So That's Where It Is! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the earth's oceans, and is mostly covered in ice for much of the year. Of course, there are those who consider that all the traditional oceans are part of one large ocean, usually referred to as the Global Ocean, and that this is just one of the many seas into which it can be divided. Sea is a term used to describe a specific smaller part of an ocean.

The Arctic Ocean has land boundaries with Canada, the United States of America, Russia, Norway, Iceland and Greenland, although some authorities place the last two within the Arctic Ocean rather than on its boundary.

Answer: Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is still growing in size, due to spreading of about 2.5 cm (1 in) a year along the mid-Atlantic ridge. This is a mountainous region of divergent tectonic plates - in the northern hemisphere the Eurasian and North American plates are moving apart; in the southern hemisphere the African and South American plates are the culprits.

The island of Iceland is part of this ridge. The new magma that forms the increased crustal material actually surfaces along a trench in the middle of the ridge.

Answer: Caribbean Sea

While all of these groups were to be found in the Caribbean or on nearby mainland areas, it was the Caribs whose name was used to identify this sea in English. The Caribbean Sea is also called the Sea of the Antilles in some languages, the Greater and Lesser Antilles being the island groups which define the northern and eastern edges of the Caribbean. Because of its location, many of the hurricanes that develop in the Atlantic Ocean pass through the Caribbean on their way to a continental landfall.

Answer: Equatorial Ocean

The Southern Ocean connects the southern parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is arbitrarily defined as the oceanic region south of the 60 degree latitude. Although it has a large perimeter, most of the region is the continent of Antarctica, so it is the second-smallest of the world's oceans.

This is the only ocean whose boundaries are not basically formed by land masses, and some geographers dispute the validity of calling it a separate ocean at all - it could be divided into three regions corresponding to the oceans immediately to its north at each point.

However, others argue that the ocean waters in this region behave sufficiently differently from the rest of the oceans, primarily due to their extreme cold and the strong circumpolar currents that make them more uniform than would be indicated by treating them separately, that the region should be considered independently and in its own right.

Answer: Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world's oceans, lying between Asia and Australia on its west, and North and South America on its east. Its name was suggested by Ferdinand Magellan, who found its waters much calmer than those of the South Atlantic, especially the Straits of Magellan (modestly named after himself) which he had battled through to become the first European to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The Pacific Ring of Fire, which extends along the western coast of South America and North America, across the top of the Pacific through the Aleutian Islands, and down through the ocean off the east coast of Asia, turning east to pass north of Australia, then south again to include New Zealand.

This horseshoe-shaped region is the point of origin for about 90% of the world's earthquakes, because the Pacific Ocean is defined by a large number of tectonic plates that are undergoing subduction at its edges.

This means they are sliding under the continental plates they meet, with consequent stress and predictable results.

Answer: United States or Russia

The Bering Sea is part of the north Pacific Ocean. Its southern boundary is determined by the Alaska Peninsula and its extension along an arc that passes through the Aleutian Islands. It is therefore bounded on the east by Alaska, part of the United States, and on the west by Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula, both parts of Russia. Zhemchug Canyon, the world's largest known submarine canyon, can be found in the Bering Sea.

Answer: East China Sea

The East China Sea, which has also been known as the Sea of Korea, extends from the Yellow Sea in the north to the Taiwan Strait, which connects it to the South China Sea. It is bordered on the east by Japan, on the north by South Korea, on the west by the People's Republic of China (China), and on the south by the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The discovery of the Chunxiao gas field, part of which lies in China's territory and part of which lies in a region disputed between China and Japan, has led to the area hitting the headlines since the Chinese started producing oil and gas in 2006.

Answer: Dutch

Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603-1659) visited Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, then headed east along the southern edge of Australia, where he ran into the island that he called Van Diemen's Land, in honor of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. It was later renamed Tasmania, and is now the smallest state of Australia. Continuing east across the Tasman Sea because the prevailing winds made it difficult to head north as planned, he ran into the south island of New Zealand. (There does seem to be a lot of luck in these discoveries!)

Answer: Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean also contains Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius and the Maldives, some of the island nations whose names are most commonly seen in discussions of global warming - they are all very low, and in serious danger of disappearing with only a small rise in sea level.

The Indonesian archipelago, on the east, is sometimes included in the Indian Ocean, and sometimes considered to be the border. News stories surrounding the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami made many people more familiar than they had been with the names of the countries that border the Indian Ocean.

The originating earthquake occurred near the east of the ocean, off the coast of Sumatra; Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India all suffered extensive damage and loss of life from the tsunami.

Answer: Red Sea

The Red Sea is an arm of the Indian Ocean which extends between the Mandab Strait (which connects it to the Gulf of Aden and thence to the main ocean) in the south to the Sinai Peninsula in the north. At the Sinai Peninsula, it splits to form the Gulf of Aqaba (the eastern fork) and the Gulf of Suez (the western fork, which leads to the Suez Canal). Its western land borders are with the African countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt; its eastern borders are with Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

It is thought possible that the name Red Sea was used by the Romans to denote South Sea, as opposed to the Black Sea, or North Sea, at the eastern end of 'Mare Nostrum' (Our Sea, their name for the Mediterranean).