What Do You Know About Earth's Natural Wonders? Quiz

Answer: Aurora Borealis

The Aurora Borealis is also known as the Northern Lights. The Aurora Australis are the lights that appear in the Southern Hemisphere. These auroras are sometimes called the Polar Auroras. They surround the northern and southern magnetic poles and light up the sky when elements in the Earth's atmosphere interact with charged electrons from the solar wind.

The colours of the lights vary between violet, purple, green, red, and blue.

Answer: 445.7 km (277 miles)

The width of the Grand Canyon at various places, ranges from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and is over one mile (1.83 km) deep. It is estimated that the Colorado River started forming the Grand Canyon over seventeen million years ago, and the erosion of the canyon walls continues even today.

It is estimated that approximately five million people visit the Grand Canyon each year.

Answer: Cinder cone volcano

On 20 February 1943, a fissure in a cornfield erupted and emitted ash and stones. Within a week the volcano "Paricutin" was as high as a five story building. Two nearby villages were buried under the lava and ash and the people had to establish new villages elsewhere.

The volcano grew to 335 meters (1,100 ft) after approximately twelve months and continued to erupt for approximately nine years. The last eruption of the volcano was in 1952 and by then it had grown to a height of 424 meters (1,391 ft). Paricutin is considered to be a monogenetic volcano and as such, will never erupt again.

Answer: Zambia and Zimbabwe

The Victoria Falls are on the Zambezi River on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. They are also known as "Mosi-oa-Tunya" (the Smoke that Thunders). Based on height and width, they are the largest waterfall in the world. They are approximately 368 feet (108 meters) high and one mile (1.7 km) wide. For that reason, the falls are considered to be the largest sheet of falling water in the world.

They were named by the famous Scottish missionary and explorer, Dr David Livingstone in honour of his monarch, Queen Victoria.

Answer: Chomolungma

Mt Everest - "Chomolungma (Holy Mother)" is in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas, and stands at 8,848 meters (29,029 ft) above sea level. Up until 1865 it was known as Peak XV when the Royal Geographical Society gave it its English name - Everest. The first successful ascent was made in 1953 by the ninth British expedition. The climbing pair of New Zealander Edmund Hillary, and the Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, arrived at the summit on May 29, 1953.

The three incorrect answers are all places in Tibet.

Answer: Off the coast of Queensland

The Great Barrier Reef, situated in the Coral Sea, is nearly parallel with the Australian state of Queensland. It is approximately 2,600 km (1,600 miles) long and lies between 15 and 150 km (9.3 and 93.2 miles) off shore. Its width is approximate 65 km. Within the Great Barrier Reef there are nearly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands.

It is the only living thing on Earth that can be seen from space.

Answer: Corcovado Peak

The famous statue of "Christ the Redeemer" sits atop the 2,300 ft high peak of Corcovado, meaning "Hunchback" in Portugese. The Harbour of Rio de Janeiro was named by Portugese explorers on New Year's Day, 1502 as "the River of the First of January".

They believed that the narrow opening to the harbour was the mouth of a large river. The harbour was made by the powerful Atlantic Ocean pounding the mountainous coastline over thousands of years, creating this large bay. The original inhabitants of the area, the Tamoio people named the bay "Guanabara" meaning "arm of the sea".

The modern city of Rio de Janeiro, with a population of over six million, sits on the shores of this beautiful bay which is surrounded by mountains with spectacular views of the bay and city, making it one of the Natural Wonders of the World.

Answer: Sandstone

Uluru is made of sandstone and is 346 meters (1,142ft) high, but most of its bulk is underground. The total circumference is 9.4 km (5.8 miles). One of the outstanding features of Uluru is its appearance to change colours, depending on the time of day and the season, and the way it glows red at sunset. Uluru is estimated to be six hundred million years old.

Ayers Rock was first sighted by Europeans in July 1873 and was named Ayers Rock after the Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. The local Aboriginal tribe, the Pitjantjatjara called it Uluru. In 1993 a policy was adopted allowing the official names to be Ayers Rock/Uluru. However in 2002 the order of the dual names was reversed to Uluru/Ayers Rock.

Answer: Pennine Alps

The Matterhorn, in the Pennine Alps, is located on the border between Switzerland and Italy, and is one of the highest peaks in the Alps, rising to its summit at 4,478 meters (14690 ft). It has four faces each directly facing one of the four compass points. The first successful climb was by Englishman Edward Whymper in 1865. Tragically, four of the seven climbers fell to their deaths on descending the Matterhorn. Five hundred climbers have lost their lives on The Matterhorn from 1865 to 1995. The most popular route to take to the summit is the northeast Hornli Ridge.

Matterhorn is from the German 'matte' (meadow) and "horn" (peak). In Italian its name is "Cervino" and in French "Cervin". Because of its isolation and great height, it is open to rapid changes in the weather. It is estimated that the Alpine range containing the Matterhorn commenced about 200 million years ago with the break-up of the Pangaea continent and they ended up in Gondwana. The distinctive shape of the Matterhorn was acquired over the past million years due to natural erosion.

Answer: Arizona

Meteor Crater is situated east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona. It was called Meteor Crater because the nearest Post Office was known as "Meteor". However, scientifically it is known as "Barringer Crater" named after Daniel Barringer. He was the first person to put forward the theory that the crater was caused by a meteor impact. The size of Meteor Crater is about 1,200 meters (4,000 ft) in diameter, approximately 170 meters (570 ft) deep, and is surrounded by a rim 45 meters (150 ft) above the ground. The bottom of Meteor Crater is filled with an estimated 230m (750 ft) of rubble lying on the crater bedrock.

It is estimated that Meteor Crater was created 50,000 years ago. The meteorite that landed at the site was about 40 meters (54 yards) across and consisted of nickel and iron. Impact would have been at a speed of several kilometers per second. It is also estimated that almost half of the meteorite was vaporized on its descent, and most of what remained was also vaporized on impact.