The Bering Strait separates which two continents?

The correct answer is B, India and Sri Lanka. The Palk Strait lies between the Ramanathapuram coast of Tamil Nadu and the Jaffna region of northern Sri Lanka, and it joins Palk Bay in the north with the Gulf of Mannar in the south; the shoals of Adam's Bridge run across its southern end. A is wrong because India and Myanmar are separated in the sea by the Coco Channel near North Andaman and share a land boundary in the north-east, not a strait in the south. C is wrong because the Maldives lie far out in the Arabian Sea and are separated from Minicoy of Lakshadweep by the Eight Degree Channel. D is wrong because Indonesia is separated from the Indian islands by a wide stretch of the Andaman Sea, the nearest Indonesian point to India being Sumatra off Great Nicobar.

The correct answer is C, the Gulf of Oman. The Strait of Hormuz runs between the Iranian coast and the Musandam peninsula of Oman and is the only sea route out of the Persian Gulf, leading into the Gulf of Oman and from there into the Arabian Sea; that is why it is the world's most sensitive oil chokepoint. A is wrong because the Red Sea lies on the other side of the Arabian peninsula and is reached from the Indian Ocean through Bab-el-Mandeb. B is wrong because the Gulf of Aden lies off Yemen and Somalia and is joined to the Red Sea, not to the Persian Gulf. D is wrong because the Mediterranean Sea is linked to the Red Sea by the Suez Canal and to the Atlantic by the Strait of Gibraltar, and has no direct opening into the Persian Gulf.

The correct answer is A, the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, runs about 193 kilometres across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt from Port Said on the Mediterranean to the city of Suez on the Red Sea, and because the two seas stand at nearly the same level the canal needs no locks. B is wrong because the Atlantic and the Pacific are joined by the Panama Canal across the Isthmus of Panama. C is wrong because the North Sea and the Baltic are joined by the Kiel Canal in Germany, opened in 1895. D is wrong because the Black Sea reaches the Aegean through the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles, a natural chain of straits in Turkey and not a canal at all.

The correct answer is C, Gatun Lake. The Panama Canal does not cut through at sea level; ships are lifted by locks into the artificial Gatun Lake, sail across it and through the Culebra or Gaillard Cut, and are then lowered by locks on the other side, which is why the canal needs a large freshwater reservoir. A is wrong because Lake Maracaibo is in Venezuela, an inlet of the Caribbean and not part of any canal. B is wrong because Lake Titicaca lies high in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia and is the highest navigable lake in the world, far from Panama. D is wrong because Lake Nicaragua was considered for a rival canal route in the nineteenth century, and a Nicaraguan canal has been proposed many times, but no such canal carries shipping today.

The correct answer is B, Spain and Morocco. The Strait of Gibraltar is the narrow entrance to the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean, with the Rock of Gibraltar on the European side and Jebel Musa on the African side; the two headlands were known to the ancients as the Pillars of Hercules. A is wrong because Italy and Tunisia face each other across the Strait of Sicily, a much wider stretch of the Mediterranean. C is wrong because France and England are separated by the Strait of Dover, also called Pas de Calais, the narrowest part of the English Channel. D is wrong because Greece and Turkey face each other across the Aegean Sea and its many islands, while the straits of Turkey, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, lie wholly within Turkey.