Q 01/05

How does the Pacific rank among Earth's oceans?

A) Largest and deepest

B) Largest but not deepest

C) Second largest

D) Third largest

Answer · why

A) Largest and deepest

It covers about 46% of the planet's water surface and nearly a third of its total surface.

Q 02/05

The Pacific's area is larger than what?

A) The Atlantic and Indian Oceans combined

B) The Moon's surface

C) All of Earth's land combined

D) Asia and Africa combined

Answer · why

C) All of Earth's land combined

At about 165 million square kilometres, it beats the planet's entire landmass of roughly 149 million.

Q 03/05

Which explorer named the ocean 'Mar Pacífico', meaning peaceful sea?

A) Francis Drake

B) Ferdinand Magellan

C) Vasco Núñez de Balboa

D) James Cook

Answer · why

B) Ferdinand Magellan

After the storms off Cape Horn his fleet found calm water in 1520; the ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan until the 18th century.

Q 04/05

Which Spanish explorer crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and named the ocean the 'South Sea'?

A) Hernán Cortés

B) Juan Ponce de León

C) Francisco Pizarro

D) Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Answer · why

D) Vasco Núñez de Balboa

He called it Mar del Sur because it lay south of the coast where he first saw it.

Q 05/05

What is the deepest known point in the world's oceans?

A) Sirena Deep

B) Horizon Deep

C) Challenger Deep

D) Milwaukee Deep

Answer · why

C) Challenger Deep

It lies in the Mariana Trench at 10,928 metres; the Horizon Deep in the Tonga Trench is the deepest point in the Southern Hemisphere.