World Lakes Trivia Quiz – Names, Facts and Surprises

This world lakes trivia quiz visits Lake Baikal, Lake Victoria, Lake Titicaca, the Caspian Sea and the Great Lakes. Ten questions with names, facts and surprises.

Start World Lakes Trivia Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Size
What is the largest lake in the world by area?
Depth
What is the deepest lake in the world?
Africa
What is the largest lake in Africa?
South America
Lake Titicaca lies on the border of Peru and which country?
Age
Which lake is thought to be the oldest in the world?
Fresh water
What is the largest freshwater lake by area?
Asia
The Aral Sea shrank dramatically because rivers feeding it were diverted for what?
Africa
Lake Tanganyika is the second-deepest lake in the world. It is also the longest freshwater lake. About how long is it?
Europe
What is the largest lake in Western Europe?
Salt
Which US lake gave Salt Lake City its name?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What is the largest lake in the world by area?
Answer: Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea covers about 371,000 square kilometers. It is salty, but it is a lake because it is surrounded by land.
Q2: What is the deepest lake in the world?
Answer: Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal in Siberia is about 1,642 meters deep and holds roughly a fifth of the world's unfrozen fresh surface water.
Q3: What is the largest lake in Africa?
Answer: Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is shared by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. It is a major source of the White Nile.
Q4: Lake Titicaca lies on the border of Peru and which country?
Answer: Bolivia
At about 3,812 meters, Titicaca is often called the highest navigable lake in the world.
Q5: Which lake is thought to be the oldest in the world?
Answer: Lake Baikal
Baikal is about 25 million years old. It is home to the nerpa, one of the only freshwater seals.
Q6: What is the largest freshwater lake by area?
Answer: Lake Superior
Lake Superior covers about 82,000 square kilometers, slightly more than Lake Victoria.
Q7: The Aral Sea shrank dramatically because rivers feeding it were diverted for what?
Answer: Cotton irrigation
Soviet projects from the 1960s diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, and the Aral Sea lost most of its water.
Q8: Lake Tanganyika is the second-deepest lake in the world. It is also the longest freshwater lake. About how long is it?
Answer: About 670 kilometers
Lake Tanganyika stretches about 673 kilometers and is shared by four countries.
Q9: What is the largest lake in Western Europe?
Answer: Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman, is shared by Switzerland and France. Its famous Jet d'Eau fountain shoots water about 140 meters high.
Q10: Which US lake gave Salt Lake City its name?
Answer: Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake has no outlet, so minerals build up and its water is several times saltier than the ocean.

World Lakes Trivia Quiz – How Lakes Are Born

Lakes form in many ways. Glaciers carved the basins of the Great Lakes and Finland's lakes. Rift valleys created deep lakes such as Baikal and Tanganyika. Volcanoes left crater lakes, and rivers leave curved oxbow lakes when they change course.

Lakes are fragile. The Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest lake in the world, has largely dried up, and pollution, invasive species and warming threaten others. At the same time, lakes supply water, food and power to hundreds of millions of people.

What This Quiz Teaches

This quiz helps travelers and students compare the world's most famous lakes.

Why the Caspian Sea counts as a lake
Which lake is deepest and oldest
Where Lake Titicaca and Lake Victoria are
What happened to the Aral Sea
How rift valleys create deep lakes

Did You Know?

Canada has more lakes than any other country.
Finland is called the land of a thousand lakes but has about 188,000.
Lake Malawi has more species of fish than any other lake.
Lake Natron in Tanzania is so alkaline it can turn animal remains to stone-like shapes.
Loch Ness holds more water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined.