1. Mount Everest
   Denali
2. Kangchenjunga
   K2

Kangchenjunga is 28169 feet and is a Himalayan peak.

1. Atlantic
   Southern
2. Indian
   Pacific

The Pacific is the biggest of the three main oceans on Earth.

1. Loch Ness
   Lake Ponchartrain
2. Lake Baikal
   Lake Victoria

Lake Baikal is 5,387 feet deep and its bottom is 3,893 feet below sea level!

1. Exosphere
   Thermosphere
2. Troposphere
   Mesophere

The exosphere is really high up and you can't breathe there. You find a bit of hydrogen and other very light gases up there, but it's mostly just a super-thin atmosphere-like area.

1. 1000
   350
2. 410
   450

Carbon dioxide used to be 280ppm. It's now at 410ppm, rising about 2-3ppm a year. At 450ppm, irreversible runaway climate change starts to become quite possible.

1. June to November
   August to February
2. Just July
   July to December

June 1 through Nov. 30 is hurricane season. Due to increased water vapor in the atmosphere above warmer seas, hurricanes are getting worse.

1. 6
   5
2. 7.6
   8.2

The world has about 7.6 billion people on it right now, a doubling in 50 years.

1. 2100
   2030
2. 2175
   2055

Some estimates say peak population may go as late as 2100, but new projections show a peak of around 9 billion in mid-century. This is due to a combination of women getting educated (something that has always been followed by a drop in birthrates) and better contraceptive access and technology.

1. Cyclone
   Spiral
2. Dust devil
   Waterspout

A waterspout is a terrifying and beautiful thing, as it is basically a whirlpool, but above the sea instead of in it.

1. Ant-tastic
   Anthill
2. Ants and uncles
   Colony

Ants come in colonies, which are what the residents of an anthill or a nest are called. Colonies are very sophisticated structures with specialized roles for members.

1. Desert
   Tundra
2. Savanna
   Grassland

A savanna is a grassy plain. Some savannas are created by animals who knock over trees, like elephants, and thus get rid of forests.

1. Libya
   Oman
2. Yemen
   Egypt

Egypt gets very little water from the sky but a lot from the Nile. Other dry nations are not so lucky.

1. Holland
   USA
2. Russia
   Nobody

Nobody is sovereign over Antarctica, though many places tried to claim it at first.

1. 150 million
   250 million
2. 80 million
   500 million

Russia's population peaked just below 150m. It is now only 130 million and will drop to 100 million. This is the only nation in world history to record drops like this without major war, plague or famine.

1. An igneous magma intrusion since crystallized into rock
   The same as a plug in a volcano
2. An igneous plain formed by flowing lava
   A type of cliff

A batholith is a sort of cliff-like igneous rocky "intrusion" that can be underground or above.

1. Strength of a storm
   Strength of a volcano
2. Strength of an earthquake
   Strength of a tide

Each step on the Richter Scale is 100 times the previous one, meaning a 7 is 100 times the size of a 6. Anything over a 5 can be quite exciting. Anything over 5.5 gets scary though.

1. No difference
   The location
2. How wet they are
   Presence of microorganisms

Soil has bacteria and all kinds of life in it. Dirt is just crushed-up stuff.

1. When you burn a hydrocarbon
   When you put atmospheric carbon into storage
2. When you make products from sky-mining atmospheric carbon
   Farming in a way that boosts the soil

Carbon sequestration is a necessary part of combating climate change. Farming practices, direct air capture, closed loop burning of plants and other options are all part of the nascent technologies that will keep carbon levels to amounts that civilization can live with.

1. The area by a beach that the tide floods
   The area around a river that it may flood
2. An area that is often flooded by rain
   An area so flat that rivers can't decide which way to go across it

Floodplains are around rivers. Thanks to sediment and nutrients from the river, they are usually very fertile and lovely places to live. They just flood a lot, that's all.

1. A large channel of flowing water to the sea, a lake, or another channel of its own kind
   A small channel of flowing water to the sea, a lake, or another channel of its own kind
2. Any size channel of flowing water to the sea, a lake, or another channel of its own kind
   An area of water that is moving and fresh, but may or may not be in a channel

A river is a large channel. A stream is a small one. A river may flow to a lake, sea or other river.

1. 12-24
   1-2
2. 2-6
   More than 24.

Plates move a couple inches a year. If they moved 12-24 inches or more per year, it'd be basically impossible to build near a faultline.

1. Asia
   Africa
2. South America
   Europe

The equator and the Greenwich meridian both run through Africa, putting it in all four hemispheres.

1. 50%
   9%
2. 5%
   2%

Canada has an awful lot of rivers and lakes, so many that they cover 9% of its surface!

1. Myanmar
   Bhutan
2. Nepal
   Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan does not share a border with China. It's on the other side of Tajikistan.

1. 2,000 years
   5,000 years
2. 1,000 years
   500 years

Stonehenge is 5,000 years old, and when you look at it, you can tell!

1. All 25
   19
2. None
   15

19 of the top 25 peaks are in the Himalayas. The other 6 are scattered around the world.

1. A peak over 3,000 feet
   A river over 100 feet wide
2. A cave over 100 feet deep
   A field with three kinds of crops in it

Munros are mountains over 3,000 feet. Some are quite big, like Ben Nevis. Others are merely treacherous, though not very big. Serious climbers like to climb all 282 of them!

1. Fiji
   Kiribati
2. Nauru
   Tuvalu

Nauru is a single, quite round-looking island that is one of three massive phosphate rock islands. It has no capital city.

1. Jericho
   Athens
2. Aleppo
   Jerusalem

Jericho has been inhabited for 11,000 years, putting a close second to Damascus.

1. South Atlantic
   North Atlantic
2. West Pacific
   Red Sea

Null Island is where photos are geotagged if they have no tag. That means that technically, more photos are taken of Null Island than anyplace on Earth - except that it is just a spot in the South Atlantic.

1. Meteor
   Volcano
2. Earthquake
   Plague

The Tunguska blast was when a meteor hit northern Russian some 100 years ago. It made a fireball 300 feet wide and flattened 80 million trees!

1. Ice
   Selenite
2. Bauxite
   Malachite

The crystals are tens of feet long and are made of selenite. They are in the Naica mine in Mexico. They were flooded until the mine was pumped out and the air is corroding them, so they are being documented. You can visit them but due to 100% humidity and 90F temperatures, you must wear a special suit.

1. 24,900 miles
   30,500 miles
2. 25,000 miles exactly
   1,000 miles

The equator is about 24,900 miles around. Earth is not a perfect sphere, so this number is not easily replicated by measuring vertically or at other locations.

1. Red Sea
   Bering Strait
2. Hudson Bay
   Mediterranean

These two islands are separated by a few miles in the Bering Strait, where the US and Russia's territorial waters meet.

1. Madison
   Franklin
2. Jackson
   Monroe

Franklin is the third most popular place name in the US. Founders' names are always good for a town!