Scholastic Bowl Common NAQT Geography Questions

Antarctica Desert

This desert is made of solid Water
Considered desert because of lack of precipitation
First reached by Roald Amundsen

Sahara Desert

Second Largest Desert
Rocky regions, sand seas, salt flats, and dried rivers

Atacama Desert

Shadowed by Andes Mountains, making it the driest desert

Okanagan Desert

Part of the region is known as Nk'mip, a shrub-rich area
Entirely within British Columbia
Semi-arid

Kalahari Desert

Semi-arid desert in southern Africa
Known for having red sand
Many animals roam around
Many mineral deposits

Mojave Desert

It lies between the Great Basin and the Sonoran Desert
Bounded by San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges
Home to many Joshua trees

Gobi Desert

Northern border is Altai Mountains
Many dinosaur fossils and Human artifacts are found here
Silk road trading route
Name means "desert"

Rub' al-Khali

Translates to "empty quarter"
Often known as the most inhospitable place on earth
Holds the world's largest oil field
Once part of the frankincense trade

Namib Desert

Thought as the oldest desert in the world

Painted Desert

Shared by Petrified Forest and Grand Canyon
Colorful, banded rocks

Negev Desert

Covers southern half of Israel
4,700 square miles

Taklamakan Desert

Cold and sandy
Splits silk road into branches
Kunlun, Pamir, and Tian Shan mountain ranges are boundaries

Great Sandy Desert

Ninth largest desert in the world
Part of Western Desert
Western Australia

Luna

Fifth largest moon in the solar system
Largest relative to the size of the planet it orbits

Phobos

Larger of Mars moons
Named after Greek god of fear

Deimos

Smaller of Mars moons
Named after Greek god of dread

Io

Fourth largest moon in Solar System
Very volcanic
Pioneer 10 passed it in December 1973
Orbits Jupiter (and shapes it's magnetosphere)

Ganymede

Largest moon in Solar System
Only moon to have it's own magnetosphere
Six flybys from Galileo between 1996 and 2000
Named for one of Jupiter's lovers in Roman mythology
Many features (like Enki Catena) are given names from Egyptian and Babylonian mythology

Titan

Second largest moon in Solar System
Saturn's largest moon
Only moon with a dense atmosphere
Possible microbial life (surface water is present)

Iapetus

Saturn's third largest moon
Discovered in 1671
Poles spend over 42 years in nonstop sunlight
Followed by 42 years of darkness

Titania and Oberon

Uranus's largest moons
Named after Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream characters

Ganges River

Holy river in Hindu culture
Rises in Himalayas
1/12 of Earth's population lives on this river valley, polluting it

Colorado River

Most significant river in southwestern USA

Yellow River

3,400 miles-China's second longest river
Also known as Huang He or Huang Ho
It rises in Qinghai province and flows into the Bohai Gulf of the Yellow Sea.
Very polluted-residents near it throw up because of the smell

Mekong River

Chief river of Southeastern Asia
Forms much of Laotian-Thailand border
Flows into China sea
The building of dams and clearing of rapids are a source of diplomatic conflict between China, Laos, and Cambodia.

Zambezi River

Weaves across southern Africa
Goes through Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique
Flows into Indian Ocean's Mozambique Channel
Victoria Falls