TheBay of Bengal forms the northeastern part of theIndian Ocean, located between theIndian subcontinent and theIndochinese peninsula, south of theBengal region. Spread across an area of 2,600,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi), it is bordered by many of thecountries in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Geopolitically, the bay is bound by mainland India on the west and northwest, Bangladesh in the north, Myanmar in the northeast and theAndaman and Nicobar Islands of India in the east. Its southern limit is a line betweenSangaman Kanda in Sri Lanka, and the northwesternmost point ofSumatra in Indonesia.[1][2]
On the east: A line running fromCape Negrais (16°03'N) inBurma through the larger islands of theAndaman group, in such a way that all the narrow waters between the islands lie Eastward of the line and are excluded from the Bay of Bengal, as far as a point inLittle Andaman Island in latitude 10°48'N, longitude 92°24'E and thence along the Southwest limit of theBurma Sea [A line running from"Oedjong Raja" ["Ujung Raja" or "Point Raja"] (5°32′N95°12′E / 5.533°N 95.200°E /5.533; 95.200) inSumatra toPoeloe Bras (Breuëh) and on through the Western Islands of theNicobar Group to Sandy Point in Little Andaman Island, in such a way that all the narrow waters appertain to the Burma Sea].
The bay gets its name from thehistorical Bengal region (modern-dayBangladesh and the Indian states ofWest Bengal,Tripura and theBarak Valley of SouthernAssam). In Ancient Indianscriptures, this water body may have been referred to as Mahodadhi.[5] Ancient Romans called itSinus Gangeticus orGangeticus Sinus whilst Ancient Greeks called it inAncient Greek:Κόλπος Γαγγητικός, meaning "Gulf of the Ganges",[6][7] and old European maps continued to use this name.[8]
TheKakatiya dynasty reached the western coastline of the Bay of Bengal between theGodavari and theKrishna River.Kushanas about the middle of the1st century AD invaded northern India perhaps extending as far as the Bay of Bengal.Chandragupta Maurya extended theMaurya Dynasty across northern India to the Bay of Bengal.Hajipur was a stronghold for Portuguese Pirates. In the 16th century, the Portuguese built trading posts in the north of the Bay of Bengal at Chittagong (Porto Grande) andSatgaon (Porto Pequeno).[12]
The earliest sign of Muslims in the region came from the textile trade routes where one targeted the east Arabian Sea influencing migration of Arabs and Persians and another to the west causing Buddhist Bengalis to culturally mix with Islam.[13]
The Shore Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the shore of the Bay of Bengal
In alphabetical order:
Antarvedi is a popular place of worship Southern India, inKonaseema district of Andhra Pradesh devoted to Sri LakshmiNarasimha Swamy Temple. This is the place where one of the distributaries ofGodavari River meets the Bay of Bengal.[14]
Arikamedu is an archaeological site in Southern India, in Kakkayanthope, Ariyankuppam Commune, Puducherry. It is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the capital, Pondicherry of the Indian territory of Puducherry
British penal colony:Cellular Jail or "Black Waters" built in 1896 onRoss Island, a part of the Andaman Island Chain. As early as 1858, this island was used as a British penal colony for political prisoners facing life imprisonment.[15][better source needed]
Konark is the home of theSun Temple or Black Pagoda. This Brahman sanctuary was built of black granite mid-1200 AD and has been declared aWorld Heritage Site.
Jagannath Temple atPuri is one of the four sacred places in Hindu pilgrimage along with Puri beach on the banks of Bay of Bengal. Mahodadhi was named after LordJagannath.
Ramanathaswamy Temple is at Dhanushkodi, where the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Mannar come together.[16]
Sri Vaisakheswara Swamy temple lies two kilometers from the Visakhapatnam coast under the Bay of Bengal's sea bed. Spokespeople fromAndhra University Centre forMarine Archaeology say the temple may be opposite the Coastal Battery.[17]
Vivekanandar Illam was constructed in 1842 by the American "Ice King"Frederic Tudor to store and market ice year round. In 1897,Swami Vivekananda's famous lectures were recorded here at Castle Kernan. The site is an exhibition devoted to Swami Vivekananda and his legacy.[citation needed]
Maritime archaeology or marine archaeology is the study of how ancient peoples interacted with the sea and waterways. A specialized branch,archaeology of shipwrecks, studies the salvaged artifacts of ancient ships. Stone anchors, amphorae shards, elephant tusks, hippopotamus teeth, ceramic pottery, a rare wood mast and lead ingots are examples which may survive submerged for centuries for archaeologists to discover, study, and place their salvaged findings into the timeline of history. Coral reefs, tsunamis, cyclones, mangrove swamps, battles, and a criss-cross of sea routes in a high trading area combined with piracy have all contributed to shipwrecks in the Bay of Bengal.[18]
BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) supports free trade internationally around the Bay of Bengal betweenBangladesh,Bhutan, India, Myanmar,Nepal, Sri Lanka, andThailand.
