Indian Ocean Important Facts and Features for Competitive Exams

The Indian ocean began forming about 150 millions years ago, but in its present form it is relatively young, only about 36 million years ago.

Despite being the smallest of the three major oceans, the evolution of the Indian Ocean was the most complex.

The ocean basin was formed during the breakup of the super continent Gondwanaland, when the Indian subcontinent moved north-east, Africa moved west and Australia separated from Antarctica.

Like the Pacific Ocean, the warm waters of the Indian Ocean are punctuated by coral atolls and islands.

About one-fifth of the world’s populations over a billion people live on its shores.

The Java trench is the worlds longest, it runs 2570 km from the south-west of Java, but is only 80 km wide.

The large proportion of the coast of Thailand, on the Isthmus of kra, is stabilized by mangrove thickest. They act as an important breading ground for wildlife.

The circulation in the northern Indian Ocean is controlled by the Monsoon winds.

Coral reefs support and enormous diversity of animal and plant life. Many species of tropical fish like squirrel fish, live and feed around the profusion of reefs and atolls in the Indian Ocean.

The Ninety East Ridge takes its name flow into the Indian Ocean, the Indus and the Ganga/Brahmaputra.

The Indian Ocean has fewer Trenches than other ocean and only a narrow continent shelf around most of its surrounding land.

Many of the small islands in the Indian Ocean rely exclusively on tuna-fishing and tourism to maintain their economies.