third largest in the world is the Indian Ocean.Its width (between South Australia and South Africa) about ten thousand kilometers.The area of the Indian Ocean - 73,556,000 square kilometers (along the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea).
Islands in the waters are relatively few.The largest are: Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Socotra.There are also volcanic islands such as Prince Edward, Mascarene, Crozet and others.On the volcanic cones in the tropics are coral islands of the Chagos, Laccadives, Maldives, coconut and others.
Indian Ocean is rich in minerals.So, on the shelves discovered oil and gas fields (especially in the Persian Gulf), monazite sands (in the coastal area to the south-west of India), in the deposits of rock - gold, phosphates, tin ore.The rift zones found chrome ore, manganese, iron, copper and so on. In many basins discovered large deposits of ferromanganese nodules.
entire Indian Ocean is located in the eastern hemisphere.In the West, Africa is in the north - Eurasia, in the east - Australia and Sunda Islands, in the South - Antarctica.In the south-west Indian Ocean, it is widely reported by the Atlantic, in the south-east - to the Pacific.
Bottom topography is complex and diverse.At the bottom of the Indian Ocean is isolated among uplifts system of mid-ocean ridges.They differ in the south-east and north-west.The ranges are distinguished by the presence of transverse faults and rifts, seismicity, volcanism underwater.A large number of deep-water basins located between the ridges.Shelf no different large width, but its size is significant at the Asian shores.
A large part of the Indian Ocean lies in subequatorial, tropical and equatorial belt.Its southern part is located in the high latitudes to the sub-Antarctic.The main feature of the climate in the waters considered monsoons - seasonal winds.In this regard, in the Indian Ocean are only two seasons - a quiet, warm and sunny and cloudy winters, hot, rainy and stormy summer.From 10º S.w.to the south is dominated by the southeast trade winds.For moderate latitudes characterized by steady and strong wind from the west.The equatorial belt characterized by a significant amount of precipitation - about three thousand millimeters per year.In the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea and off the coast of Arabia, by contrast, precipitation is very small.
currents of the Indian Ocean in the northern part shaped by changing monsoon system associated flows with the seasons.Thus, the image of the summer monsoon (from west to east) and winter (in the opposite direction).For the southern part of the South Equatorial characteristic over and over west wind.
the average surface temperature of about seventeen degrees.This relatively low figure is associated with the cooling influence of the Antarctic waters.In the northern part of the ocean warms up quite well.Since there is no inflow of the cold, it is the warmest part.In the Persian Gulf in the summer the water temperature can rise to 34 degrees.For the southern hemisphere is characterized by a gradual decrease in temperature with increasing latitude.
organic world of the Indian Ocean is largely similar to the Pacific organic world.It is characterized by a variety of fish species composition.For example, the northern part of the rich anchovies, sardines, tuna, mackerel.Here you can find sharks, flying fish, and others.Southern Indian Ocean inhabited nototheniids, white-blooded fish.Here you can find pinnipeds and cetaceans.Especially rich in the organic world of coral islands and continental shelf.
