Places in News Current Affairs MCQs

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At least 900 tourists were stranded near Machu Picchu, Peru’s ancient Inca citadel. The disruption occurred after passenger train services were suspended due to a protest in the Cusco region. PeruRail reported the route was blocked by rocks of various sizes and that “third parties” had excavated part of the rail line, affecting track stability. Protesters demanded transparency and fairness in replacing the tourist bus operator Consettur, whose concession had expired. Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca site located 80 km northwest of Cuzco, Peru, in the Cordillera de Vilcabamba of the Andes Mountains.

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Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated NATO member Estonia’s airspace over the Gulf of Finland for 12 minutes. The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost part of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe, covering 30,000 sq.km. It extends 400 km east to west and 19–130 km north to south, bordered by Finland, Russia, and Estonia. Capitals Helsinki (Finland) and Tallinn (Estonia) lie on its shores, with St. Petersburg at the eastern end. The gulf is shallow, average depth 38 m, low salinity (6‰), and freezes 3–5 months in winter. It receives Neva and Narva rivers and the Saimaa Canal.

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Recently, UNESCO placed the Varkala Cliff in Kerala on its tentative list of World Heritage Sites. It is located in Varkala town, Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. The cliff exposes the Warkalli Formation of the Mio-Pliocene age, dating from 13 lakh to 2.5 crore years ago. It is locally known as Sivagiri Thuruthu. The cliff has laterite and sedimentary layers with fossils and traces of ancient climates. It serves as a crucial aquifer, supports biodiversity, underwater reefs, and coastal fishing. It is India’s 27th national geological monument and the second in Kerala after Angadipuram Laterite.

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Recently, more than 1,200 earthquakes around Greece’s Santorini Island showed that Santorini and Kolumbo volcano share an underground magma reservoir. The Santorini and Kolumbo volcanoes are located in Greece, in the southern Aegean Sea, forming part of the Hellenic Volcanic Arc. Seismic and GPS data (2024–25) proved both volcanoes are interconnected through a common magma system. This is the first scientific evidence of their magmatic link, complicating eruption forecasting and highlighting the need for real-time monitoring. Both lie in the Hellenic Volcanic Arc, one of Europe’s most active volcanic zones, critical for global disaster management studies.

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A collaborative research team led by University of Tasmania scientists completed a 54-day voyage on CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator to study the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption in Tonga. It is a submarine stratovolcano in the Tongan archipelago, southern Pacific Ocean. The volcano has erupted regularly over past decades. On January 15, 2022, it had an explosive eruption, one of the largest of the 21st century. The eruption sent volcanic plume into the stratosphere, triggered shock waves, and caused tsunami waves across ocean basins. The voyage collected data to understand volcanic impacts, seafloor changes, and tsunami risks, aiding Pacific disaster preparedness.

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A 6.7 magnitude earthquake recently struck Leyte Island in the Philippines. Leyte Island is part of the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is the eighth-largest island and sixth most populated in the country. The island has forests, mountains, and the Leyte Valley, a major farming area. Historically, known as Tandaya, Leyte saw rapid population growth post-1900.

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A rare burst of winter rains in Chile’s Atacama Desert has triggered the “Desierto Florido” or flowering desert phenomenon. It transformed one of Earth’s driest landscapes into vast carpets of fuchsia wildflowers visible even from space. The Atacama Desert is the world’s driest non-polar desert, located in northern Chile. It stretches about 1,000–1,100 kilometres between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) use it as a Mars-like testing site due to its extreme dryness and high ultraviolet radiation. The bloom is caused by Cistanthe longiscapa, locally known as “pata de guanaco.” This annual herb lies dormant for years and blooms rapidly after rare rains.

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Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano in Indonesia recently erupted, spewing volcanic ash up to 10 km high, leading authorities to raise the alert to its highest level. It is an active stratovolcano and part of the twin-peaked Lewotobi volcanic complex, along with Lewotobi Perempuan, meaning “female” in Indonesian, while “Laki-laki” means “male.” The volcano is located on the island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province, about 30 km southeast of Maumere city, Indonesia. It lies within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone known for frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

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Researchers studied the ratio of small to large earthquakes beneath Mount Etna and found it strongly linked to volcanic activity over the past 20 years. Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. Sicily is a part of Italy. It lies at the convergent boundary of the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe and the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. The volcano’s eruptive history dates back 500,000 years, with 2,700 years well documented. It was featured in ancient Greek legends. Mount Etna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Recently, the Taal Volcano in the Philippines reportedly erupted three times. It is located in Batangas province, about 70 km south of Manila, Philippines. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) classifies it as a complex volcano. Taal is an active volcano within a large caldera, having 38 eruptions in the past 450 years. The caldera formed through prehistoric eruptions between 140,000 and 5,380 BCE. It is a stratovolcano with a crater lake on a 5-km-wide volcanic island. It consists of multiple cones, hills, and craters instead of a single dome, making it geologically unique.