Oceans, Seas & Islands: Exam Prep: questions and answers
Study every question with its correct answer and explanation.
1. The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean with which sea?
- A. Red Sea
- B. Mediterranean Sea
- C. Black Sea
- D. Caribbean Sea
Answer: Mediterranean Sea
The Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa and is only about 14 km wide at its narrowest point. It is the Mediterranean's only natural connection to the open ocean.
2. The Suez Canal links the Mediterranean Sea with which sea?
- A. Arabian Sea
- B. Black Sea
- C. Red Sea
- D. Caspian Sea
Answer: Red Sea
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal in Egypt joins the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. It lets ships travel between Europe and Asia without sailing all the way around Africa.
3. Which stretch of water separates the island of Madagascar from mainland Africa?
- A. Mozambique Channel
- B. Strait of Hormuz
- C. Gulf of Aden
- D. Strait of Malacca
Answer: Mozambique Channel
Madagascar, the world's fourth-largest island, lies in the Indian Ocean, separated from Mozambique by the Mozambique Channel. Its long isolation explains why so many of its plants and animals, such as lemurs, evolved there and nowhere else.
4. Australia's Great Barrier Reef lies in which sea?
- A. Tasman Sea
- B. Arafura Sea
- C. Timor Sea
- D. Coral Sea
Answer: Coral Sea
The Great Barrier Reef stretches for more than 2,000 km off the coast of Queensland in the Coral Sea. It is the world's largest coral reef system and is made up of thousands of individual reefs and hundreds of islands.
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5. Which sea in northern Europe is so low in salt that its water is described as 'brackish'?
- A. North Sea
- B. Baltic Sea
- C. Norwegian Sea
- D. Adriatic Sea
Answer: Baltic Sea
Many rivers pour fresh water into the Baltic Sea, while its only link to the salty ocean is through the narrow, shallow Danish straits. As a result, its water is far less salty than ordinary seawater.
6. Point Nemo, the spot in the ocean farthest from any land, lies in which ocean?
- A. Atlantic Ocean
- B. Indian Ocean
- C. Pacific Ocean
- D. Arctic Ocean
Answer: Pacific Ocean
Point Nemo lies in the South Pacific, more than 2,600 km from the nearest land. Because it is so remote, space agencies use the ocean area around it as a 'spacecraft cemetery', steering old satellites and space stations down there safely.
7. Which strait separates Asia (Russia) from North America (Alaska)?
- A. Bering Strait
- B. Strait of Dover
- C. Davis Strait
- D. Cook Strait
Answer: Bering Strait
The Bering Strait is only about 80 km wide at its narrowest point. In the middle lie the two Diomede Islands, one Russian and one American, only about 4 km apart — yet the International Date Line runs between them, putting them almost a day apart on the calendar.
8. Which is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea?
- A. Sardinia
- B. Cyprus
- C. Crete
- D. Sicily
Answer: Sicily
Sicily, lying just off the 'toe' of Italy's boot shape, is the largest island in the Mediterranean. It is also home to Mount Etna, one of Europe's most active volcanoes.
9. The Maldives, one of the lowest-lying countries on Earth, is made up mainly of what?
- A. Coral atolls
- B. Volcanic mountains
- C. Icy glacial islands
- D. Desert sand dunes
Answer: Coral atolls
The Maldives is a chain of roughly 1,200 small coral islands grouped into 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-west of India and Sri Lanka. Most of its land is only a metre or two above sea level, which makes it one of the lowest-lying countries in the world.
10. Cape Horn, where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans meet, lies at the southern tip of which continent?
- A. Africa
- B. Australia
- C. South America
- D. Antarctica
Answer: South America
Cape Horn is on a small Chilean island at the southern end of South America, facing the stormy Drake Passage. Before the Panama Canal opened in 1914, many ships had to sail around it, and sailors feared it for its fierce winds and huge waves.