World Continents and Oceans: Area, Extremes and Facts

The correct answer is B. By area the order of the continents is Asia, about 44 million square kilometres, then Africa with about 30 million, North America with about 24 million, South America with about 18 million, Antarctica with about 14 million, Europe with about 10 million and Australia with about 8 million. Option A is wrong because it places South America above North America, which is a common slip since South America is longer but narrower. Option C is wrong because Africa is the second largest continent, not the first; Asia alone covers nearly a third of the land surface. Option D is wrong because North America is smaller than Africa. A simple memory aid for the order is the sentence pattern Asia, Africa, North, South, Antarctica, Europe, Australia, which also happens to run from the most populous to the least.

The correct answer is C, Pacific Ocean. It is the largest ocean, covering nearly half the total ocean surface, and the deepest, because the Challenger Deep in its Mariana Trench is the deepest known point on earth; its rim of volcanoes and earthquake zones is called the Ring of Fire. Option A is wrong because the Atlantic is the second largest, known for its S shape, its Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the busiest shipping routes. Option B is wrong because the Indian Ocean ranks third and is the only ocean named after a country. Option D is wrong because the Arctic is the smallest and shallowest ocean, largely covered with drifting sea ice. Note the pairing examiners use: largest and deepest go together in the Pacific, while smallest and shallowest go together in the Arctic.

The correct answer is B, Mariana Trench. The Mariana Trench lies in the western Pacific Ocean, east of the Mariana Islands, and its southern end holds the Challenger Deep, close to eleven thousand metres below sea level, named after the British survey ship that sounded it in the nineteenth century. Option A is wrong because the Puerto Rico Trench is the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, not of the world. Option C is wrong because the Sunda Trench, also called the Java Trench, off the Indonesian islands, is the deepest part of the Indian Ocean. Option D is wrong because the Tonga Trench, although among the deepest in the Pacific, is shallower than the Mariana Trench. The reliable pairing for the examination hall is Pacific with Mariana, Atlantic with Puerto Rico and Indian with Sunda.

The correct answer is C, Indian Ocean. It takes its name from India, whose peninsula projects into it, and this is the only case of an ocean named after a nation; it is also unusual in being closed in the north by the Asian landmass, which makes its monsoon-driven currents reverse twice a year. Option A is wrong because the Arctic Ocean is named from the Greek word for the bear, through the constellation that marks the north. Option B is wrong because the Southern Ocean is named for its position around Antarctica and was recognised as a separate ocean only in 2000. Option D is wrong because the Atlantic takes its name from Atlas of Greek mythology and from the Atlas Mountains of north-west Africa. Remember that the Indian Ocean is also the warmest of the oceans and the third largest by area.

The correct answer is C, 2000. In that year the International Hydrographic Organization recognised the waters surrounding Antarctica, broadly south of sixty degrees south latitude, as the fifth ocean of the world, which is why older textbooks speak of four oceans and newer ones of five. Option A is wrong because 1982 is the year of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an agreement about maritime zones rather than about naming an ocean. Option B is wrong because 1992 is remembered for the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro. Option D is wrong because no ocean was recognised in 2010. The Southern Ocean carries the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the only current that flows right around the globe, and it is the stormiest stretch of water on earth.

The correct answer is B, Africa. Africa is the only continent through which all four of these lines pass: the Equator crosses its middle, the Tropic of Cancer runs across the Sahara, the Tropic of Capricorn crosses its southern part, and the Prime Meridian passes through its western bulge near Accra. Option A is wrong because the Tropic of Capricorn lies entirely south of Asia and the Prime Meridian does not touch it. Option C is wrong because South America is crossed by the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn but not by the Tropic of Cancer or the Prime Meridian. Option D is wrong because Australia is crossed only by the Tropic of Capricorn, since it lies wholly in the Southern Hemisphere. This single fact makes Africa the most symmetrical of the continents about the Equator.

The correct answer is B, Asia and North America. The Bering Strait lies between the eastern tip of Siberia and the western tip of Alaska and joins the Pacific Ocean with the Arctic Ocean; during the ice ages a land bridge across it is believed to have carried the first human migrations into the Americas. Option A is wrong because Europe and Africa are separated by the Strait of Gibraltar, which joins the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Option C is wrong because Asia and Africa meet at the Isthmus of Suez and are divided by the Bab-el-Mandeb and the Red Sea. Option D is wrong because North and South America are joined by the Isthmus of Panama, cut by the Panama Canal, not separated by a natural strait. Learn these four pairs together, as papers set them against one another.

The correct answer is C, Sargasso Sea. It lies in the North Atlantic and is bounded not by land but by four ocean currents, among them the Gulf Stream, which circle its calm, weed-filled waters; the floating sargassum seaweed gives it its name. Option A is wrong because the Dead Sea is a salt lake between Israel and Jordan, famous as the lowest exposed land on earth and for water so saline that bathers float. Option B is wrong because the Caspian Sea is the largest inland water body in the world and is enclosed by the coasts of five countries. Option D is wrong because the Aral Sea in Central Asia is a shrinking inland lake, a standard example of human-induced environmental damage. The distinguishing idea here is that a coastline means land, and only the Sargasso Sea has none.

The correct answer is B, Antarctica. Its thick ice sheet lifts its average elevation above that of every other continent, and it has no permanent population, only the changing crews of research stations maintained under the Antarctic Treaty system; it is also the coldest, driest and windiest continent and counts as the largest cold desert. Option A is wrong because Asia, although it holds the highest mountains and the Tibetan plateau, is also the most populous continent, so its average elevation is pulled down by vast plains. Option C is wrong because South America has the Andes but also the Amazon basin and a large settled population. Option D is wrong because Europe is the second smallest continent and largely low-lying, which is why it is called a peninsula of peninsulas.

The correct answer is B, Alfred Wegener and Pangaea. The German meteorologist Alfred Wegener put forward the continental drift theory in 1912, holding that all continents once formed a single supercontinent called Pangaea, surrounded by a single ocean called Panthalassa, which later split into Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south. Option A is wrong because Harry Hess proposed sea floor spreading in the twentieth century, and Panthalassa is the ocean, not the landmass. Option C is wrong because Gondwana was only the southern half of Pangaea, containing present-day South America, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica. Option D is wrong because Arthur Holmes is associated with the idea of convection currents in the mantle as the driving force, and Laurasia was the northern half. Keep the four names in their correct slots, since every wrong option here is a real term from the same theory.