Which location marks the lowest point on Earth's exposed dry land, at more than 400 meters below sea level and still sinking further each year?
- Death Valley, California
- The Qattara Depression, Egypt
- The Turpan Depression, China
- The shore of the Dead Sea
Why D? And why not the others?
Correct answer: D. The shore of the Dead Sea
The shoreline of the Dead Sea sits over 430 meters below sea level, the lowest point of dry land anywhere on the planet — and the payoff is that the figure keeps getting more extreme, since evaporation and upstream water diversion shrink the lake and drop its surface further almost every year. Death Valley is the classic decoy because it holds its own well-known record, the lowest point in North America, but that point is only about 86 meters below sea level, a small fraction of the Dead Sea's depth. The Qattara Depression is a real and substantial low-lying basin in Egypt's Western Desert, genuinely one of the deepest depressions on the African continent, yet it bottoms out at only around 133 meters below sea level. The Turpan Depression is Asia's own notable low point, but at roughly 154 meters below sea level it still falls far short of the Dead Sea's basin.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: 'Dead Sea' (britannica.com/place/Dead-Sea); NOAA