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Geological Extremes Quiz

For each category, name the geological extreme.
Highest mountain = highest above sea level
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: November 4, 2018
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First submittedAugust 8, 2011
Times taken36,435
Average score68.0%
Rating4.28
4:00
Enter geological feature here:
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 / 25 guessed
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Category
Feature
Highest mountain
Mt. Everest
Highest mountain (Africa)
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Highest mountain (North America)
Mt. McKinley/Denali
Tallest mountain (base to peak)
Mauna Kea
Highest waterfall
Angel Falls
Biggest waterfall
Niagara Falls
Biggest canyon
Grand Canyon
Biggest lake (surface area)
Caspian Sea
Biggest lake
(surface area, freshwater)
Lake Superior
Biggest lake (volume, freshwater)
Lake Baikal
Biggest desert (non-arctic)
Sahara
Driest desert
Atacama
Lowest place (North America)
Death Valley
Category
Feature
Longest river (disputed)
Amazon
Nile
Longest river (North America)
Mississippi
Longest river (Europe)
Volga
Longest river (Asia)
Yangtze
Highest lake (navigable)
Lake Titicaca
Lowest lake
Dead Sea
Biggest island
(not including continents)
Greenland
Biggest island (Caribbean)
Cuba
Biggest island (Mediterranean)
Sicily
Biggest island (Africa)
Madagascar
Deepest ocean trench
Mariana Trench
+2
Level 46
Mar 27, 2014
What exactly makes Niagara "biggest"? Height - nope, flow rate - nope. So?
+5
Level 72
Mar 27, 2014
Probably the overall volume of water passing through it.
+1
Level 42
Mar 27, 2014
or the width of it
+5
Level 68
Mar 27, 2014
When you combine the three waterfalls that are collectively known as Niagara Falls, they do have the highest flow rate in the world.
+2
Level 66
Mar 27, 2014
Biggest waterfall by flow rate is Lake Victoria
+37
Level 38
Nov 18, 2014
A lake that is the biggest waterfall? That is impressive.
+3
Level 66
Jan 19, 2020
Nope, the Iguazu falls are even bigger.
+2
Level 65
Mar 27, 2014
Victoria Falls would be the largest in terms of volume
+5
Level 67
Mar 31, 2014
Let us put this to rest... AVERAGE flow rate for Victoria Falls-1088 cu. meters/second, Iguazu Falls-1756 cu. meters/second, Niagara Falls-2404 cu. meters/second. All three are magnificent to behold, but based on average flow rate I think the quizmaster is correct to label Niagara as the biggest.
+2
Level 33
May 13, 2014
It's too bad Sete Quedas got submerged... it was at least 5 times the flow rate of Niagara.
+1
Level 77
Dec 29, 2019
But average flow rate is not the measure of the "biggest" waterfall. Otherwise a very large river falling just a metre could claim that. "Biggest" should be average flow rate x height. Then, as Victoria Falls is three times the height of Niagara, it would win easily. It is also "the most magnificent to behold", IMO.
+3
Level 18
Mar 27, 2014
The driest desert in the world is the Antartic, seeing as you only specified the biggest as non-arctic.
+1
Level 8
Mar 31, 2014
No it isn't. Ice is not dry unless it is dry ice. (pun not intended)
+5
Level 12
Jul 26, 2014
A region is classed as a desert because of its precipitation levels not whether it's covered in sand or ice. The Dry Valleys in Antarctica receives no rain making it the driest place in the world
+9
Level 90
Mar 27, 2014
The quiz title should really be "Geographical Extremes." Geology is, to put it bluntly, the study of rocks. Items like longest river and biggest desert are geographical extremes - they don't have anything directly to do with underlying rock formations.
+2
Level 54
Mar 27, 2014
Yep
+2
Level 81
Aug 8, 2018
Don't rivers, mountains, waterfalls, low points, lakes have everything to do with the underlying rock formations? Maybe Deserts don't.
+1
Level 86
Dec 27, 2022
I came to say this too (years later). While many are tied to geology, these are geographical extremes, not geological.
+1
Level 21
Mar 27, 2014
Missouri is actually the longest North American river
+2
Level ∞
Mar 27, 2014
Somewhat true, which is why I allow Missouri. Strictly speaking, though, the Missouri and Mississippi are part of the same river system.
+1
Level 75
Apr 14, 2017
This states it plainly, not "somewhat-ly." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_River. The clue was not which is the longest NA river system, but the longest river. The Missouri is 2341 miles, the Mississippi is 2202. The correct answer should appear as Missouri. (One more thing we were taught incorrectly when I went to school.)
+2
Level ∞
Apr 14, 2017
I don't think it's quite as black and white as that. The length of most rivers is calculated to the distance of their furthest source. I don't see why a special exception should be made for the Mississippi.
+1
Level 88
Oct 22, 2019
This states it plainly: an article on a website that literally anyone with an internet connection can edit and has 1,000s of edits, restored edits, reselected items, flame wars and all around contradictory information. Nice choice.

For example, the article on the Mississippi River gives its length as 2,320 miles.

The article on longest U.S. rivers lists it as 2,202 miles.

If you cite Wikipedia as accurate, which edit? One of the 1,000 previous versions of the article or maybe one of the as yet to be edited 1,000 more? Which one is the holy true version?

+3
Level 52
Mar 27, 2014
Nice quiz but way too much stuff from North America.
+2
Level 57
Mar 27, 2014
Can't tell if joking........
+2
Level 82
Oct 30, 2017
Europeans are very upset that there are continents other than their own.
+2
Level 88
Oct 22, 2019
Now that they've been driven back to their own and can't play landlord anymore.
+2
Level 36
Mar 28, 2014
by average flow rate or volume Niagara Falls is the largest, but by largest extreme Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian/ Argentine border is the biggest, by far which reaches twice Niagara's greatest flow.
+1
Level 49
Feb 20, 2016
Niagara Falls' flow is approximately 85,000 cubic feet per second whilst Iguazu Falls is only at 62,000.
+1
Level 88
Oct 22, 2019
Extreme as in extremely over

your head.

+1
Level 67
Jan 19, 2020
As Eleanor Rossevelt put it "poor Niagara"

No matter what criteria you choose it doesn't have the greatest flow. Yes it is more than Iguazu but that still only makes it 7th

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_waterfalls_by_flow_rate

+1
Level 58
Apr 29, 2014
Isn't the Mid Atlantic Trench a bigger canyon than the Grand Canyon?
+1
Level 49
Feb 20, 2016
You said it yourself. It's a trench. The quiz asked for a canyon. Canyons are the result of erosion, but trenches are caused by subducting plates.
+2
Level 75
Oct 30, 2017
The mid atlantic ridge is a ridge, not a trench. There is a central graben, but by no means is it considered a trench. The subduction zone trenches, such as the Mariana Trench, are generally around the margins of the Pacific ocean basin. There are only a couple of small trenches in the Atlantic.
+2
Level 67
Jul 20, 2014
You lot can argue all you want - I got 25/25 with 2:13 remaining.
+1
Level 49
Feb 20, 2016
Aw, man. I got 2:10.
+2
Level 75
Aug 19, 2014
Missed Mariana Trench because I spelled it wrong - Marianna. Oh, well.
+2
Level 55
Sep 30, 2014
mauna Kea is a bit deceiving -- highest base to peak including under the ocean doesn't seem to be what most would talk about with highest base to peak -- and as you can see by the results most aren't getting it. Of course Denali is already there and otherwise is the answer if you don't count submerged mountain . . .
+1
Level 42
Sep 30, 2014
Nice quiz
+1
Level 27
Oct 9, 2014
I'm pretty surprised a lot of people didn't get Mauna Kea. Also didn't get the Dead Sea, I kept putting Lake Assal. lol
+1
Level 73
Oct 27, 2015
That's a pretty hard one to answer, I don't know about you in the USA, but here in France, I heard about it only once, in a volcanology exposition in my youth, and while it saved my perfect on this quiz, I think it's not so common knowledge
+1
Level 29
Oct 29, 2015
Fun quiz! Someone should make a geography semantics quiz to make all the commenters' heads explode!!
+1
Level 68
Nov 22, 2015
I typed Badwater Basin for lowest point in North America...*facepalm
+1
Level 70
Feb 6, 2018
That's correct
+1
Level 74
May 31, 2016
Lake Vostok under the ice on Antarctica is the deepest lake at 500 meters below sea level. Good quiz all the same.
+1
Level 82
Jun 19, 2016
By any standard I can think of, the Yarlung Tsangpo Canyon is larger than the Grand Canyon (although the former is sometimes also given the epithet 'Grand', so if you are already referring to it, apologies). More debatable candidates for largest also appear to exist beneath the ice in Greenland and Antarctica. Also the Atacama question should probably also receive the qualifier 'non-arctic' as the Sahara one does, as the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are drier. Aside from that, good quiz - was glad to see the disputed status of the Nile as world's longest river reflected here, as it very seldom is.
+1
Level 62
Oct 9, 2016
biggest canyon is the Tsangpo canyon in China
+1
Level 71
Dec 11, 2016
Good quiz, if you liked this try 'Mal's Capital Rivers'...... for a challenge.
+1
Level 41
Dec 11, 2016
spelt Mauna Kea wrong 1 short aaahhh so close
+3
Level 68
Dec 11, 2016
Marinara Trench didn't work. Must be lunchtime somewhere.
+2
Level 66
Sep 10, 2019
Neither did marijuana ah well..
+1
Level 79
Feb 22, 2017
copper canyon in mexico I think is larger than the grand:-)
+1
Level 67
Oct 19, 2018
This quiz is just an excuse to say Titicaca lol
+1
Level 53
Dec 16, 2020
Didn't expect so few people to know Mauna Kea...
+2
Level 68
Mar 17, 2022
Not really a big thing outside of the US I guess.. (maybe not even inside)
+1
Level 48
May 16, 2023
No matter what criteria (height, width, flow rate) you consider, the Niagara Falls are NOT the biggest waterfall in the world.

Considering the Grand Canyon as the "biggest" canyon in the world is also VERY debatable.