In this article, you can learn about one of the richest seas of the Indian Ocean, which has become the habitat of almost a third of the species of fauna and flora represented in the entire ocean. It is the continental marginal sea of the ocean.
Here you can find out information about what the Arafura Sea is, where it is located. But first, let's briefly introduce all the seas of the ocean.
The seas of the Indian Ocean: a brief description
Before we dwell on the Arafura Sea in more detail, let's look at several seas.
1) In the north of the ocean is the Andaman Sea, bounded from the east by the Indochina Peninsula, from the west by the Andaman Islands, and from the south by the island of Sumatra. 605,000 sq. km - its area, the average depth is 1043 m, and the deepest place is at around 4507 m.
2) The Arabian Sea is located in the northern zone of the ocean between 2 peninsulas: the Hindustan and the Arabian. Area - 3.8 million square meters. kilometers, the average depth is 2734 m, and the maximum depth is 4652 meters.
3) The Red Sea stretched along the Egyptian coast, the coast of Sudan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Djibouti andYemen. Its area is 450,000 sq. kilometers, 437 meters - the average depth. This is the s altiest sea in the world.
4) The marginal sea located between the (southwestern) coast of Hindustan, the Maldives and the Laccadive Islands is the Laccadive Sea, with an area of 786,000 sq. km. kilometers, average depth - 1929 m.
5) The Timor Sea separates the island of Timor from Australia. 432,000 sq. kilometers is its area, the average depth is 435 m.
Arafura Sea: description
This sea, which is not very deep by average (186 meters), separates Australia from New Guinea. The area is 1 million square kilometers, and the deepest depth is 3680 meters.
The sea got its name from an aboriginal local tribe living in the Moluccas. This is "al fury", which is translated from the local dialect as "inhabitant of the forests".
The most attractive feature of the Arafura Sea is its very clear and clean water. The lands surrounding this natural reservoir are sparsely populated, do not have large ports, and there is also no mining. In this regard, there are no threats to the ecology of the sea yet.
Located also between the islands of Tanimbar and Kai (the Arafura Sea in Indonesia washes the shores of several islands), it resembles in many ways the Timor Sea. This is due to the similarity of climate and shelf proximity.
Formation of the sea, relief
The sea is relatively young. It formed asa consequence of rising sea levels. This place was once a land that united New Guinea with Australia. In this regard, the Arafura Sea is rather shallow. Only its northwestern part has a small trench up to 3680 meters deep.
On the map of the Arafura Sea it is clearly seen that its shores are quite indented. The largest bay located in the southern zone of the water area is Carpentaria. In the east, the sea is connected to the Pacific Ocean by a shallow but wide strait - Torress. In the northern part, deeper straits link the sea to Banda and Seram (seas).
Description of borders
From the eastern part, the Arafura Sea borders on the Coral Sea (through the Torres Strait), on the Seram and Banda Seas on the northwest side, and on the Timor Sea in the west. The southern border is represented by the northern coast of Australia, the northern one by the island of New Guinea, and the western one by the Selatan-Timur Islands. The length of the sea is 1,290 km in length and 560 km in width.
The sea, located in the subequatorial belt, is replete with a huge variety of islands and coral reefs. Here, nature has created ideal conditions for the life of numerous living organisms, which is associated with the shallowness of the reservoir. This feature is also the cause of hurricanes and typhoons. And the climate in these places is peculiar: long rains are replaced by dry seasons.
There are also islands in the Arafura Sea: Kolepom, Groot Island, the small archipelagos of Aru and Wellesley. Coastline, overgrown with tropical vegetation, inmostly flat. There is a swampy coast in New Guinea. The most unique animals are found there.
Bottom relief
For the most part, the Arafura Sea is located in the shelf zone, which has the same name with it (an extensive shallow bank was named by Krummel in 1897). It refers to the eastern part of the North Australian shelf (or Sahul shelf). The Arafura shelf is separated from the outer arc of the Banda Island by a rather deep-water depression (3650 meters) Aru, which practically repeats the direction of the arc of the above islands.
The Aru depression has a flat bottom and rather steep edges, and ends with a cliff near Nov Island. Guinea. It narrows in the southwestern direction, where the depths also decrease (with a width of about 40 km, its depth is 1600 meters). Further, it, expanding, passes into the Timor depression. At depths of more than 3,000 meters, the Aru extends over an area of 11,000 square meters. km.
The Arafura Sea has a peculiar bottom topography. The marginal sea differs from the inland, and significantly. For the most part, the depth of the Arafura shelf ranges from 50 to 80 meters. The deepest areas are near the edge, where coral reefs rise quite steeply from a depth of 600 meters. The islands of Aru are located on the shelf, and 5 larger islands of this group are separated from each other by narrow straits, the depths of which are greater than in the environment. A slight uplift along the Merauke (ridge) from the Aru Islands extends southeast of the New Guinea South Shore towards Cape York (Peninsula).
Meaning of the Sea
The Arafura Sea is surrounded by sparsely populated lands, and therefore its waters are still transparent and clean. And yet its huge reproductive potential attracts fishermen here, because there are excellent conditions for fishing, for catching shellfish (for example, oysters). Therefore, today the problem of uncontrolled fishing becomes relevant. And the sea itself is not polluted for the most part because there are no more significant ports on its shores, and only sea routes to Manila, Singapore and Hong Kong run through these waters.
Besides, the Arafura Sea is not very attractive for tourists. And the most popular here are underwater fishing, diving and other water sports. Thus, the main attractions are mainly concentrated in the waters of the sea. However, the tourist infrastructure on the Australian coast is quite high.
In conclusion about the underwater world
The bottom of a natural reservoir is covered with sand, and in some places with lime silt. Deeper areas are represented by red clays. There are numerous shoals, banks and coral reefs almost throughout the shelf.
The underwater world is also similar to the world of the Timor Sea and has the same vegetation (algae and corals). Since the water in this sea is too s alty, there are few phytoplankton and phytoalgae in it. But the Arafura Sea also has an abundance of mollusks, echinoderms, crustaceans and other bottom organisms. In total, there are more than 300 species of fish. There are also dangerous animals: some coralpolyps, blue-ringed octopuses, box jellyfish, etc. There are also sharks, barracudas and stingrays.
