Bay of Bengal

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Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal map.png
Map of Bay of Bengal
Location South Asia
Coordinates 15N 88ECoordinates 15N 88E
Type Bay
Primary inflows Indian Ocean
Basin countries
Bangladesh
India
Indonesia
Myanmar

Sri Lanka [1][2]

Max. length 2,090 km (1,300 mi)
Max. width 1,610 km (1,000 mi)
Surface area 2,172,000 km2 (839,000 sq mi)
Average depth 2,600 m (8,500 ft)
Max. depth 4,694 m (15,400 ft)
The Bay of Bengal (Bengali ?????????? [b??gopo?ago?], Hindi ????? ?? ????? [b??g??l
k?? k??????]) is the largest bay in the world with waters flowing straight out of
the Himalayas through Bangladesh. Roughly triangular, it is bordered by Bangladesh
to the North, Myanmar to the East, Sri Lanka and India to the west. Countries
dependent on the Bay of Bengal straddle both South Asia and Southeast Asia.

The Bay of Bengal occupies an area of 2,172,000 square kilometres (839,000 sq mi).
A number of large rivers the Ganges and three major rivers of Bangladesh the
Padma, the Jamuna and Meghna, other rivers such as the Irrawaddy River, Godavari,
Mahanadi, Krishna and Kaveri flow into the Bay of Bengal. Among the important ports
are Chennai, Kolkata, Paradip, Tuticorin, Visakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam Port,
Chittagong, Colombo, Mongla. Among the smaller ports are the Dhamra Port, Kakinada
Port, Payra and Yangon.

Contents [hide]
1 Extent
2 Etymology
3 Rivers
4 Seaports
5 Islands
6 Beaches
7 Oceanography
7.1 Plate tectonics
7.2 Marine geology
7.3 Marine biology, flora and fauna
7.4 Chemical oceanography
7.5 Physical oceanography climate
8 Tropical storms and cyclones
9 Historic sites
10 Religious importance
11 Economy
12 Strategic importance
13 Environmental hazards
13.1 Pollution
14 Transboundary issues affecting the marine ecosystem
14.1 Overexploitation of fisheries
14.2 Degradation of critical habitats
14.3 Pollution and water quality
15 History
15.1 British penal colony
16 Marine archaeology
16.1 Famous ships and shipwrecks
17 See also
18 References
19 Further reading
20 External links
Extent[edit]
The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bay of Bengal
as follows[3]

On the east A line running from Cape Negrais (1603'N) in Burma through the larger
islands of the Andaman group, in such a way that all the narrow waters between the
islands lie to the eastward of the line and are excluded from the Bay of Bengal, as
far as a point in Little Andaman Island in latitude 1048'N, longitude 9224'E and
thence along the southwest limit of the Burma Sea [A line running from Oedjong Raja
(532'N 9512'E) in Sumatra to Poeloe Bras (Breuh) and on through the Western
Islands of the Nicobar Group to Sandy Point in Little Andaman Island, in such a way
that all the narrow waters appertain to the Burma Sea].
On the south Ram Sethu (between India and Ceylon [Sri Lanka]) and from the southern
extreme of Dondra Head (south point of Ceylon) to the north point of Poeloe Bras
(544'N 9504'E).
Etymology[edit]
The bay gets its name from the historical Bengal region (The Indian state of West
Bengal and modern-day Bangladesh). In ancient scriptures, this water body may have
been referred to as 'Mahodadhi' (Sanskrit ??????, lit. great water receptacle)[4]
[5][better source needed] while it appears as Sinus Gangeticus or Gangeticus Sinus,
meaning Gulf of the Ganges, in ancient maps.[6]

The other Sanskrit names for Bay of Bengal are 'Vangopasagara'

(Sanskrit ??????????, lit. Bengal's Bay), also simply called as 'Vangasagara'
(Sanskrit ????????, lit. Bengal Sea) and 'Purvapayodhi' (Sanskrit ??????????, lit.
Eastern Ocean). Even today in Bengali, it is known as Bongoposagor.

