How Deep is the Indian Ocean?

Known as the third largest ocean in the world, the Indian Ocean is bounded by the Southern Ocean on the south, the Indochina, Australia and the Sunda Islands on the east as well as the South Asia on the north. There are various island nations found on the Indian Ocean. These include the Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Seychelles and Maldives. This body of water offers major routes to the North America, South America, Europe, East Asia, Africa and the Middle East. To learn more about the Indian Ocean, let us look at the depth of this body of water.

The Depth of the Indian Ocean

How deep is the Indian Ocean? The Indian Ocean’s average depth is 12,760 feet. The deepest part of the ocean is found in the Java Trench. Ridges divide the southern, western and eastern basins into smaller basins. The width of the continental shelves measures 125 miles. However, the measurement of the width of the shelf situated on the western coast of Australia is at least 600 miles. Pelagic sediments cover 86 per cent of the ocean’s basin. The remaining percentage is covered by terrigenous sediments.

The Indian Ocean has several choke points. These include the Lombok Strait, the Bab el Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Hormuz. The main tributaries to the ocean are the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Andaman Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, the Great Australian Bight, the Gulf of Mannar, the Laccadive Sea, the Gulf of Oman and the Mozambique Channel. The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the ocean. Additionally, the Mediterranean Sea is also accessible from the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea.

Additional Facts and Other Interesting Details

When it comes to ridges, the ocean features four major mid-ocean ridges, namely the Central Indian Ridge, the Carlsberg Ridge, the Southwest Indian Ridge and the Southeast Indian Ridge. Aside from ridges, the other feature in the ocean is the submerged mountain range that stretches from the Chagos Archipelago to the Atolls of the Maldives. In addition to this, the body of water also features plateaus like the Mascarene Plateau and the Kerguelen Plateau. The Mascarene Plateau is found at the eastern part of Madagascar while the other plateau is found at the southern part of the ocean.

This body of water also plays home to numerous endangered marine species like whales, seals, turtles and dugong. Anglers from various countries including Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Russia also fish tuna and shrimp in the ocean.