ARABIAN SEA

The Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. northwestern part of the Indian Ocean, covering a total area of about 1,491,000 square miles (3,862,000 square kilometres) and forming part of the principal sea route between Europe and India. It is bounded to the west by the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, to the north by Iran and Pakistan, to the east by India, and to the south by the remainder of the Indian Ocean. To the north the Gulf of Oman connects the sea with the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. To the west the Gulf of Aden connects it with the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It has a mean depth of 8,970 feet (2,734 metres). In Roman times its name was Mare Erythraeum (Erythraean Sea). Political units bordering the seain addition to India, Iran, and Pakistanare the Sultanate of Oman, Yemen, and Somalia. Islands in the sea include Socotra (a part of Yemen) off the Horn of Africa, the Kuria Muria Islands off the coast of Oman, and Lakshadweep (a union territory of India consisting of the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi islands; the latter constitute a group of coral atolls lying between 100 and 250 miles (160 and 400 kilometres) off the southwestern (Malabar) coast of India. The Indus River is the principal river draining into the sea. northwestern part of the Indian Ocean covering a total area of about 1,491,000 square miles (3,862,000 square km). The Arabian Sea is bounded to the east by India, to the north by Pakistan and Iran, and to the west by the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. It is located north of an imaginary line connecting Cape Comorin at the southern tip of India to Xaafuun (Hafun) Point, a peninsula on the eastern coast of Somalia. To the north, the Gulf of Oman connects the Arabian Sea with the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. To the west, the Gulf of Aden connects it with the Red Sea via the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb. Nations bordering the sea include India, Pakistan, Iran, Oman, Yemen, and Somalia. Islands in the sea include Socotra (a part of Yemen), off the Horn of Africa; the Kuria Muria Islands, off the coast of Oman; and the Lakshadweep islands (a part of India), off the southwestern coast of India. Among the chief ports are Bombay in India, Karachi in Pakistan, and Aden in Yemen. The Indus is the principal river draining into the sea. Most of the Arabian Sea has depths that exceed 9,800 feet (3,000 m), and deep water reaches close to the bordering coastlines except in the northeast, off Pakistan and India. The Carlsberg Ridge, a submarine belt of elevated seafloor characterized by high seismic activity, divides the Arabian Sea into two major basinsthe Arabian Basin to the east and the Somali Basin to the west. The mean depth of the sea is 8,970 feet (2,734 m); the maximum depth, 19,038 feet (5,803 m), is located at Wheatley Deep. High levels of inorganic nutrients, such as phosphate concentrations, which support a rich fish life, occur off the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The chief fish include tuna, sardine, billfish, wahoo, shark, lancet fish, and moonfish, but fishing operations have yet to be fully developed. The sea lies within the trade wind latitudes and was part of the principal sea route between Europe and India for centuries. Additional reading Geology and hydrology of the Arabian Sea are dealt with in N.K. Panikkar and R. Jayaraman, Biological and Oceanographic Differences Between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal as Observed from the Indian Region, Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 64:231240 (1966); Henry Stommel and Warren S. Wooster, Reconnaissance of the Somali Current During the Southwest Monsoon, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 54(1):813 (July 1965). Economic resources are outlined in J.H. Ryther et al., Primary Organic Production in Relation to the Chemistry and Hydrography of the Western Indian Ocean, Limnology and Oceanography, 11:371380 (1966). A series of short reports in Science, 209(4456):588603 (Aug. 1, 1980), summarizes the results of the Indian Ocean Experiment in 1979 surveying the Somali Current and the western equatorial Indian Ocean. Joseph R. Morgan Philomene A. Verlaan