Sharing a Hot Spot Trivia Quiz

Answer: Furnace Creek

A gross type of hot, Furnace Creek is found on the eastern edge of California in Death Valley National Park, an extension of the Mojave as it extends west from Las Vegas. Furnace Creek, though it acts as the visitors' center and an apparent oasis for the National Park, is home to very few people, notably because the average temperature there, especially during the summer, is one of the most reliably tested spots on the planet for average high temperatures.

The record there was a 'brisk' 57 degrees Celsius. Maybe don't pack a sweater.

Answer: Naica

Naica, found in the Mexican State of Chihuahua, is one of the world's leading silver-producing mines but scientists and extreme tourists visit it for one other reason: the Cave of Crystals. This cave is home to some of the most picturesque and otherworldly selenite crystals in the world, but to get to them you need to sink three hundred metres below the desert's surface and brave intense heat and humidity. Visitors can't stay longer than ten minutes (if that) due to the overpowering heat which, often, reaches as high as 58 degrees Celsius with nearly 100% humidity.

Answer: Beppu

The town of Beppu is home to Chinoike Jigoku, one of a series of nine hot springs on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Chinoike Jigoku is blood red in colour due in part to its mineral-rich mud, but the reason it comes up in this quiz is because the hot springs here, fuelled by volcanic activity, are often boiling.

They reach a temperature of 78 degrees Celsius, so one may opt for something a bit more relaxing than...well, death. Oh yeah, and the translation of that name: Bloody Hell Pond.

Answer: Darvaza

Found in Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert, Darvaza is home to a 230-foot-wide pit formed in the early 1970s. Because the area is rich in oil and natural gas, the inevitable seemed to happen. Poor drilling procedures from a Soviet rig punched this hole into the Earth and set ablaze, leading to a national hotspot that's been on fire ever since. The Karakum Desert is as hot as you'd think too; it covers the majority of the nation and stretches east to the Hindu Kush Mountains.

Answer: Dallol

One of the lowest and hottest inhabited spots on Earth, the Danakil Depression in the Afar Region of Ethiopia almost seems like it should be on another planet. The region is dotted with hot springs and mineral deposits. Next to the border with Eritrea, it has a fairly consistent temperature that hovers around 40 degrees Celsius year-round, and being as close as it is to the Red Sea (the hottest body of water in the world), but geographically positioned where it is, it's an epicentre for extremity.

Answer: Tian Shan

The Gaochang Mountains, or the Flaming Mountains, are part of the larger Tian Shan Mountain range that line the Stans all the way up to Mongolia along the Chinese border. In the summer, these red sandstone cliffs become one of China's (and the world's) hottest spots, reaching almost unreasonable recorded temperatures.

In 2008, NASA checked soil temperature using recording devices from space; they got a reading of 149 degrees Celsius.

Answer: Holuhraun

Although one would expect the volcanoes of Hawaii to be some of the hottest, they'd only be half-right. The volcano Kilauea on the Big Island would be considered the most powerful volcano in terms of heat output over time, but Iceland's Holuhraun, north of the Vatnajökull Glacier, held the record for the most heat output in a single event when it erupted in 2014. Iceland, of course, is a land of ice and fire; its geothermal activity is famous.

It should come as no surprised that Holuhraun created one of the largest lava floes in the country's history.

Answer: Yanar Dağ

Azerbaijan is known as the Land of Fire with good reason. Situated on the Caspian Sea, it's an oil-rich nation with natural resources in spades. And that's why the hillside of Yanar Dağ is pretty well-known. Sitting near the Absheron Peninsula, this hillside has been on fire since the 1950s, jetting out from the sandstone.

The region is, naturally, a site of pilgrimage, along with the Ateshgah of Baku (The Fire Temple), for Zoroastrian believers.

Answer: Yasur

Found near Sulphur Bay on Tanna Island in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, Mount Yasur is a site of great cultural importance to the people who reside on this isolated island nation. Seen from afar by explorers, it's known that the volcano has been erupting constantly for centuries, though the severity, brought on by the convergence of nearby tectonic plates, has been variable. Visitors can get fairly close on any given day and marvel at the occasionally Strombolian lava plumes.

Answer: Dasht-e Lut

The Lut Desert of Iran is named after the Prophet Lot of the Old Testament, whose wife turned back and became a pillar of salt. It's hot there, unsurprisingly, with consistently hot surface temperatures-- the soil there reaches a near-consistent 70 degrees Celsius.

The region is so dry that plants typically don't grow there. This is due in part to a severe lack of surrounding mountains; there's no rainwater or rainy season. The nearby Dasht-e Kavir actually has the nickname 'The Great Salt Desert'.

It's pretty dry as far as places go.