The maximum and average depth of the Indian Ocean. Relief of the bottom of the Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean occupies the third place among all in the occupied area. In this case, compared to others, the greatest depth of the Indian Ocean is very modest - only 7.45 kilometers.

Location:

Find it on the map is easy - in the north of the ocean is the Asian part of Eurasia, on the southern shores stretches Antarctica, from the east on the current of the currents lies Australia. In its western part is Africa.

Most of the area of the ocean lies in the southern hemisphere. A very conditional line divides the Indian and Atlantic oceans - from Cape Agulhas in Africa, down the twentieth meridian to Antarctica itself. From the Pacific separates its Indochina peninsula of Malacca, the border goes to the north of the island of Sumatra, then along the line that on the map connects the islands of Sumatra, Java, Sumba and New Guinea. With the fourth - the Arctic - the Indian Ocean has no common borders.

Area

The average depth of the Indian Ocean is 3897 meters. At the same time, it covers an area of 74,917 thousand kilometers, which allows it to be in third place in terms of its "fellow" size. The shores of this huge reservoir are cut very weakly - this is the reason why there are few seas in its composition.

Relatively few islands lie in this ocean. The most significant of them once separated from the mainland, so they are located close to the coastline - Socotra, Madagascar, Sri Lanka. Far from the coast, in the open part, you can find islands that originated from volcanoes. This - Crozet, Mascarene and others. In the tropics on cones of volcanoes are islands of coral origin, such as Maldives, Coconuts, Adamans and others.

Shores in the east and north-west are indigenous, whereas in the west and north-east - for the most part alluvial. The shore edge is cut very weak, except for its northern part. This is where most of the large bays are concentrated.

Depth

Of course, such a large area can not have the same depth of the Indian Ocean - the maximum is 7130 meters. This point is located in the Sunda Trench. At the same time, the average depth of the Indian Ocean is 3897 meters.

Seamen and explorers of water spaces can not be guided by the average figure. Therefore, scientists have long been drawn a map of the depths of the Indian Ocean. It accurately indicates the height of the bottom at various points, all shoals, gutters, depressions, volcanoes and other features of the relief are visible.

Relief

Along the coast lies a narrow strip of the continental shelf, about 100 kilometers wide. The shelf edge, located in the ocean, has a small depth - from 50 to 200 meters. Only in the north-west of Australia and along the Antarctic coasts it increases to 300-500 meters. The slope of the continent is quite steep, in some places divided by the underwater valleys of large rivers, such as the Ganges, the Indus and others. In the northeast a rather monotonous relief of the bottom of the Indian Ocean is enlivened by the Sunda island arc. It is here that the Sunda Trench is located, in which the most significant depth of the Indian Ocean is found. The maximum point of this gutter is located at 7,130 meters below sea level.

Ridges, trees and mountains have broken the bed into several hollows. The most famous are the Arabian Basin, the African-Antarctic and the Western Australian. These depressions formed hilly, located in the center of the ocean, and accumulative plains, located not far from the continents, in those areas where the sedimentary material is in sufficient quantities.

Among a large number of ridges, the East Indian is particularly noticeable - its length is about 5 thousand kilometers. However, the relief of the bottom of the Indian Ocean has other significant ranges - the West Australian, the meridional and others. It is richly bedded and various volcanoes, places, forming chains and even quite large tracts.

The mid-ocean ridges are three branches of the mountain system, dividing the ocean from the center to the north, south-east and south-west. The width of the ridges ranges from 400 to 800 kilometers, the height is 2-3 kilometers. The relief of the bottom of the Indian Ocean in this part is characterized by faults across the crests. Along them, the bottom is most often displaced horizontally by 400 kilometers.

Unlike the ridges, the Australian-Antarctic uplift is a shaft with gentle slopes, the height of which reaches a kilometer, and the width extends up to one and a half thousand kilometers.

The predominantly tectonic structure of the bottom of this particular ocean is completely stable. Active developing structures occupy a much smaller area and flow into similar structures of Indochina and East Africa. These major macrostructures are divided into smaller ones: slabs, blocky and volcanic ridges, banks and coral islands, gutters, tectonic ledges, depressions of the Indian Ocean and others.

