Q 01/05

The Gobi spans southern Mongolia and the north of which other country?

A) Kazakhstan

B) India

C) China

D) Russia

Answer · why

C) China

It is a cold desert and grassland region, and the sixth-largest desert in the world.

Q 02/05

By area, where does the Gobi rank among the world's deserts?

A) First

B) Sixth

C) Third

D) Tenth

Answer · why

B) Sixth

Antarctica, the Arctic, the Sahara, the Arabian and the Australian deserts are all bigger.

Q 03/05

The desert's name comes from a Mongolian word meaning what?

A) Dryland

B) Red earth

C) Endless wind

D) Cold place

Answer · why

A) Dryland

The Chinese cognate gebi refers to rocky semi-deserts rather than sandy ones.

Q 04/05

How long is the Gobi from south-west to north-east?

A) 3,200 km

B) 2,400 km

C) 4,000 km

D) 1,600 km

Answer · why

D) 1,600 km

It is about 800 km from north to south and widest in the west, near Lake Bosten and Lop Nor.

Q 05/05

Roughly what area does the Gobi cover?

A) 6.5 million km²

B) 4.1 million km²

C) 2.6 million km²

D) 1.3 million km²

Answer · why

D) 1.3 million km²

That is about half a million square miles, or roughly the size of Peru.