Celebes Sea

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Location of the Celebes Sea

The Celebes Sea (or Sulawesi Sea ) is a 472,000 km² marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean .

geography

Card with the Celebes Sea

The Celebes Sea is located north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi , to the west is the island of Borneo with the Malaysian province of Sabah and the Indonesian province of Kalimantan Timur and to the northeast the Philippine island of Mindanao .

To the east lies the Pacific Ocean , to the northeast, the Philippine Sea and north of the Sulu archipelago , straddling the border to the Sulu Sea represents. In the south-west the Makassar Strait leads into the Java Sea , in the south-east lies the Molucca Sea .

The Celebes Sea has an average depth of 3,291 meters. This results in a water volume of 1,553,000 km³. In north-south expansion it extends 675 kilometers and from the west 837 kilometers in the direction of the Sangihe Archipelago and the Talaud Archipelago .

In its northern part , about 80 km off the south coast ofMindanao, the deepestsea ​​depth ofthe water is about 6,220 m.

Emergence

The sea is shaped like a basin. Are narrow at the edges of shelves which over 6,200 meters in depth decrease. It is part of an ancient oceanic deep sea basin that was formed 42 million years ago. For 20 million years, the movement of the earth's crust has been pushing the Celebes Basin towards the Indonesian and Filipino volcanoes . Ten million years ago, the Celebes Sea was inundated by continental deposits. Even coal came from the fast-growing mountains of Borneo in the sea, while the basin also against the Eurasian pushed plate.

climate

There is a humid tropical climate all year round .

The water exchange with the Pacific Ocean takes place via a system between the Celebes Basin and the Philippines Trench . In summer the monsoon wind pushes the water over the Makassar Strait into the Java Sea.

environment

In the Celebes Sea there is a rich marine flora and fauna that is still largely unknown . Here you will find 26 of the 78 worldwide known whale species and around 580 different corals . There are dolphins , sea ​​turtles , barracudas , manta rays , abundant tuna and many other animals.

In the Celebes Sea, the acidification of the water causes coral reefs to die - as a result, the fish are deprived of their habitat.

In September 1997 a new subspecies of the coelacanth was discovered near Manado / North Sulawesi, the so-called. Manado coelacanth , which very little is known about.

Others

The Sulawesi Sea is known for pirates , who are equipped with the latest technology such as speedboats , radar and GPS and not only attack fishing boats, but also large container ships . To provide adequate protection for the vacationers, the Malaysian government has relocated naval forces to the area to prevent pirates from endangering people, as in 2000 when Filipino rebels kidnapped vacationers.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Donald G. Groves and Lee M. Hunt: Ocean World Encyclopedia, McGraw Hill 1980. ISBN 0-07-025010-3 . Sulawesi Sea (Page 373)

Web links

Coordinates: 4 °  N , 122 °  E