NewsTracker Answers for week of Jan. 16, 2012

Q: South America's most famous lake - Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia - is being polluted by increasing levels of waste from fast-growing cities, according to locals, environmentalists and politicians. Where are Peru and Bolivia on this map?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The nearby city of El Alto has grown at 4 percent a year for two decades as rural peasants seek a better life. El Alto is part of a metropolitan area that includes Bolivia's administrative or "de facto" capital of . . .

A. La Paz

B. Lima

C. Los Angeles

D. Santa Cruz

A. While the official capital of Bolivia is Sucre and it is the seat of Justice, La Paz has more government departments, hence the "de facto" qualifier. La Paz, El Alto and Viacha comprise a metropolitan area with 2.3 million people.

Q: Raw sewage, garbage and industrial waste from El Alto dump into the Seco River, which flows into Lake Titicaca. For thousands of years, the lake has supported agriculture on the dry, high-altitude plains of which mountain range?

A. Alps

B. Andes

C. Apennines

D. Appalachians

B. The Andes range extends 4,300 miles north to south though South America, making it the longest continental mountain range in the world. Lake Titicaca is on the Andes' Altiplano plateau, the world's second-highest after Asia's Tibetan plateau.

Q: At 2,500 feet above sea level, Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world, and it is the largest lake in South America by volume of water. On the Peruvian shore, thousands of protesters said a planned silver mine could pollute the lake. What toxic substance is used in sliver mining?

A. Ammonia

B. Bauxite

C. Cyanide

D. Detergent

C. Cyanide is used to separate the silver from ore. The Canadian company that planned to mine silver in the area said the process would have no impact on Lake Titicaca. But, Peru revoked Bear Creek Mining Corp.'s permit for the mine after the protests.

Q: According to an ancient creation myth, the children of the Sun emerged from the depths of Lake Titicaca to found an empire that ruled over Peru and large areas of modern Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina. What was name of this empire later conquered by the Spanish?

A. Aztec

B. Inca

C. Mayan

D. Mongol

B. Decimated by smallpox and divided by a civil war, the Incas were conquered in 1532 by Francisco Pizarro leading a force of 168 men, 27 horses and one cannon. Other Spanish conquistadors defeated the Aztec Empire in Mexico and the Mayan people in Central America.