TheSethusamudram Shipping Canal Project is a new venture proposed which would create a channel for a shipping route to link theGulf of Mannar with the Bay of Bengal. This would connect India from east to west without the necessity of going around Sri Lanka.
Thoni and catamaran fishing boats of fishing villages thrive along the Bay of Bengal shorelines. Fishermen can catch between 26 and 44 species of marine fish.[24] In one year, the average catch is two million tons of fish from the Bay of Bengal alone.[25] Approximately 31% of the world's coastal fishermen live and work on the bay.[26]
The Bay of Bengal is centrally located in South and Southeast Asia. It lies at the center of two huge economic blocks, theSAARC andASEAN. It influences China's southern landlocked region in the north and major sea ports of Bangladesh and India. China, India, and Bangladesh have forged naval cooperation agreements with Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia to increase cooperation in checking terrorism in the high seas.[27] The Bay of Bengal's connection of South Asia to East Asia has aided in Bangladesh's efficiency of distributing natural gas to the Asia Pacific.[28]
Image of United States ships participating in theMalabar 2007 naval exercise. Aegis cruisers from the navies of Japan and Australia, and logistical support ships from Singapore and India in the Bay of Bengal took part.
China has made efforts to project influence into the region through tie-ups with Myanmar and Bangladesh.[30] The United States has held major exercises with Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and recently India.[31][32][33][34] The largest everwargame in Bay of Bengal, known as Malabar 2007, was held in 2007 and naval warships from the United States, India, Singapore, Japan and Australia took part.[35]
Large deposits of natural gas in the areas within Bangladesh's sea zone incited a serious urgency by India and Myanmar into a territorial dispute.[27] Disputes over rights of some oil and gas blocks have caused brief diplomatic spats between Myanmar and India with Bangladesh.
The disputedmaritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar resulted in military tensions in 2008 and 2009. The maritime dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar settled in 2012 through the judgement of ITLOS.[36] In 2014, the dispute between India and Bangladesh was also settled in which the UN tribunal awarded Bangladesh 19,467 km2 of the 25,602 km2 sea area of the Bay of Bengal.[37]
The Samudraarati is a daily tradition started by the presentShankaracharya of Puri 9 years ago to honour thesacred sea.[38] The daily practise includes prayer and fire offering to the sea at Swargadwar in Puri by disciples of theGovardhana matha of the Shankaracharya.[38][40] On Paush Purnima of every year the Shankaracharya himself comes out to offer prayers to the sea.[41]
The islands in the bay are numerous, including theAndaman Islands andNicobar Islands 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.[53]
Great Andaman is the main archipelago or island group of the Andaman Islands, whereasRitchie'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.[54]
Many major rivers ofIndia andBangladesh flow west to east before draining into the Bay of Bengal. TheGanga is the northernmost of these rivers. Its main channel enters and flows through Bangladesh, where it is known as thePadma River, before joining theMeghna River. However, theBrahmaputra River flows from east to west inAssam before turning south and entering Bangladesh where it is called theJamuna River. This joins the Padma whereupon the Padma joins theMeghna River that finally drains into Bay of Bengal. TheSundarbans is a mangrove forest in the southern part of theGanges-Brahmaputra Delta which lies in the Indian state of West Bengal and in Bangladesh. The Brahmaputra at 2,948 km (1,832 mi) is the 15thlongest River in the world. It originates inTibet. TheHooghly River, another channel of theGanga that flows throughKolkata drains into Bay of Bengal atSagar in West Bengal, India.[citation needed]
The Ganga–Brahmaputra-Barak rivers deposit nearly 1000 million tons ofsediment every year. The sediment from these three rivers form the Bengal Delta and thesubmarine fan, a vast structure that extends fromBengal 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.[55] The fan has buried organic carbon at a rate of nearly 1.1 trillion mol/yr (13.2 million t/yr) since the earlyMiocene period. The three rivers currently contribute nearly 8% of thetotal 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 andgas hydrate reserves. Bangladesh canreclaim land substantially and economically gain from the sea area by constructing seadikes, bunds,causeways and by trapping the sediment from its rivers.[citation needed]
