RAS question
The Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, is located in which country?
Correct answer: (B) Chile.
The Atacama Desert is located in Chile, in the arid north of the country along South America's Pacific side.
Explanation
The Atacama Desert is in northern Chile, so Chile is the country asked for in the MCQ. It lies along the Pacific coast of South America and is the world's driest non-polar desert; NASA Earth Observatory describes the Atacama landscape as part of northern Chile and among the world's driest. This makes the country clue decisive: the question is not asking for a broad South American region or an adjacent country, but for the country with which the Atacama Desert is primarily identified. Its extreme aridity is why it appears repeatedly in physical geography questions on deserts, climate and South American landforms.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Peru is not the best answer because the Atacama is primarily in Chile, even though a small part extends to Peru.
- (C) Brazil is wrong because Brazil does not have the Atacama Desert.
- (D) Argentina is wrong because Argentina is linked with the Patagonian Desert, not the Atacama.
Concept
This tests world physical geography: major deserts, their countries and their climatic distinctiveness. RAS repeats such locations because deserts, coasts and rain-shadow landscapes are compact map-based facts with direct MCQ value.