Rivers[edit]
Many major Rivers of India flow west to east before draining into the Bay of
Bengal. The Ganga is the northernmost of these. Its main channel enters and flows
through Bangladesh, where it is known as the Padma River, before joining the Meghna
River. However, the Brahmaputra River flows from east to west in Assam before
turning south and entering Bangladesh where it is called the Jamuna River. This
joins the Padma where upon the Padma joins the Meghna River that finally drains
into Bay of Bengal. The Sundarbans mangrove of forest of Bangladesh is a forest at
the delta of the Padma, Jamuna and Meghna rivers lies partly in West Bengal and
mostly in Bangladesh. The Brahmaputra at 2,948 km (1,832 mi) is the 28th longest
River in the world. It originates in Tibet. The Hooghly River, another channel of
the Ganga that flows through Calcutta drains into Bay of Bengal.

The PadmaMeghna-Jamuna rivers deposit nearly 1000 million tons of sediment per
year. The sediment from these three rivers form the Bengal Delta and the submarine
fan, a vast structure that extends from Bangladesh to south of the Equator, is up
to 16.5 kilometres (10.3 mi) thick, and contains at least 1,130 trillion tonnes of
sediment, which has accumulated over the last 17 million years at an average rate
of 665 million tons per annum.[7] The Bay of Bengal used to be deeper than the
Mariana Trench, the present deepest ocean point.[citation needed] The fan has
buried organic carbon at a rate of nearly 1.1 trillion molyr (13.2 million tyr)
since the early Miocene period. The three rivers currently contribute nearly 8% of
the total organic carbon (TOC) deposited in the world's oceans. Due to high TOC
accumulation in the deep sea bed of the Bay of Bengal, the area is rich in oil and
natural gas and gas hydrate reserves. Bangladesh can reclaim land substantially and
economically gain from the sea area by constructing sea dikes, bunds, causeways and
by trapping the sediment from its rivers.

Further southwest of Bangladesh, the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri Rivers
also flow from west to east in South Asia and drain into the Bay of Bengal. Many
small rivers also drain directly into the Bay of Bengal; the shortest of them is
the Cooum River at 64 km (40 mi).

The Irrawaddy (or Ayeyarwady) River in Myanmar flows into the Andaman Sea of the
Bay of Bengal and once had thick mangrove forests of its own.

Seaports[edit]

The city of Visakhapatnam in India is a major port of the Bay of Bengal

Indian ports on the bay include Kolkata Port, Haldia Port, Chennai, Visakhapatnam,
Kakinada, Pondicherry, Dhamra, Gopalpur and Bangladeshi ports on the Bay are
Chittagong, Mongla, Payra Port.

Islands[edit]
The islands in the bay are numerous, including the Andaman Islands, Nicobar and
Mergui groups of India. The Cheduba group of islands, in the north-east, off the
Burmese coast, are remarkable for a chain of mud volcanoes, which are occasionally
active. Great Andaman is the main archipelago or island group of the Andaman
Islands, whereas Ritchie's Archipelago consists of smaller islands. Only 37, or
6.5%, of the 572 islands and islets of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are
inhabited.[8]

Beaches[edit]

The Sunderbans bordering the Bay of Bengal is the largest single block of tidal
halophytic mangrove forest in the world.[9]

Cox's Bazar, the longest stretch of beach in the world.[10]

Sea Beach Location
Marina Beach, Chennai India
Bakkhali Beach, West Bengal India
Digha Beach, West Bengal India
Mandarmoni Beach, West Bengal India
Tajpur Beach, West Bengal India
Shankarpur Beach, West Bengal India
Pir Jahania India
Bheemili India
Chandaneswar India
Chandipur India
Konarak India
Puri India
R.K.Beach India
Rushikonda India
Manginapudi, Machilipatnam India
Cox's Bazar Bangladesh
Kuakata Bangladesh
St. Martin's Island Bangladesh
Sonadia Bangladesh
Inani Bangladesh
Teknaf Bangladesh
Ngapali Myanmar
Ngwesaung Myanmar
Chaungtha, Pathein Myanmar
Galle Face Sri Lanka
Galle Face Sri Lanka