World Geography Test 1

Solution: b)

The Swahili Coast is a coastal area in Southeast Africa inhabited by the Swahili people. It mainly consists of littoral Kenya, Tanzania, and northern Mozambique. The term may also include some of the Indian Ocean islands, such as Zanzibar, Pate and Comoros, which lie off the Swahili Coast. The Swahili Coast has a distinct culture, demography, religion and geography, and as a result – along with other factors, including economic – has witnessed rising secessionism.

Solution; b)

The Sahara has a number of distinct physical features, including ergs, regs, hamadas, and oases. Ergs, which cover 20 percent of the Sahara, are sand dunes that stretch for hundreds of kilometers at heights of more than 300 meters (1,000 feet). Ergs cover most of Algeria and Libya and parts of Mali and Nigeria. Ergs can contain large quantities of salt, which is sold for industrial and food use.

Regs are plains of sand and gravel that make up 70 percent of the Sahara. The gravel can be black, red, or white. Regs are the remains of prehistoricseabeds and riverbeds, but are now nearly waterless.

Hamadas are elevated plateaus of rock and stone that reach heights of 3,353 meters (11,000 feet). They include the Atlas Mountains, which stretch from southwestern Morocco to northeastern Tunisia; the Tibesti Mountains of southern Libya and northern Chad; and the Ahaggar Mountains in southern Algeria.

Solution: c)

An endorheic basin is a limited drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal, that equilibrate through evaporation. Such a basin may also be referred to as a closed or terminal basin or as an internal drainage system or Interior drainage basin.

The Okavango Basin is an endorheic basin found in southwestern Africa, which extends across portions of Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The basin covers an area of 721,000 square kilometers. The Okavango River is the chief stream in the basin. It is formed by the confluence of the Cubango and Cuito rivers, which originate on the Bihé Plateau of central Angola and flow southeast.

Solution: d)

The Great Lakes are located in nine countries that surround the Great Rift Valley. As the African continent separated from Saudi Arabia, large, deep cracks were created in the Earths surface. These cracks were later filled with water. This geologic process created some of the largest and deepest lakes in the world.

There are seven major African Great Lakes: Lake Albert, Lake Edward, Lake Kivu, Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Turkana, and Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, is the southern source of the Nile River, the longest river in the world.

The African Great Lakes region has a diverse range of aquatic and terrestrialanimal life. Fish include the 45-kilogram (100-pound) Nile perch and the 2.5-centimeter (1-inch) cichlid. Migrating savanna animals, such as wildebeest, use the lakes as watering holes. Hippos and crocodiles call the region their home.

The Great Lakes abut everything from rain forest to savanna plant communities. However, invasive species like the water hyacinth and papyrus have begun to take over entire shorelines, endangering animals and plants.

Solution: c)

Cape Town’s main water supply, at the Theewaterskloof Dam, is running dry, and the city may soon have to turn off its taps.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/cape-town-running-out-of-water-drought-taps-shutoff-other-cities/

Solution: c)

The Karimata Strait which is also spelled Carimata or Caramata is the wide strait that connects the South China Sea to the Java Sea, separating the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo (Kalimantan). It is bordered by the Belitung island (off Sumatra’s eastern coast) in the west and Borneo in the east. It is the widest strait that connects the South China Sea and the Java Sea (other straits include the Bangka and Gaspar Straits), but its numerous islands and reefs reduce its navigability. Its weather and current is influenced by the annual southeast and northwest monsoon.

Solution: b)

Coral Sea is located to the east of Australia.

Solution: d)

Solution: a)

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia.[note 1] At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra. The island is politically divided among three countries: Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south.[1] Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory. In the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on a small island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state of Brunei, located on the north coast, comprises about 1% of Borneo’s land area. A little more than half of the island is in the Northern Hemisphere including Brunei and the Malaysian portion, while the Indonesian portion spans both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Solution: d)

The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is a species of orangutan native to the island of Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan and Tapanuli orangutan, it belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia. Like the other great apes, orangutans are highly intelligent, displaying tool use and distinct cultural patterns in the wild. Orangutans share approximately 97% of their DNA with humans.[2] The Bornean orangutan is a critically endangered species, with deforestation, palm oil plantations and hunting posing a serious threat to its continued existence.

Solution: b)

The Paracel Islands, also known as Xisha in Chinese and Hoàng Sa in Vietnamese, is a group of islands, reefs, banks and other maritime features in the South China Sea. It is controlled (and occupied) by the People’s Republic of China, and also claimed by Taiwan (Republic of China) and Vietnam. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral islands and reefs, most grouped into the northeast Amphitrite Group or the western Crescent Group.

They are distributed over a maritime area of around 15,000 square kilometres (5,800 sq mi), with a land area of approximately 7.75 square kilometres (2.99 sq mi). The archipelago is approximately equidistant from the coastlines of China (PRC) and Vietnam; and approximately about one-third of the way from central Vietnam to the northern Philippines.

Solution: d)

Solution: d)

(Line shown in the below picture is a random line drawn to show the ports. It’s not an actual shipping route)

Kuala Lumpur is not a port city (Hence, options a and c are incorrect)

Hong Kong comes after Macau, hence (b) is incorrect.

Solution: b)

The Gulf of Martaban or the Gulf of Mottama is an arm of the Andaman Sea in the southern part of Burma. The gulf is named after the port city of Mottama (formerly known as Martaban). The Salween Sittaung and Yangon rivers empty into it.[1] A characteristic feature of the Gulf of Martaban is that it has a tide-dominated coastline. Tides ranges between 4–7 m with the highest tidal range at the Elephant Point in the western Gulf of Martaban.

Solution: b)

Tonlé Sap, literally large river (tonle); fresh, not salty (sap), commonly translated to ‘great lake’) refers to a seasonally inundated freshwater lake, the Tonlé Sap Lake and an attached river, the 120 km (75 mi) long Tonlé Sap River, that connects the lake to the Mekong River.

The largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, that contains an exceptional large variety of interconnected eco-regions with a high degree of biodiversity is a biodiversity hotspot and was designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1997.

http://sanctum-inle-resort.com/5-most-captivating-fresh-water-lakes-in-southeast-asia/

Solution: d)

The countries with coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea are Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri and Dhekelia have coastlines on the sea.

Solution: d)

Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. Constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, it was officially opened on November 17, 1869. The canal offers watercraft a shorter journey between the North Atlantic and northern Indian Oceans via the Mediterranean and Red seas by avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans, in turn reducing the journey by approximately 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi). It extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez.

Solution: a)

The Great Bitter Lake is a saltwater lake in Egypt, connected to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. It is connected to the Small Bitter Lake through which the canal also runs. Before the canal was built (1869), the site was a dry salt valley or basin. References are made to the Great Bitter Lake in the ancient Pyramid Texts.[3] Ships traveling through the Suez Canal use the Great Bitter Lake as a “passing lane”, where they can change their position in line or turn around.

Solution: d)

In addition to the Mediterranean Basin, the climate is also found in most of California in the United States, in parts of Western and South Australia, in southwestern South Africa, sections of Westernand Central Asia, and in Central Chile.

Solution: d)

It is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar and Peninsular Spain in Europe from Morocco and Ceuta (Spain) in Africa.