A zone 50 m wide extending from the island of Sri Lanka and the Coromandel coast to the head of the bay, and thence southwards through a strip embracing the Andaman and Nicobar islands, is bounded by the 100 fathom line of sea bottom; some 50 m. beyond this lies the 500-fathom limit. Opposite the mouth of the Ganges, however, the intervals between these depths are very much extended by deltaic influence.[53]
Swatch of No Ground is a 14 km-wide deep sea canyon of the Bay of Bengal. The deepest recorded area of this valley is about 1340 m.[59] The submarine canyon is part of theBengal Fan, the largest submarine fan in the world.[60][61]
Submarine fan is also known asabyssal fan. Bay of Bengal fan, known asBengal Fan, also known as theGanges Fan is world's largest abyssal fan, also known as deep-sea fans, underwater deltas, and submarine fans. The fan is about 3,000 km (1,900 mi) long, 1,430 km (890 mi) wide with a maximum thickness of 16.5 km (10.3 mi).[62] The fan resulted from the uplift and erosion of theHimalayas and theTibetan Plateau produced by the collision between theIndian Plate and theEurasian Plate. Most of the sediment is supplied by theGanges andBrahmaputra rivers which supply the LowerMeghnadelta in Bangladesh and theHoogly delta inWest Bengal (India). Several other large rivers in Bangladesh and India provide smaller contributions.[60]Turbidity currents have transported the sediment through a series ofsubmarine canyons, some of which are more than 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) in length, to be deposited in the Bay of Bengal up to 30 degreeslatitude from where it began. To date, the oldest sediments recovered from the Bengal fan are fromEarly Miocene age.[63] Their mineralogical and geochemical characteristics allow to identify their Himalayan origin and demonstrate that theHimalaya was already a major mountain range 20 million years ago.[64]
The fan completely covers the floor of the Bay of Bengal. It is bordered to the west by the continental slope of eastern India, to the north by the continental slope of Bangladesh and to east by the northern part ofSunda Trench off Myanmar and theAndaman Islands, theaccretionary wedge associated withsubduction of theIndo-Australian Plate beneath theSunda Plate and continues along the west side of theNinety East Ridge. The Nicobar Fan, another lobe of the fan, lies east of the Ninety East Ridge.[65][61]
The fan was first identified by bathymetric survey in the sixties by Bruce C. Heezen and Marie Tharp which identified the abyssal cone and canyon structures. It was delineated and named by Joseph Curray and David Moore following a geological and geophysical survey in 1968.[61][66]
Coastal regions bordering the Bay of Bengal are rich in minerals. Sri Lanka,Serendib, orRatna – Dweepa which means Gem Island.Amethyst,beryl,ruby,sapphire,topaz, andgarnet are just some of thegems of Sri Lanka. Garnet and other precious gems are also found in abundance in theIndian states ofOdisha andAndhra Pradesh.[67] A 2014 study found that as a result of ocean acidification, there was reduced shell thickness of marine animals and breaking strength compared to normal shells. The study also showed that the pH in Bay of Bengal fell to 7.75 compared in 1994 when it averaged 7.95.[68]
From January to October, the current is northward flowing, and the clockwise circulation pattern is called the "East Indian Current". The Bay of Bengalmonsoon moves in a northwest direction striking the Nicobar Islands, and the Andaman Islands first end of May, then coast ofMainland India by end of June.
The remainder of the year, the counterclockwise current is southwestward flowing, and the circulation pattern is called the East Indian Winter Jet. September and December see very active weather, season varsha (or monsoon), in the Bay of Bengal producing severe cyclones which affect eastern India. Several efforts have been initiated to cope withstorm surge.[69]
A transboundary issue is defined as an environmental problem in which either the cause of the problem and/or its impact is separated by a national boundary; or the problem contributes to a global environmental problem and finding regional solutions is considered to be a global environmental benefit. The eight Bay of Bengal countries have (2012) identified three major transboundary problems (or areas of concern) affecting the health of the Bay, that they can work on together. With the support of the Bay Of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project (BOBLME), the eight countries are now (2012) developing responses to these issues and their causes, for future implementation as the Strategic Action Programme.
Some small fishing boats are catching fish & sell them in local coastal markets.
