Canals, Straits, and More Quiz

Question: Which European city’s main waterway is called the Grand Canal?

Answer: The Grand Canal is the main waterway of Venice, Italy. Slightly more than 2 miles (3 km) long and between 100 and 225 feet (30 and 70 metres) wide, it connects at various points with a maze of smaller canals.

Question: What is the stretch of water that joins the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea?

Answer: The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

Question: What is the name of the vast area of saltwater swamps that form the lower Ganges delta of India?

Answer: The Sundarbans is a vast tract of forests and saltwater swamps that form the lower part of the Ganges delta, extending about 160 miles (260 km) along the Bay of Bengal from the Hugli River estuary in India to the Meghna River estuary in Bangladesh.

Question: The Straits of Mackinac, located off the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, connect Lake Michigan with which other lake?

Answer: A channel connecting Lake Michigan (west) and Lake Huron (east), the Straits of Mackinac form an important waterway between the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan.

Question: Which canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans?

Answer: The Panama Canal is a canal of the lake-and-lock type connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the narrow Isthmus of Panama in Central America. Its length from deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific is about 51 miles (82 km).

Question: Also known as an arroyo, which of the following is a type of dry desert channel?

Answer: An arroyo, also called a wadi, is a dry channel lying in a semiarid or desert area and subject to flash flooding during seasonal or irregular rainstorms.

Question: Which two bodies of water does the Suez Canal connect?

Answer: The Suez Canal, a sea-level waterway running north to south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It allows ships to sail directly between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, rather than around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope.

Question: Which strait separates the continents of Asia and North America at their closest point?

Answer: The Bering Strait separates the continents of Asia and North America at their closest point. It links the Arctic Ocean with the Bering Sea.

Question: Low-salinity waters enter the Arctic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean through which strait?

Answer: Low-salinity waters enter the Arctic Ocean from the Pacific through the shallow Bering Strait.

Question: What are separated by the channels known as The Minch and Little Minch?

Answer: Also called North Minch, The Minch is an Atlantic sea channel between the Outer Hebrides island group to the west and the mainland of Scotland to the east. The channel varies in width between 25 and 45 miles (40 and 70 km) and has both great depth and a rapid current. The Little Minch, its southerly extension, lies between the island groups of the Outer and Inner Hebrides.

Question: The two main islands of New Zealand are separated by which strait?

Answer: Cook Strait separates the North and South islands of New Zealand.

Question: What lies between the Pillars of Hercules?

Answer: The Strait of Gibraltar is a channel connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, lying between southernmost Spain and northwesternmost Africa. The strait’s western extreme is 27 miles (43 km) wide between the capes of Trafalgar (north) and Spartel (south), and the eastern extreme is 14 miles (23 km) wide between the Pillars of Hercules—which have been identified as the Rock of Gibraltar (north) and Mount Hacho, just east of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco (south).

Question: What links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman?

Answer: The Strait of Hormuz is 35 to 60 miles (55 to 95 km) wide and separates Iran (north) from the Arabian Peninsula (south). It links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman.

Question: Which stretch of water separates Australia and Tasmania?

Answer: Bass Strait is a channel that separates Victoria, Australia, from the island of Tasmania to the south.

Question: What is the name of the reservoir formed by the Aswan High Dam?

Answer: Lake Nasser is a reservoir on the Nile River in Upper Egypt and northern Sudan. It was created by the impounding of the Nile’s waters by the Aswan High Dam.

Question: Ireland’s Bantry Bay is a long inlet of which body of water?

Answer: Bantry Bay is an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean along the southwestern coast of County Cork, Ireland.

Question: What canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans opened for traffic in 1914?

Answer: The Panama Canal opened for traffic in 1914. It connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Question: Which body of water lies between Great Britain and France?

Answer: The English Channel is a narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating the southern coast of England from the northern coast of France.