1. A.
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and
the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the
open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points.
On the north coast lies Iran and on the south coast the United Arab Emirates
and "Musandam", an exclave of Oman. The strait is about 167 km long,
with a width varying from about 96 km to 39 km.
A third
of the world's liquefied natural gas and almost 25% of total global oil
consumption passes through the strait, making it a highly important strategic
location for international trade.
1. C. White Sea
(Location of White Sea, Red Sea, Black Sea and Yellow Sea -
coloured as per their name)
The White
Sea is one of four seas named in English after common color terms — the others
being the Black Sea, the Red Sea and the Yellow Sea. All the above four seas are
located in the Northern Hemisphere and the White Sea is located at the highest
latitude (i.e. farthest from the Equator) as an almost landlocked extension of
the Arctic Ocean indenting the shores of northwestern Russia connected to the more
northerly Barents Sea by a long, narrow strait at 65 Degree North latitude in comparison
to the Black Sea (44 Degree North), the Red Sea (22 Degree North) and the
Yellow Sea (35 Degree North).
3. C. Sunda Strait
"Krakatoa"
(Krakatau) is a small volcanic island located in the Sunda Strait which connects
the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean, between the islands of Java and Sumatra. At
the time of its famous eruption in 1883, the region was part of the Dutch East
Indies; it’s now part of Indonesia.
A previous major eruption, likely
in the fifth or sixth century A.D., is thought to have created Krakatoa and two
nearby islands, "Lang" and "Verlatan", as well as the undersea
caldera (volcanic crater) between them. By 1883, Krakatoa was made up of three
peaks: "Perboewatan", the northernmost and most active; "Danan"
in the middle; and the largest, "Rakata", which formed the southern
end of the island.
Krakatoa
was last thought to have erupted some two centuries earlier, in 1680, and most
people believed it was extinct. But in May 1883, people reported feeling
tremors and hearing explosions, first in western Java and then on the other
side of the Sunda Strait in Sumatra.
(An 1888
lithograph of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa)
Around 1 p.m. on August 26, 1883
a volcanic blast sent a cloud of gas and debris some 15 miles into the air. It
would be the first in a series of increasingly powerful explosions over the
next 21 hours, culminating in a gigantic blast around 10 am on August 27 that
propelled ash some 50 miles into the air and could be heard as far away as
Perth, Australia (a distance of some 4500 kms). About 9 square miles of the
island, including both "Perboewatan" and "Danan" peaks of
the island, plunged underwater into the caldera ("a large cauldron-like
hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber/reservoir in a
volcanic eruption") to a depth of some 820 feet below sea level. Krakatoa’s
violent eruption killed more than 36,000 people.
(The approximate extent to which the Krakatoa eruption blasts
were heard)
In 1927, a fourth island, Anak
Krakatau, or "Child of Krakatoa", emerged from the caldera formed in
1883. There has been new eruptive activity in the island since the late 20th
century, with a large collapse causing a deadly tsunami in December 2018. Like
all volcanic eruptions, Krakatoa’s can be traced to the movement of the
tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s crust. Krakatoa is directly above the
subduction zone of the Eurasian Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate where the
plate boundaries make a sharp change of direction, possibly resulting in an
unusually weak crust in the region.
(The Subduction Zone of the Eurasian Plate and the
Indo-Australian Plate near Krakatoa, Indonesia)
Indonesia today has over 130
active volcanoes, the most of any nation.
4. C.
Sargasso Sea
The
Sargasso Sea is a region of the
Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Unlike all other
regions called seas, it has no land boundaries.
It is
distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic
brown Sargassum seaweed and often calm blue water. While there are many
different types of algae found floating in the ocean all around world, the
Sargasso Sea is unique in that it harbors species of sargassum that are
'holopelagi' - this means that the algae not only freely floats around the
ocean, but it reproduces vegetatively on the high seas. Other seaweeds
reproduce and begin life on the floor of the ocean. Sargassum provides a home
to an amazing variety of marine species. Turtles use sargassum mats as
nurseries where hatchlings have food and shelter. Sargassum also provides
essential habitat for shrimp, crab, fish and other marine species that have
adapted specifically to this floating algae.
The sea
is bounded on the west by the Gulf Stream, on the north by the North Atlantic
Current, on the east by the Canary Current, and on the south by the North
Atlantic Equatorial Current, a clockwise-circulating system of ocean currents
termed the "North Atlantic Gyre". It lies between 70° and 40° W
longitude and 20° to 35° N latitude and is approximately 1,100 km wide and
3,200 km long. Bermuda is near the western fringes of the sea.
5. B.
North Sea
North
Sea, the northeastern arm of the Atlantic Ocean, is located between the British
Isles (England and Scotland) and the mainland of northwestern Europe and
covering an area of 220,000 square miles. An inland sea on the European
continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English
Channel in the south and to the Arctic Ocean through the Norwegian Sea in the
north.
("Dogger
Bank", one of the major fishing zones in the world is located in a shallow area of the North
Sea at about 100 kilometres off the east coast of England)
The North
Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a
major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in
bordering countries, and more recently the sea has developed into a rich source
of energy resources, including fossil fuels, wind, and early efforts in wave
power.
(A map
from Ptolemy's Geography showing the "Oceanus Germanicus" -
"German Ocean")
Historically,
the North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs,
particularly in Northern Europe. It was also important globally through the
power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and
into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings' rise. As
Germany's only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically
important through both World Wars.
(Edmond
Halley's solar eclipse 1715 map showing "The German Sea")
Until the
late 19th century, the North Sea has been mentioned as the "German
Ocean" or "German Sea" in many important maps (including the map
from Ptolemy's "Geography" and Edmond Halley's solar eclipse 1715 map).
