Earth’s Seas

Question: Which inland sea is at Earth’s lowest surface elevation, about 1,410 feet (430 meters) below sea level?

Answer: For several decades in the mid-20th century, the standard value given for the surface level of the Dead Sea was some 1,300 feet (400 meters) below sea level. Beginning in the 1960s, however, Israel and Jordan began diverting much of the inflow from the Jordan River and increased the use of Dead Sea water itself for commercial purposes.

Question: Which of these is the world’s largest inland lake?

Answer: The Caspian Sea, located in Central Asia, covers an area of about 149,200 square miles (386,400 square km)—larger than the area of Japan—and its surface lies some 90 feet (27 meters) below sea level.

Question: In 1950 this sea was the world’s fourth largest inland water body, but by the early 21st century it had shrunk to a tiny fraction of its size because of water diversion.

Answer: The Aral Sea was filled by riverine waters of the Syr Darya (ancient Jaxartes River) in the north and the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) in the south. However, irrigation projects diverted most of the flow of those two rivers in order to water crops.

Question: British explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew of the Endurance were trapped in the ice of this sea about 1915.

Answer: Shackleton mounted an expedition to cross Antarctica, but his ship and crew became stuck in the ice, which drifted clockwise within the Weddell Sea. After the ship was crushed by the ice, Shackleton and some members of his crew completed a daring mission to South Georgia island aboard an open whaleboat.

Question: The Tasman Sea separates which countries from one another?

Answer: The Tasman Sea is roughly 900,000 square miles (2,300,000 square km) in area, and its 1,400-mile (2,250-km) width separates Australia from New Zealand.

Question: What is the alternative name for the Sea of Cortez?

Answer: The Sea of Cortez is named for Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, who dispatched more than one expedition to the area in the 1500s.

Question: Which of these seas is the largest?

Answer: The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, occupies an area of approximately 970,000 square miles (2,510,000 square km). The other seas in this list cover an area no more than two-thirds the size of the Mediterranean Sea.

Question: Which tiny sea, enclosed by the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, links the Black Sea with the Mediterranean?

Answer: The Sea of Marmara is surrounded by Turkey. It is 175 miles (280 km) long from northeast to southwest and nearly 50 miles (80 km) wide at its greatest width. The Bosporus is its connection to the Black Sea to the north, and the Dardanelles is the Sea of Marmara’s connection to the Aegean, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, to the south.

Question: Which sea completely surrounds the island of Jamaica?

Answer: The Caribbean Sea is a western arm of the North Atlantic Ocean and is bounded by several countries located in the Americas, including Cuba, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and the countries of the Lesser Antilles. Jamaica is located within the “ring” created by landmasses.

Question: Which northern sea is ringed by Siberia, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, and Severnaya Zemlya?

Answer: The Kara Sea is located between the Barents Sea and the Laptev Sea along Russia’s northern coast. The largest rivers flowing into the sea are the Yenisey, Ob, Pyasina, and Kara, from which the sea derives its name.