Tukuk-OS📏 World Extremes
49 superlatives of the Earth · natural wonders & human-built records
Our World Extremes collection gathers the superlatives of the planet — the highest mountain, the longest river, the deepest ocean trench, the driest desert, the tallest building and dozens more. Every entry is a single record with a plain measurement, where it is, and one or two sentences explaining it. Because these facts are settled, each page is stored statically on our server, so it loads instantly and never fails. Open any record for its full fact file and links to the country and the collection it belongs to.
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⛰️ Mountains & Peaks (4) · 🏞️ Rivers & Canals (4) · 💧 Lakes & Inland Water (5) · 🌊 Oceans & Seas (4) · 💦 Waterfalls (2) · 🕳️ Caves & Canyons (5) · 🏜️ Deserts & Drylands (3) · ❄️ Ice & Cold (3) · 🏝️ Islands & Coasts (3) · 🏗️ The Built World (12) · 🌡️ Weather & Climate (4)
⛰️ Mountains & Peaks
Highest mountain above sea level
Mount Everest (Chomolungma / Sagarmatha)
8,849 m (29,032 ft) · Mahalangur Himal, Himalaya
Tallest mountain from base to summit
Mauna Kea
10,210 m (33,500 ft) from the ocean floor · Hawaiʻi
Highest active volcano
Ojos del Salado
6,893 m (22,615 ft) · Andes, Atacama region
Most topographically prominent peak
Mount Everest
8,849 m of prominence · Himalaya
🏞️ Rivers & Canals
Longest river
Nile
about 6,650 km (4,130 mi) · Northeast Africa (11 countries)
Largest river by water volume
Amazon
about 209,000 m³ per second · South America
Deepest river
Congo River
over 220 m (720 ft) · Central Africa
Longest artificial canal
Grand Canal of China
1,931 km (1,200 mi) · Hangzhou to Beijing
💧 Lakes & Inland Water
Largest lake by surface area
Caspian Sea
about 371,000 km² (143,000 sq mi) · Between Europe and Asia
Largest freshwater lake by area
Lake Superior
82,100 km² (31,700 sq mi) · Great Lakes, North America
Deepest and oldest lake
Lake Baikal
1,642 m (5,386 ft) deep; ~25 million years old · Siberia
Highest large navigable lake
Lake Titicaca
3,812 m (12,507 ft) · Andes, Peru–Bolivia border
Longest freshwater lake
Lake Tanganyika
673 km (418 mi) · East African Rift
🌊 Oceans & Seas
Largest ocean
Pacific Ocean
about 165 million km² (64 million sq mi) · Between Asia–Australia and the Americas
Deepest known point in the ocean
Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench
about 10,935 m (35,876 ft) · Western Pacific
Smallest and shallowest ocean
Arctic Ocean
about 15.6 million km² (6 million sq mi) · Around the North Pole
Highest tidal range
Bay of Fundy
up to 16.3 m (53.5 ft) · Nova Scotia / New Brunswick
💦 Waterfalls
Tallest waterfall
Angel Falls (Salto Ángel)
979 m (3,212 ft); 807 m free drop · Canaima, Gran Sabana
Largest waterfall (sheet of falling water)
Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya)
1,708 m wide, 108 m high · Zambezi, Zambia–Zimbabwe border
🕳️ Caves & Canyons
Longest cave system
Mammoth Cave
over 686 km (426 mi) surveyed · Kentucky
Deepest cave
Veryovkina Cave
2,224 m (7,297 ft) deep · Arabika Massif, Caucasus
Largest cave passage
Hang Sơn Đoòng
over 200 m high in places · Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng, Annamite Range
Deepest gorge
Kali Gandaki Gorge
about 1,450 m (4,760 ft) from river to peaks · Between Dhaulagiri & Annapurna
Grandest canyon (volume)
Grand Canyon
446 km long, over 1.6 km deep · Arizona
🏜️ Deserts & Drylands
Largest hot desert
Sahara
about 9.2 million km² (3.6 million sq mi) · North Africa
Largest desert overall
Antarctic Desert
about 14.2 million km² (5.5 million sq mi) · South Pole region
Driest non-polar place
Atacama Desert
some weather stations with no rain on record · Pacific coast of South America
❄️ Ice & Cold
Largest ice sheet
Antarctic Ice Sheet
about 14 million km², up to 4.8 km thick · Antarctica
Coldest air temperature ever measured
Vostok Station
−89.2 °C (−128.6 °F), 1983 · East Antarctica
Longest glacier
Lambert Glacier
about 400 km (250 mi) long · East Antarctica
🏝️ Islands & Coasts
Largest island
Greenland
2,166,086 km² (836,330 sq mi) · North Atlantic / Arctic
Largest coral reef system
Great Barrier Reef
about 2,300 km (1,430 mi) · Coral Sea, off Queensland
Longest national coastline
Canada
about 202,080 km (125,570 mi) · Atlantic to Pacific to Arctic
🏗️ The Built World
Tallest building and structure
Burj Khalifa
828 m (2,717 ft) · Dubai
Longest bridge
Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge
164.8 km (102.4 mi) · Jiangsu, Shanghai–Nanjing line
Longest railway tunnel
Gotthard Base Tunnel
57.09 km (35.47 mi) · Under the Swiss Alps
Longest road tunnel
Lærdal Tunnel
24.51 km (15.23 mi) · Between Oslo and Bergen
Highest bridge deck above a valley
Beipanjiang (Duge) Bridge
565 m (1,854 ft) above the river · Guizhou–Yunnan border
Longest suspension-bridge main span
1915 Çanakkale Bridge
2,023 m (6,637 ft) main span · Dardanelles strait
Longest man-made fortification
Great Wall of China
about 21,196 km (13,171 mi) all sections · Northern China
Tallest statue
Statue of Unity
240 m (787 ft) including its base · Gujarat, on the Narmada
Largest stadium by capacity
Rungrado 1st of May Stadium
official capacity ~114,000 · Pyongyang
Deepest metro station
Arsenalna Station
105.5 m (346 ft) below street · Kyiv, Ukraine
Largest airport by land area
King Fahd International Airport
about 780 km² (300 sq mi) · Dammam, Eastern Province
Highest international airport
El Alto International Airport
4,061 m (13,325 ft) · Above La Paz, Altiplano
🌡️ Weather & Climate
Hottest reliably measured air temperature
Death Valley (Furnace Creek)
54.4 °C (130 °F), 2020–21 · Mojave Desert, California
Wettest place on Earth
Mawsynram
about 11,871 mm (467 in) per year · Khasi Hills, Meghalaya
Highest wind gust ever measured
Barrow Island (Cyclone Olivia)
408 km/h (253 mph), 1996 · Western Australia
Coldest permanently inhabited place
Oymyakon
−67.7 °C (−89.9 °F) · Sakha Republic, Siberia