Global Extremes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lake Superior

Of the top five largest freshwater lakes in the world by area, three of them are in North America. Besides Lake Superior, the other two are Lake Huron (23,000 sq. miles) and Lake Michigan (22,400 sq. miles). The second largest freshwater lake in the world is Lake Victoria in Africa (26,828 sq. miles).

The fifth candidate is debatable because the Aral Sea in Russia (26,300 sq. miles in 1960) has been so depleted by agricultural drain-off that it has lost 90% of its original size. The next closest challenger is Lake Tanganyika in Africa (12,700 sq. miles).

Answer: Lake Tanganyika

Although its greatest width is only 45 miles, which is only 1/4 of Lake Superior's width, and it is only about 50 miles longer, Lake Tanganyika contains more water. Its deepest point of 4,800 feet is 3 1/2 times the deepest point in Lake Superior.

Answer: Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea shares its water between five countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan. With a surface area of more than 143,000 sq. miles, it is half again as big as the five largest fresh-water lakes combined.

Answer: Denali, Alaska

Mt. Everest measures 29,029 feet. Denali (once known as Mt. McKinley) only reaches 20,322 feet, and ranks a mere 26th in the Western Hemisphere behind its many rivals in the South American Andes. Of the top ten highest peaks in North America, four of them are in Alaska. The other three Alaskan peaks are Mt. Saint Elias (18,008), Mt. Foraker (17,400), and Mt. Bona (16,550).

Answer: Indonesia

Mount Tambora wiped out 92,000 in the immediate disaster. Then came the tsunamis, followed by mass starvation and a global pandemic of cholera. Final death toll is uncertain, but probably numbers into the millions. The next closest such disaster occurred at Mount Krakatua 68 years later, also in Indonesia, which killed another 36,000. By comparison, Mount Vesuvius in Italy in 79 A.D. killed about 3,300. Mount St.

Helens in 1980 in the United States killed 57.

Answer: Nile

The Nile beats the Amazon by about 150 miles, and the Mississippi by about 250. The Mississippi and the Yangtze, in China, are approximately the same length at about 3,900 miles each.

Answer: Verkhoyansk, Russia

Although the Polar Regions experience lower temperatures, with -119 degrees F. recorded at Plateau Station in Antarctica, these regions are not inhabited year-round and are not directly owned by any country. Fort Selkirk's lowest temperature of -74 degrees was recorded in 1950. Prospect Creek, about 200 miles north of Fairbanks, AK, recorded a low of -80 in 1971. Eismitte, Greenland recorded a low of -65 degrees in 1954.

Answer: Death Valley, California, USA

The high for Rivadavia was in 1905 at +120 degrees. The high in Oodnadatta was +123 degrees in 1960. And the high in Tirat Zvi was +129 degrees in 1942. True, no one typically buys retirement property in Death Valley, but it is a popular tourist and vacation spot for thousands of travelers all year long.

Answer: Dead Sea, Palestine

Laguna del Carbon comes in second at -344 feet below sea level. Death Valley is only -280 feet. Humboldt Sink, though perhaps the lowest place in the Sierra Nevada Range, is actually 5,620 feet above sea level, which is 400 feet higher than Denver, Colorado.

Answer: Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru

Lake Titicaca is also the largest lake in South America, with a surface area of 3,200 sq. miles. Although there are higher known bodies of water around the world, many located in dormant volcano craters, they are not considered navigable and are often frozen for most of the year. Lake Titicaca is large enough and deep enough for commercial boats. Of the others named here, Echo Lake in Colorado is the only one above 10,000 feet.