Q.Spring tides are caused:
Spring tides happen when the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth line up, so their gravitational pulls combine to make the highest high tides and the lowest low tides.
Think of the ocean as a slow, breathing skin wrapped around the Earth. The Moon’s gravity tugs on that skin, pulling water toward itself and creating a bulge — that’s the high tide you see on the shore facing the Moon. On the opposite side of the Earth, another bulge forms because the water is being pulled away from the solid Earth, almost like the Earth is being yanked toward the Moon while the water lags behind. So you get two high tides a day, one facing the Moon and one facing away.
Now bring the Sun into the picture. The Sun is far more massive than the Moon, but it’s also much farther away, so its tidal pull is weaker — roughly half as strong as the Moon’s. Still, it matters. When the Sun, Moon, and Earth are arranged in a straight line — at new moon, when the Moon is between Earth and Sun, or at full moon, when Earth is between them — the Sun’s pull adds to the Moon’s pull. The bulges get bigger, the high tides climb higher, and the low tides sink lower. Those are spring tides.
The name has nothing to do with the season. “Spring” here means “to leap up,” as in a spring of water or a springing motion. The word simply captures the way the tide seems to jump higher than usual.
Now look at the options. Option (a) says the Moon and Sun pull the Earth in the same direction. That’s true at new moon, when both are on the same side of Earth. Option (b) says they pull in opposite directions. That’s true at full moon, when Earth sits between them. Both arrangements produce spring tides. So the correct choice is not one or the other — it’s both together.
The question is worded as if only one of these could be right, but in reality spring tides occur in both alignments. The key is that the Sun and Moon are in a straight line with Earth, whether on the same side or opposite sides.
Option (c), “indention in the coastline,” is a red herring. Coastline shape affects the timing and height of tides locally — think of a funnel-shaped bay that squeezes water into a huge surge — but it does not cause spring tides. That’s a local effect, not a global one.
Spring tides are about alignment, not season. New moon and full moon both give spring tides. When the Sun and Moon are at right angles to Earth — at the first and last quarter moons — their pulls partially cancel, giving smaller neap tides.
So the answer is (d), none of the above, because the question forces you to pick one direction, when the real condition is a straight-line alignment in either direction.
In short, spring tides arise from the Sun and Moon pulling in line with Earth — whether on the same side or opposite sides — so neither (a) nor (b) alone is correct. The right choice is (d), none of the above.
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