Rare Natural Phenomena Quiz – Printable Version
20 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
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- How long does an 'ELVE', a huge ring of light spreading through the upper atmosphere above a storm, last?
- A. About a minute
- B. The whole storm
- C. Less than a millisecond
- D. Several hours
- How does a sun pillar, a vertical column of light above the setting Sun, form?
- A. Light reflects off flat ice crystals floating almost horizontally
- B. A sunbeam passes through a hole in the clouds
- C. Heat from the ground lifts the light
- D. The Moon reflects the Sun upwards
- Where can aircraft passengers see a 'glory', a series of coloured rings?
- A. Around the Sun, ahead of the plane
- B. On the wings, at night
- C. In the engines
- D. Around their plane's shadow cast on the clouds
- Why do glider pilots seek out lenticular clouds?
- A. They show a landing strip
- B. They shade them from the sun
- C. They mark 'mountain waves', powerful updrafts that can take them very high
- D. They always mean no wind
- What do 'mammatus' clouds, shaped like rounded pouches hanging beneath a cloud, indicate?
- A. Lasting fine weather
- B. An aurora
- C. An imminent earthquake
- D. The underside of a large thundercloud, often as it passes or moves away
- Where do the pastel colours that sometimes shimmer on the edges of clouds near the Sun come from?
- A. Reflections from the oceans
- B. Air pollution
- C. Diffraction of light by tiny droplets or crystals of very uniform size
- D. Auroras visible in daylight
- Why do noctilucent clouds shine silvery blue in the middle of a summer night?
- A. They contain glowing bacteria
- B. At about 80 km up, they are still lit by the Sun while it is night on the ground
- C. They reflect city lights
- D. They produce their own light by friction
- Why are microbursts particularly dangerous for aircraft taking off and landing?
- A. They make the runway slippery
- B. They blind the pilots
- C. A strong headwind followed by a tailwind causes a sudden loss of lift close to the ground
- D. They disrupt tower radio
- Why is freezing rain so dangerous for drivers?
- A. It falls as enormous hailstones
- B. It melts the tarmac
- C. It only occurs in the mountains
- D. It falls as liquid then freezes instantly on the ground in a clear, almost invisible layer of ice
- Where are 'penitentes', blades of ice that can be taller than a person, found?
- A. In the high, dry Andes, notably in Chile and Argentina
- B. In tropical rainforests
- C. On Icelandic beaches
- D. Deep in Alpine caves
- Which living thing is essential for 'hair ice' to form on damp dead wood?
- A. A spider
- B. A moss
- C. An airborne bacterium
- D. A fungus, Exidiopsis effusa
- What are 'frost quakes', which sometimes startle people awake in cold regions?
- A. Real earthquakes caused by polar cold
- B. Loud cracks in frozen ground caused by water suddenly expanding as it freezes
- C. Distant avalanches
- D. Exploding underground lakes
- Is a 'red tide' really a tide?
- A. No: it is a bloom of microalgae, sometimes toxic, unrelated to tides
- B. Yes, a higher tide than usual
- C. Yes, the tide after an eclipse
- D. No, it's whale blood
- How were 'milky seas', white glows described by sailors for centuries, confirmed in 2005?
- A. By a nuclear submarine
- B. By a photo taken from a lighthouse
- C. By fishermen bringing back a bucketful
- D. By satellite images showing a glow of more than 15,000 km² in the Indian Ocean
- In what year was the mystery of the 'sailing stones' of Racetrack Playa, in Death Valley, solved using GPS and cameras?
- A. 2014
- B. 1950
- C. 1985
- D. 2023
- Why do many hoodoos (fairy chimneys) wear a stone 'cap'?
- A. People put them there long ago
- B. A block of harder rock protects the softer rock column beneath from erosion
- C. It's lava that fell after an eruption
- D. The wind piled stones on them
- Where do 'pillow lavas', shaped like stacked pillows, form?
- A. Underwater, when lava cools suddenly on contact with the sea
- B. On top of snow-capped volcanoes
- C. In the desert, shaped by the wind
- D. In caves, around bats
- How fast can a pyroclastic flow, a scorching mix of gas and ash, rush down a volcano's slopes?
