the dispute — The UK detached the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before Mauritius's 1968 independence to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT); Mauritius has long claimed sovereignty. A 2019 ICJ advisory opinion and a UN General Assembly resolution found the UK's continued administration unlawful and called for decolonisation.
The 2024 deal & February 2026 twist — In 2024, the UK agreed to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius while retaining a long lease over Diego Garcia to keep the military base running — but the deal faced fresh US pushback in February 2026, underlining the base's continuing strategic importance in the Indian Ocean.