# Which point on the Earth is furthest from a significant water mass? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903 "2006-08-08T19:28:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/1 "2006-08-08T19:28:01Z")
Including oceans and seas but excluding lakes which point on Earth is the furthest from a mass of water? ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/2 "2006-08-08T19:36:06Z")
I’d guess somewhere in central Siberia. Of course, the real answer is “the centre of the Earth” which is 4000 miles from water in any direction. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/3 "2006-08-08T19:45:49Z")
Eyeballing a world map, I estimate it is somewhere near Novosibirsk in Russia. [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world\_maps/world\_mktsize96.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world.html&h=1078&w=1382&sz=192&tbnid=w8CuKf2W-TFqTM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dworld%2Bmap&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_maps/world_mktsize96.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world.html&h=1078&w=1382&sz=192&tbnid=w8CuKf2W-TFqTM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dworld%2Bmap&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1) ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/4 "2006-08-08T19:47:50Z")
What about somewhere in Antarctica? ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/5 "2006-08-08T19:59:49Z")
[QUOTE=Rhythmdvl] What about somewhere in Antarctica? [/QUOTE] Antarctica isn’t big enough. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/6 "2006-08-08T20:05:39Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] Antarctica isn’t big enough. [/QUOTE] And isn’t the surface of Antarctica mostly covered by a very thick layer of water? ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/7 "2006-08-08T20:34:45Z")
I have managed to find the answer on Wiki: > [@](#): > > Eurasian Pole of Inaccessibility (46°17′N 86°40′E) the place on land that is farthest from the ocean. It lies in northern China and is 2645 km (1645 mi) from the nearest coastline. It is located approximately 320 km (200 mi) from the city of Ürümqi, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China, in the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert. The precise geographical point was reached on 27 June 1986 by Nicholas Crane and Dr Richard Crane. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/8 "2006-08-08T20:37:44Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] And isn’t the surface of Antarctica mostly covered by a very thick layer of water? [/QUOTE] Thought about it, but assumed the OP wasn’t playing a gotcha-like semantics game. I did see that Antarctica has about 14 million square kilometres total ([Antarctica - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica#Geography)), while Siberia has about ten million ([Siberia - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia)). 'Course, there’s more to the question than simply looking at area… wasn’t there a GQ thread a few days ago asking about web-based measuring of distances? How far is Novosibirsk from the Caspian Sea? Can a circle of that radius fit on Antarctica? Could you move that circle around Siberia and find a more remote location? Also, I don’t know if this helps at all, but [[File:Europe antarctica size.png - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Europe_antarctica_size.png) here is an image comparing the area of Europe to that of Antarctica. Again, it may not be much use, as there’s more to Siberia than what seems to be in this comparison, but it does make for a pretty picture. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/9 "2006-08-08T20:48:31Z")
The center of the planet at almost 4,000 miles minus some miles that contain aquafiers. ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-point-on-the-earth-is-furthest-from-a-significant-water-mass/367903/10 "2006-08-08T20:52:49Z")
Well I did say the point **on** the Earth so I think that would exclude any point below ground, especially in the Earth’s core. Given that, I think the Eurasian Pole of Inaccessibility is the winner.