Geography and Nature

Land and Climate

25 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 25 questions

  1. Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world by area. What else is special about its geography?
  2. Which of these is the country that shares the longest border with Kazakhstan, of about 7,500 kilometres?
  3. Which of the following lists names all five countries that share a land border with Kazakhstan?
  4. Which peak in the Tian Shan, at about 7,000 metres on the border with Kyrgyzstan, is the highest point in Kazakhstan?
  5. What is the lowest point of Kazakhstan, about 132 metres below sea level on the Caspian side?
  6. Why is the water of Lake Balkhash fresh in the west and salty in the east?
  7. Which structure, completed in 2005 with the help of the World Bank, helped the northern part of the Aral Sea to recover?
  8. Which river rises in China, flows through eastern Kazakhstan and then flows north into Russia to join the Ob?
  9. Which river, flowing through Oral and Atyrau to the Caspian Sea, is traditionally regarded as part of the border between Europe and Asia?
  10. What is the dominant type of landscape across most of Kazakhstan?
  11. Which mountains rise in the east of Kazakhstan, where the country meets Russia, China and Mongolia?
  12. Which mountain range rises south of Almaty, and is also called the Trans-Ili Alatau?
  13. Which description best fits the climate of Kazakhstan?
  14. Which red-rock gorge in the Almaty region, carved by the Charyn River, is called the Valley of Castles?
  15. Which ice rink, built at an altitude of about 1,700 metres in the mountains above Almaty, is famous for fast speed-skating records?
  16. Which resort area in Akmola Region, north of Astana, has pine forests, granite rocks and lakes and is called the Kazakh Switzerland?
  17. Which UNESCO World Heritage site in south-east Kazakhstan has thousands of Bronze Age rock carvings, including sun-headed figures?
  18. Which World Heritage site, listed in 2008, protects wetlands used by flamingos and other birds in central Kazakhstan?
  19. Which valuable mineral does Kazakhstan produce more of than any other country in the world?
  20. Which giant oil field on the Caspian coast near Atyrau, discovered in 1979, is one of the largest in Kazakhstan?
  21. Which antelope, with a large flexible nose that filters dust and warms cold air, lives on the Kazakh steppe and has suffered mass die-offs?
  22. Which large cat, with thick grey fur and rosettes, lives in the high Tian Shan and Altai mountains of Kazakhstan?
  23. Which wild fruit tree of the Tian Shan foothills near Almaty, Malus sieversii, is regarded as the main ancestor of cultivated apples?
  24. What is special about the Caspian Sea, which forms the western border of Kazakhstan?
  25. Which river, rising in the Tian Shan and flowing north-west through southern Kazakhstan, feeds the northern part of the Aral Sea?

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