Admirably Aquatic Trivia Quiz

Answer: Switzerland

With a course of about 295 km (183 mi), the Aar, or Aare, is one of the many tributaries of the Rhine, and the longest river that flows entirely within Switzerland. It rises from the glaciers of the Bernese Alps, flowing through the beautiful mountain region known as the Bernese Oberland, and feeding two scenic Alpine lakes - Lake Brienz and Lake Thun - before reaching the city of Bern, Switzerland's capital. There the Aar flows around the peninsula where the old city (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is located; two of the 18 bridges that span the river in Bern date from the late 15th century. Before joining the Rhine at Koblenz, in the canton of Aargau, the Aar flows past a number of other towns, such as Solothurn, the capital of the canton of the same name in northwestern Switzerland.

The capitals of Austria (Vienna) and Hungary (Budapest) both lie on the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, while Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia (which is not landlocked), lies on the river Ljubljanica, a tributary of the Sava.

Answer: Verona

Called "Etsch" in German, the Adige (from a Proto-Celtic word meaning "the water") flows for 410 km (250 mi) from its source near the Reschen Pass, in the Italian Alps near the border with Switzerland and Austria. In its journey towards the Adriatic Sea the river runs through the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto, and the cities of Trento, Rovereto, and Verona. The mouth of the Adige on the Adriatic coast lies within the natural park of the Po Delta; the town of Adria, which gave its name to the Adriatic Sea, is located between the mouths of Italy's two largest rivers. An artificial canal connects the Adige to Lake Garda.

The metropolitan area of Verona, Veneto's largest city, is home to over 700,000 people. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, Verona boasts a wealth of magnificent medieval and Renaissance buildings, as well as the ancient Roman Arena, the symbol of the city. Two of William Shakespeare's plays - "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" and, of course, "Romeo and Juliet" - are set in Verona. In the Prologue to "Romeo and Juliet", Shakespeare refers to the city as "fair Verona".

Neither Genoa (a seaport) nor Milan are located on any major river, while Florence lies on another A river - the Arno, which also flows through Pisa.

Answer: Lake Baikal

With a length of 1,849 km (1,149 mi), the Angara (from a Mongolian word meaning "cleft") is the headwater tributary of the Yenisey, one of the three major Siberian rivers, with which it forms the world's fifth-longest river system. The Angara drains out of Lake Baikal, and flows northwards across the southern part of the Central Siberian Plateau. The city of Irkutsk, the capital of the Oblast of the same name, lies on the banks of the river. The Angara joins the Yenisey near the town of Strelka, in Krasnoyarsk Krai. Four hydroelectric plants have been built on the river since the 1950s, all of which form large reservoirs.

Lake Baikal is the world's largest freshwater lake by volume, containing more than 20% of the world's fresh surface water. Believed to be about 30 million years old, it is also the world's seventh-largest lake, covering an area slightly larger than Belgium, and home to many animal and plant species - such as the endemic Baikal seal.

Lake Ladoga is located in Russia, near St Petersburg, while Lake Saimaa is the largest of Finland's lakes. Lake Vostok is the largest lake in Antarctica.

Answer: Central Asia

One of Central Asia's longest rivers, the Amu Darya ("river of Amul" in Persian - Amul being the medieval name of the town of Turkmenabat) rises in the Pamir Mountains, located between the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. From there it flows northwest until it empties in the southern remnants of the Aral Sea, the mostly dried-up saltwater lake that once was one of the world's largest lakes. Reaching a total length of 2,400 km (1,500 mi), the Amu Darya forms part of the border of Afghanistan with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Though it flows through mostly arid plains, the river carries plenty of water because it is fed by mountain glaciers in the Pamir and Tian Shan ranges.

In classical antiquity, the Amu Darya was known as Oxus (a name derived from that of its largest tributary, the Vakhsh), and marked the border between Greater Iran and Turan (present-day Central Asia). One of the routes of the Silk Road ran partly along the Amu Darya before reaching the shores of the Caspian Sea.

What is left of the Aral Sea lies between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Its name, "sea of islands" in Mongolian and Turkic languages, refers to the over 1,000 islands that once dotted its waters. The lake's shrinking, which began in the 1960s, when the Soviets diverted the two rivers that feed it (the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya) to irrigate the surrounding desert, has been described as one of the world's greatest environmental catastrophes.

Answer: Amur

Known in Chinese as Heilong Jang ("Black Dragon River"), the Amur is the world's tenth-longest river, with a length of 2,824 km (1,755 mi). It rises in the western part of Northeast China, at the confluence of the Shilka and the Argun rivers. From there it flows east, marking the border between the Chinese province of Heilongjang (named after the river itself) and southeastern Siberia. When it reaches the city of Khabarovsk, the Amur turns northwards, eventually draining into the Strait of Tartary (which separates the Russian mainland from the island of Sakhalin) with a wide, bell-shaped estuary.