- A. About 5 km/h, walking pace
- B. Over 100 km/h, sometimes much more
- C. About 20 km/h, cycling pace
- D. It stays still
- Which 1985 disaster in Colombia was caused by lahars, volcanic mudflows?
- A. The Bogotá earthquake
- B. The eruption of Vesuvius
- C. The destruction of Armero, after an eruption of Nevado del Ruiz
- D. A dam burst on the Amazon
- On which moon of Saturn did the Cassini probe observe geysers of icy water shooting from cracks?
- A. Titan
- B. Enceladus
- C. Europa
- D. Phobos
Answer key — Rare Natural Phenomena Quiz
- C. Less than a millisecondAn electromagnetic pulse from a very powerful lightning bolt excites molecules in the upper atmosphere, around 90 km up.
- A. Light reflects off flat ice crystals floating almost horizontallyAs they drift slowly down, plate-shaped crystals settle like falling leaves.
- D. Around their plane's shadow cast on the cloudsA glory appears exactly opposite the Sun, around the observer's shadow, when light is scattered back by tiny droplets.
- C. They mark 'mountain waves', powerful updrafts that can take them very highWind passing over a mountain ripples downstream, like water behind a rock.
- D. The underside of a large thundercloud, often as it passes or moves awayThese pouches form when cold, moisture-laden air sinks beneath a cumulonimbus anvil.
- C. Diffraction of light by tiny droplets or crystals of very uniform sizeWhen the droplets of a thin cloud are all of similar size, they bend light evenly and produce pink, green and blue bands.
- B. At about 80 km up, they are still lit by the Sun while it is night on the groundThey are the highest clouds in the atmosphere, made of ice crystals formed around meteor dust.
- C. A strong headwind followed by a tailwind causes a sudden loss of lift close to the groundA column of cold air drops from a storm and spreads out in all directions at ground level.
- D. It falls as liquid then freezes instantly on the ground in a clear, almost invisible layer of iceRain passes through a layer of cold air near the ground and becomes supercooled: it freezes as soon as it touches roads, cables or trees.
- A. In the high, dry Andes, notably in Chile and ArgentinaUnder intense sun and very dry air, snow turns straight into vapour unevenly, carving forests of spikes.
- D. A fungus, Exidiopsis effusaThese hair-thin filaments of ice grow on damp nights around 0 °C.
- B. Loud cracks in frozen ground caused by water suddenly expanding as it freezesAfter rain or a thaw, waterlogged ground undergoes a sudden drop in temperature: as it freezes, the water expands and cracks the ground with a sound like a gunshot.
- A. No: it is a bloom of microalgae, sometimes toxic, unrelated to tidesSome microscopic algae multiply massively and colour the water red or brown.
- D. By satellite images showing a glow of more than 15,000 km² in the Indian OceanResearchers found, in a weather satellite's night-time images, the glow described at the same time by a ship in 1995.
- A. 2014Researchers fitted stones with GPS and filmed the dry lake. After winter rain, a thin layer of ice forms and breaks into panels; pushed by a light wind, they drag the stones a few metres a minute, leaving long trails in the mud.
- B. A block of harder rock protects the softer rock column beneath from erosionRain and runoff eat away soft rocks such as volcanic tuff or marl, but spare what lies beneath a resistant block.
- A. Underwater, when lava cools suddenly on contact with the seaThe lava's surface instantly freezes into a crust, which internal pressure bursts open to form a new 'pillow'.
- B. Over 100 km/h, sometimes much moreHeavier than air, this avalanche of gas at several hundred degrees and debris hugs the terrain and destroys everything in its path.
- C. The destruction of Armero, after an eruption of Nevado del RuizA fairly modest eruption melted part of the summit glacier. Water mixed with ash rushed down the valleys for dozens of kilometres and buried the town of Armero, killing more than 20,000 people.
- B. EnceladusThese jets, coming from an underground ocean, even feed one of Saturn's rings.