Fisheries production in the Bay of Bengal is 6,000,000 tonnes per year, more than 7% of the world's catch. The major transboundary issues relating to shared fisheries are: a decline in the overall availability of fish resources; changes in species composition of catches; the high proportion of juvenile fish in the catch; and changes inmarine biodiversity, especially through loss of vulnerable andendangered species. The transboundary nature of these issues are: that manyfish stocks are shared between BOBLME countries through the transboundary migration of fish, orlarvae. Fishing overlaps national jurisdictions, both legally and illegally – overcapacity andoverfishing in one location forces a migration of fishers and vessels to other locations. All countries (to a greater or lesser degree) are experiencing difficulties in implementingfisheries management, especially theecosystem approach to fisheries. Bay of Bengal countries contribute significantly to the global problem of loss ofvulnerable and endangered species. The main causes of the issues are: open access to fishing grounds; government emphasis on increasing fish catches; inappropriate government subsidies provided to fishers; increasing fishing effort, especially fromtrawlers andpurse seiners; high consumer demand for fish, including for seed andfishmeal foraquaculture; ineffective fisheries management; and illegal and destructive fishing.[citation needed]
The Bay of Bengal is an area of high biodiversity, with many endangered and vulnerable species. The major transboundary issues relating to habitats are: the loss and degradation ofmangrove habitats;degradation of coral reefs; and the loss of, and damage to,seagrasses. The transboundary nature of these major issues are: that all three critical habitats occur in all BOBLME countries.Coastal development for several varying uses of the land and sea are common in all BOBLME countries. Trade in products from all the habitats is transboundary in nature.Climate change impacts are shared by all BOBLME countries. The main causes of the issues are:food security needs of the coastal poor; lack ofcoastal development plans; increasing trade in products from coastal habitats; coastal development and industrialization; ineffectivemarine protected areas and lack of enforcement; upstream development that affects water-flow;intensive upstream agricultural practices; and increasing tourism.[citation needed]
TheAsian brown cloud, a layer of air pollution that covers much of South Asia and the Indian Ocean every year between January and March, and possibly also during earlier and later months, hangs over the Bay of Bengal. It is considered to be a combination of vehicle exhaust, smoke from cooking fires, and industrial discharges.[76] Because of this cloud, satellites attempting to trackocean acidification and other ocean health indicators in the Bay have difficulty obtaining accurate measurements.[77]
The major transboundary issues relating topollution andwater quality are: sewage-borne pathogens and organic load; solid waste/marine litter; increasing nutrient inputs; oil pollution; persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and persistent toxic substances (PTSs); sedimentation; and heavy metals. The transboundary nature of these issues are: discharge of untreated/partially treatedsewage being a common problem. Sewage and organic discharges from theGanges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River are likely to be transboundary. Plastics and derelict fishing gear can be transported long distances across national boundaries. Around 4 million tonnes ofmicroplastics are estimated to come from India and Bangladesh travelling into Sundurban and subsequently the Bay of Bengal.[78] High nutrient discharges from rivers could intensify largescale hypoxia. Atmospheric transport of nutrients is inherently transboundary. Differences between countries with regard to regulation and enforcement of shipping discharges may drive discharges across boundaries.[79]Tar balls are transported long distances. POPs/PTSs andmercury, including organo-mercury, undergo long-range transport.Sedimentation and most heavy metal contamination tend to be localized and lack a strong transboundary dimension.[80] The main causes of the issues are: increasing coastal population density and urbanization; higher consumption, resulting in more waste generated per person; insufficient funds allocated to waste management; migration of industry into BOBLME countries; and proliferation of small industries.[citation needed] A pertinent issue is the rapid growth of the shrimp culture industry which requires use of antibiotics and chemicals for export-quality food safety but pollutes the Bay of Bengal.[81]
A tropical storm with rotating winds blowing at speeds of 119 km/h (74 mph) is called acyclone when they originate over the Bay of Bengal, and called ahurricane in the Atlantic.[82] Between 100,000 and 500,000 residents of Bangladesh were killed because of the1970 Bhola cyclone.
^Tilmann Schwenk; Volkhard Spiess (2009). "Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Bengal Fan as Response to Tectonic and Climate Revealed from High-Resolution Seismic Data".SEPM Special Publication, No. 92. External Controls on Deep-Water Depositional Systems. SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology). pp. 107–131.ISBN978-1-56576-136-0.
^Gong, Chenglin; Wang, Haiqiang; Shao, Dali; Wang, Hongping; Qi, Kun; Xu, Xiaoyong (1 July 2022). "How did the world's largest submarine fan in the Bay of Bengal grow and evolve at the subfan scale?".AAPG Bulletin.106 (7):1431–1451.Bibcode:2022BAAPG.106.1431G.doi:10.1306/02072219107.S2CID250063994.
