Indian Ocean

The third largest in the world is the Indian Ocean. Its width (between southern Australia and southern Africa) is about ten thousand kilometers. The area of the Indian Ocean is 73,556,000 square kilometers (together with the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea).

Islands in the water area is relatively small. The largest are the following: Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Socotra. There are also such volcanic islands as Prince Edward, Mascarene, Crozet and others. On volcanic cones in tropical latitudes are the coral islands of Chagos, Lakadiv, Maldives, Coconut and others.

The Indian Ocean is rich in minerals. So, deposits of gas and oil (especially in the Persian Gulf), monazite sands (in the coastal region in the south-west of India) were found on the shelves, gold, phosphorites, and tin ore were deposited in the sediments . Rifts of chromium, manganese, iron, copper, etc. have been found in the rift zones. Large deposits of ferromanganese nodules have been found in many basins.

The Indian Ocean is entirely located in the eastern hemisphere. In the West is Africa, in the north - Eurasia, in the east - Australia and Sunda Islands, in the south - Antarctica. In the south-west, the Indian Ocean is widely reported with the Atlantic, in the southeast - with the Pacific.

The relief of the bottom is complex and diverse. At the bottom of the Indian Ocean, a system is distinguished among the uplifts from the mid-ocean ridges. They diverge to the south-east and north-west. The ridges are distinguished by the presence of transverse faults and rifts, seismicity, underwater volcanism. A large number of deep-sea basins are located between the ridges. The shelf does not have a large width, but its size is significant in the Asian shores.

A significant part of the Indian Ocean lies in the subequatorial, equatorial and tropical belt. Its southern part is located in high latitudes to subantarctic. The main feature of the climate in the water area are monsoons - seasonal winds. In this regard, in the Indian Ocean, only two seasons - a quiet, warm and sunny winter and cloudy, hot, rainy and stormy summer. From the 10th century. W. To the south the south-east trade wind prevails. Temperate latitudes are characterized by a stable and strong wind from the west. The equatorial belt has a significant amount of precipitation - up to three thousand millimeters a year. In the Persian Gulf, as well as the Red Sea and off the coast of Arabia, on the contrary, there is very little precipitation.

The currents of the Indian Ocean in the northern part are formed under the influence of a change of monsoon, link the current system with the seasons. So, summer monsoon (from west to east) and winter (in the opposite direction) is formed. For the southern part, the Passat South Current and the course of the Western winds are characteristic.

The average water surface temperature is about seventeen degrees. Such a relatively low rate is associated with the cooling effect of Antarctic waters. In the northern part, the ocean warms up fairly well. Since there is no cold inflow, it is the warmest part. In the Persian Gulf in summer, the water temperature can rise to 34 degrees. The southern hemisphere is characterized by a gradual decrease in temperature with increasing latitude.

The organic world in the Indian Ocean is in many respects similar to the Pacific organic world. It is characterized by a variety of species composition of fish. So, for example, the northern part is rich in anchovies, sardinella, tuna, mackerel. Here you can find sharks, flying fish and others. The southern waters of the Indian Ocean are inhabited by notothenic, whitefish fish. Here you can find pinnipeds and cetaceans. The organic world of coral islands and the shelf is especially rich.