North American Extremes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Barrow, Alaska

Barrow, Alaska at 71 18' N 156 46' W is the most Northern settlement on the North American continent. It is relatively large for the Arctic, inhabited by more than 4000 people (2006). It is located on the oil-rich North Slope region of Alaska. Murchison Promontory, on the Boothia peninsula in the North-West Territories (71.59'55" N 94.32'45"W), is the northernmost point of the continent (further than Point Barrow by 64 km).

Answer: Denali

At 6,194 m (20,322 ft), Denali's summit is the highest point in North America. It is located in Alaska, part of the Alaskan Mountain Range. Most of the top mountains in North America are part of the Alaskan Mountain Range or the nearby St. Elias Mountain Range.

The summit of Denali, due to its extreme elevation and latitude, experiences very low temperatures and pressures. In fact, a thermometer left on the summit recorded -100 degrees F at one point (date unknown). Denali was called Mt McKinley for decades but officially became known as Denali in 2015.

Answer: Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the largest by surface area (82,414 km² (31,820 sq mi) ) and volume (12,100 km³ (2900 mi³)). Lake Huron possesses about 2/3 of the surface area and equals about 3/10 of the volume of Lake Superior. Lake Superior contains more than half of the total volume of the Great Lakes and about 1/3 of the total surface area.

Answer: Greenland

Greenland is part of the North American continental shelf. It covers 822,000 square miles, more than four times larger than the second largest island Baffin Island. In fact, of the top 10 islands in North America, nine are in the Arctic Archipelago. Newfoundland is the largest outside of the Arctic. Excluding Hawaii, Kodiak Island off Alaska is the largest island in the USA. Long Island (New York) is the largest in the lower 48 states. Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron is the largest Great Lake area island.

Answer: Death Valley, California

This record was set on July 10, 1913. Desert records need to be recorded at least four feet above the ground because the land heats to a much greater temperature than the air (ground can get to 90 degrees C, 200 degrees F). Spearfish, South Dakota holds the record for the greatest rise in temperature in a short period of time -> 27 C° (49 F°), recorded on January 22, 1943.

The chinook wind changed the temperature from -4 F to 45 F in just two minutes.

Answer: Henderson Lake (Vancouver Island)

Henderson Lake is on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It has received an eight-year average rainfall of 251.3 inches (one single year 288 inches). The West Coasts of British Columbia province and Washington state are famous for precipitous weather because the warm moist ocean air loses its moisture as rain at the base of the tall mountain chains. Henderson Lake receives the excessive precipitation due to the presence of a very tall mountain on the lee side of the lake. It receives 80 more inches a year than nearby Clayoquot sound.

Answer: Mississippi-Missouri

The Missouri River is considered a tributary of the Mississippi River, even though it is slightly longer. Combined with its tributaries such as Jefferson River, Arkansas River, and Missouri River, the Mississippi River is ranked the longest in North America (3,900 miles 6,275 km).

The source is Lake Itasca in Minnesota and the mouth is in the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River is the fourth longest in the world (in order - Nile, Amazon, Yangtze, Mississippi).

Answer: Sudbury (Ontario)

The Sudbury Crater is the second largest impact crater in the world (Vredefort, South Africa is the largest). At its widest section, it is 250 km in diameter. It is also one of the oldest known meteorite craters in the world (1.85 billion years old) and is located in the Canadian Shield. The Sudbury nickel mines extract the rich deposit of nickel in this crater. The Chicxulub Crater (third largest in the world), just off the north shore of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, is the most famous crater since it is implicated in the mass extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Answer: The Canadian Shield

The Canadian Shield has existed above sea level for over 2.5 billion years. It split off the major continent, before North America existed. It contains some volcanoes older than 1 billion years old and base rock from the Pre-Cambrian Era (4.5 billion - 600 million years ago).

Many of these long-extinct volcanoes are no longer prominent, but provide rich deposits of ores. The Canadian Shield stretches over a U-shaped area surrounding Hudson's bay and containing much of Northern Ontario, Nunavut, Quebec, and South Greenland.

Answer: California

California has more than 36 million citizens (2007) and 12% of the population of the USA.