Much of the Amur basin lies within the taiga zone, though the river also flows through desert, steppe and tundra environments. Its waters are rich in fish, especially large, predatory species such as the huge kaluga sturgeon. The river's name, however, is also connected to two iconic land predators - the Amur, or Siberian, tiger, and the rare Amur leopard.

The Aras is a river that flows in the Caucasus region; the Alpheus is found in Greece, and the Awash in Ethiopia.

Answer: Uganda

Called Mwitanzige ("locust killer") by the native peoples of the region, Lake Albert was named after the consort of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, by two British explores, Samuel Baker and Flora von Sass, who discovered the lake in 1864 while looking for the source of the Nile. Long and narrow, Lake Albert is the northernmost of the lakes in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Covering a surface area of 5,300 km (2,000 sq mi), it lies in the centre of the African continent; it is fed by the Victoria Nile (part of the White Nile), which then drains out of the lake as Albert Nile. The western shore of the lake lies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while the rest is located in Uganda (which, unlike Tanzania and Kenya, is landlocked).

Lake Albert is home to many fish species, such as the Nile perch and the African tigerfish, as well as hippos and Nile crocodiles. In recent years, the lake has been the scene of a number of tragic boating accidents that have caused the death of hundreds of people. In 2014, a boat carrying Congolese refugees capsized in the lake, killing over 250 people.

Answer: Alberta and Saskatchewan

From the Cree word "athapaskaw", meaning "[where] there are reeds one after the other", "Athabasca" is a toponym that applies to various geographical and administrative features in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Athabasca River rises in the Rocky Mountains, in the Columbia Icefield of Jasper National Park, in western Alberta, and flows northeast through many areas of great interest to nature lovers for about 1,231 km (765 mi). Before draining into the southwestern end of Lake Athabasca, the river forms a large delta together with the Peace River.

Lake Athabasca lies between the northeast corner of Alberta and the northwest corner of Saskatchewan; over 70% of its waters are located in the latter province. Covering a surface of 7,850 km² (3,030 sq mi), Lake Athabasca is Canada's eighth-largest lake. A protected area of sand dunes, believed to have been formed near the end of the last glacial era (about 8,000 years ago) extends along the southern edge of the lake. Unfortunately, gold and uranium mines (though operations ceased in the late 1980s), oil tar sands, and coal mines in the area around the lake have caused high levels of pollution in the lake's waters.

Answer: both rivers were once part of French Louisiana

Purchased by the US in 1803, French Louisiana was the southern part of New France, and much larger than the US state of the same name. The present-day states of Alabama and Arkansas were both part of Lower Louisiana (Basse-Louisiane). The Alabama River was named "Rivière des Alibamous" - after the native population of the area - by the French in the early years of the 18th century, while the name of the Arkansas River is a French transliteration of "Akansa", another name for the Quapaw tribe of the US Midwest.

Only the Arkansas River is a tributary of the Mississippi - the second-longest after the Missouri. It rises in the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado's Lake Country, while the Alabama River is formed by the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, about 10 km (6 mi) north of Montgomery. With a length of 512 km (318 mi), the Alabama (which empties in the Mobile River) is also considerably shorter than the Arkansas, which at 2,364 km (1,469 mi) is the 7th-longest river in the US, and the 45th-longest in the world.

Answer: False

The Amundsen Sea is a marginal sea of the Southern Ocean, located off Marie Byrd Land, an unclaimed region of western Antarctica. The Bellinghausen Sea lies to the north of it, and the Ross Sea to the south. A large ice sheet - about the size of the US state of Texas, and about 3 km (1.9 mi) thick - drains into the Amundsen Sea. The body of water was named after Roald Amundsen, who was the first explorer to reach the South Pole in December 1911, by a Norwegian expedition that explored the area in 1929.

The Amundsen Gulf, on the other hand, is located in the Inuvik region of Canada's Northwest Territories, between the mainland, Banks Island and Victoria Island; the Beaufort Sea lies north of it. Roald Amundsen explored the gulf, which lies at the western end of the Northwest Passage, in 1903-1906. Being north of the Arctic Circle, Amundsen Gulf is covered by ice for most of the year.

Answer: Arafura Sea

The Arafura Sea (a name probably derived from "Harrafora", an indigenous population of Indonesia or New Guinea) is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly over the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (which is part of Indonesia). The Timor Sea lies to the west, and the Torres Strait to the east. Renowned for its marine life, the Arafura Sea is relatively shallow (50-80 m/160-260 ft); its rich fisheries, in spite of the challenges posed by climate change and overfishing, are still thriving.

The Arafura Sea lies a few degrees south of the Equator, and is thus entirely located in the Southern Hemisphere - unlike the other three marginal seas, which are all in the Northern Hemisphere. The Alboran Sea and the Adriatic Sea are both part of the Mediterranean Sea (in turn is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean), while the Andaman Sea is a marginal sea of the Indian Ocean.