World Geography Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The Big Bang theory explains the origin of the universe: it holds that all matter, energy, space and time began in an extremely hot, dense state and have been expanding ever since.

Its two strongest supports are the redshift of distant galaxies, which shows the expansion, and the cosmic microwave background, the cooled remnant of the early radiation.

Answer: A

The Strait of Gibraltar is the narrow channel between Spain and Morocco that joins the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 13 km across at its narrowest and is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Answer: D

All three are shallow, marginal seas of the Atlantic basin: the Caribbean and Mediterranean, the Baltic and Arctic, and the Gulf of Mexico.

Each lies over continental shelf or a partly enclosed basin rather than over true deep ocean floor, so the combined choice is correct.

Answer: C

The Pyrenees lie in Europe, forming the border between France and Spain for about 430 km from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean.

Their highest peak, Pico de Aneto, reaches 3,404 m, and the small state of Andorra lies among them.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Isobars

Isobars join points of equal pressure, and they are what gives a weather chart its familiar look. Their spacing carries the important information: closely packed isobars mean a steep pressure gradient and therefore strong winds, while widely spaced ones mean light winds. Closed rings mark centres of high or low pressure, and in the northern hemisphere air spirals anticlockwise into a low and clockwise out of a high. The prefix iso-, from the Greek for equal, generates a whole family of such lines. Isotherms join places of equal temperature, isohyets places of equal rainfall, and contours places of equal height above sea level.

Answer: D

Pedogenesis is soil formation - the whole process by which weathered parent material develops into a soil with distinct horizons, under the influence of climate, organisms, relief, parent material and time.

Leaching, eluviation and illuviation are individual movements of material within the profile, and so are only components of pedogenesis.

Answer: D

The Suez Canal was built under the direction of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat and engineer, and opened in 1869.

Answer: B

A sidereal month is the time the Moon takes to complete one orbit of the Earth measured against a fixed star - about 27.3 days.

The synodic month, from one new moon to the next, is longer at about 29.5 days, because in the meantime the Earth has moved along its own orbit and the Moon must travel further to return to the same alignment with the Sun.

Answer: A

Sustainable development is defined as meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs - that is, intergenerational equity.

Answer: A

Correct answer: The tilt of the Earth’s axis

Seasons arise from the 23.5° tilt of the Earth’s axis. As the planet orbits, the tilt stays pointed in a fixed direction in space, so each hemisphere leans towards the Sun for part of the year and away from it for the rest. Leaning towards the Sun brings two effects together: the Sun stands higher in the sky, so its energy falls on a smaller area and heats it more intensely, and the days are longer, so that heating lasts longer. The common belief that distance causes the seasons is demonstrably wrong. The Earth is in fact closest to the Sun in early January, during the northern winter, and the variation is only about 3 per cent. The decisive evidence is that the two hemispheres have opposite seasons at the same moment - which distance alone could never produce. It is also why the tropics, where the Sun is always high, have wet and dry seasons rather than warm and cold ones.