Bays Gulf & Sea

Gulf and Straits have been considered geographical features on the earth’s surface. Both gulfs and straits are part of the water body. Gulf refers to an inlet within the sea which is deep and has a narrow opening.

Gulf refers to the portion of the ocean which penetrates within the land. It can be different in shape, deepness and size. Straits refer to a narrow waterway that acts as a connector toward a large water body. The connector is a link between two watersheds; hence, it is formed due to a fracture of the isthmus.

Gulf of Katchh	Separate Katchh & Kathiawar Peninsula Max. potential for tidal energy Famous ports: Kandla, Mundra, Okha, Salaya
Gulf of Khambat	Forms mouth of various rivers, namely, Narmada, Tapi, Mahi, Sabarmati
Gulf of Mannar	Separates India & Srilanka, Located at southeast of Tamil Nadu. Asia’s 1^st oceanic biodiversity protection region & a biosphere reserve Famous port Tuticorin lies along its coastI ts environment is likely to be hampered by Setusamundram project
Palk Bay	b/w India & Sri Lanka, & home to proposed Setusamundram project
Palk Strait	b/w India & Sri Lanka, Palk strait has coral formation Setusamundram project to connect Palk strait with Gulf of mannar

Adam’s Bridge/ Rama’s Bridge/ Rama Setu

a chain of limestone shoals, between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island
Lies off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka

Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

Would link Palk Bay & Gulf of Mannar b/w Tamilnadu & Sri Lanka
By creating a shipping channel through the shallow sea called Sethusamudram via Ram Sethu.

Famous Seas / Oceans of India

Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal is bordered to the north by a wide continental shelf that narrows to the south and by slopes of varying gradient on the northwest, north, and northeast.
Bay of Bengal has a distinct tropical marine ecosystem, and copious river drainage into the northern part of the bay and the profusion of wetlands, marshes, and mangroves increase productivity of nearshore fish species.
Petroleum and natural-gas discoveries have been made in the Bay of Bengal, notably offshore of the Godavari and Manandi deltas.
The principal trade routes for large tankers en route from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca pass south of the Bay of Bengal.
Haldia, Vishakhapatnam, and Paradeep are well developed as iron ore terminals, reflecting India’s profitable exportation of raw materials.

Bay of Bengal Major Branches

Chandipur & Gopalpur in Orissa
Marina in Chennai

Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the south by north-eastern Somalia, on the east by India and on the west by the Arabian Peninsula.
The countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen, Oman, Iran, Pakistan, India and the Maldives.
The Arabian Sea has two important branches – the Gulf of Aden in the southwest, connecting with the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb; and the Gulf of Oman to the northwest, connecting with the Persian Gulf.
There are also the gulfs of Cambay and Kutch on the Indian coast.
The Indus and the Narmada rivers are the principal waterways draining into the sea.

Arabian Sea Major Branches

Mandavi, Dwarka & Chorwad in Gujrat
Dahanu & Murad in Maharashtra
Arambol & Karwar in Karnataka
Kollam & Kovalam in Kerala

Indian Ocean

Strategic significance → India overlooks some of the most important sea lanes viz. Suez Canal, Malacca Strait
Economic significance → Long coastline, 2.02 million sq km EEZ (Exclusive economic zone)
Tourism Significance → Marine biodiversity and rich ecosystem with coral reefs, mangroves
Large Fishing potential, Wave energy & Tidal energy potential, Zone of Hydrocarbons
Generation of south west Monsoon