Q 01/05

Which continent, the driest on Earth, holds a desert so large it outranks even the Sahara in area?

A) Australia

B) South America

C) Antarctica

D) North America

Answer · why

C) Antarctica

Antarctica is the largest desert on Earth, because a desert is defined by how little precipitation falls, not by heat. Its interior gets less than 50 ...

Q 02/05

Which Hawaiian volcano, measured from its base on the ocean floor, is often called Earth's tallest mountain?

A) Mauna Kea

B) Mauna Loa

C) Kilauea

D) Haleakala

Answer · why

A) Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea rises more than 9,000 metres from its underwater base, but most of that height is hidden. Only about 4,200 metres of it stands above the wav...

Q 03/05

Which landmass ranks as the world's largest island, since Australia is counted as a continent instead?

A) Madagascar

B) Borneo

C) New Guinea

D) Greenland

Answer · why

D) Greenland

Greenland is the world's largest island, and an ice sheet buries about four-fifths of it. Australia is bigger still, but geographers treat it as a mai...

Q 04/05

Which landform, such as Florida or Italy, juts out from a mainland and is mostly surrounded by water?

A) Island

B) Peninsula

C) Continent

D) Sandbar

Answer · why

B) Peninsula

Peninsula comes from the Latin words paene, 'almost', and insula, 'island'. That is just what one looks like on a map: land tied to the mainland on on...

Q 05/05

Which icicle-shaped mineral formations hang from the ceilings of limestone caves, built up by dripping water?

A) Stalagmites

B) Geodes

C) Stalactites

D) Flowstones

Answer · why

C) Stalactites

Stalactites cling to the ceiling, while stalagmites grow up from the floor beneath them. Most grow only a fraction of a millimetre a year, and a pair ...