Among the various irregularities, the north of the Mascarene Range occupies a special place. Presumably, this part previously belonged to the long-lost ancient mainland of Gondwana.

Climate

The area and depth of the Indian Ocean make it possible to assume that the climate in different parts of it will be completely different. And indeed it is. The northern part of this huge pond has a monsoon climate. In the summer, during the period of low pressure over the mainland Asia, south-western flows of equatorial air predominate over the water. In winter, the streams of tropical air masses dominate here from the northwest.

A little south of 10 degrees south latitude, the climate over the ocean becomes much more constant. In the tropical (and subtropical in the summer) latitudes here are the south-east trade winds. In temperate - extratropical cyclones, which move from west to east. Often there are hurricanes in the west of tropical latitudes. Most often they sweep in the summer and autumn.

The air in the north of the ocean warms up to 27 degrees in the summer. African coasts are blown with air with a temperature of about 23 degrees. In winter, the temperature decreases depending on latitude: in the south it may be below the zero mark, whereas in northern Africa the thermometer value does not fall below 20 degrees.

The temperature of the water depends on the currents. The coasts of Africa are washed by the Somali current, which has rather low temperatures. This leads to the fact that the water temperature in this region is kept at about 22-23 degrees. In the north of the ocean, the upper layers of water can reach a temperature of 29 degrees, whereas in the southern regions off the coast of Antarctica, it drops to -1. Of course, we are talking only about the upper layers, since the greater the depth of the Indian Ocean, the more difficult it is to draw conclusions about the temperature of the water.

Water

The depth of the Indian Ocean does not affect the number of seas at all. And there are fewer of them than in any other ocean. The Mediterranean seas here are only two: the Red and Persian Gulf. In addition, there are still marginal Arabian Sea, Andaman - closed only partially. In the east of the vast waters are the Timor and Arafura Seas.

The largest rivers in Asia belong to the basin of this ocean: Ganges, Salween, Brahmaputra, Irvadi, Indus, Euphraat and Tiger. Among the African rivers is Limpopo and Zambezi.

The average depth of the Indian Ocean is 3897 meters. And in this water column there is a unique phenomenon - a change in the direction of currents. The currents of all other oceans are unchanged from year to year, while in the Indian current they are subject to winds: in the winter they are monsoon, in summer they are predominant.

Since deep waters originate in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, almost the entire mass of water has an increased salinity with a low percentage of oxygen.

Shores

In the west and north-east predominantly onshore banks, while in the north-west and east - indigenous. As has already been said, the coastline is almost flat, rugged very weakly practically along the entire length of the given water body. The exception is the northern part - this is where most of the seas belonging to the Indian Ocean basin are concentrated.

Inhabitants

The relatively small average depth of the Indian Ocean boasts a multitude of diverse representatives of the animal and vegetable worlds. The Indian Ocean lies in the territories of the tropical and temperate zones. Shoals are full of corals and hydrocoral, among which there is a huge number of species of invertebrates. These are worms, crabs, sea urchins, stars and other animals. An equally large number of brightly colored tropical fish find shelter in these areas. The coasts are rich in mangroves, in which the mud diver has settled - this fish can live very long without water.

The flora and fauna of beaches prone to ebb tides are very poor, since the hot sun's rays destroy all life here. A moderate belt in this sense is much more diverse: there is a rich choice of algae and invertebrates.

The open ocean is even more rich with living creatures - representatives of both animal and vegetable worlds.

The main animals are the copepods. More than a hundred species of them live in the waters of the Indian Ocean. Cerebrood mollusks, siphonophores, jellyfish and other invertebrates are almost as good as the number of species. In the waters of the ocean there are several kinds of flying fish, sharks, luminous anchovies, tuna, sea snakes. Whales, pinnipeds, sea turtles, dugongs are no less common in these waters.

Feathered inhabitants are represented by albatrosses, frigates and several species of penguins.

Minerals

The waters of the Indian Ocean are developing oil deposits. In addition, the ocean and manganese ores, phosphates, potassium raw materials necessary for fertilizing agricultural lands are rich.