Pacific Ocean - South China SeaThe South China Sea is a marginal sea that lies south of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean, with an area ranging from Singapore to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 km². After the five oceans, it is the largest body of sea in the world. The tiny South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelago, are numerous - probably in their hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to several competing claims of sovereignty by neighbouring nations. These competing claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.
The sea lies above a drowned continental shelf as during recent ice ages global sea level was hundreds of metres lower and Borneo was part of the Asian mainland. The states and territories that border on the sea's coastline (clockwise from north) include: the mainland China, Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Major rivers that flow into the South China Sea include the Pearl, Min, Jiulong, Red, Mekong, Rajang, Pahang, and Pasig Rivers. The South China Sea came about around 45 million years ago when the Dangerous Grounds were rifted away from southern China. Extension culminated in seafloor spreading around 30 million years ago, a process that propagated to the Southwest resulting in the V-shaped basin which is observed today. Extension ceased around 17 million years ago. Arguments have continued about the role of tectonic extrusion in forming the basin. Within the sea, there are over 200 identified islands and reefs, most of them within the Spratly Islands. The Spratly Islands spread over an 810 by 900 km area covering some 175 identified insular features, the largest being Taiping Island (Itu Aba) at just over 1.3 km long and with its highest elevation at 3.8 metres. There is a 100 km wide seamount called 'Reed Tablemount' in the Northeast Spratlys, separated from Palawan Island of the Philippines by the Palawan Trench. Now about 20 metres under the sea level it was an island until it sunk about 7,000 years ago due to the increasing sea level after the last ice age. It is an extremely significant body of water in a geopolitical sense. It is the second most used sea lane in the world, while in terms of world annual merchant fleet tonnage, over 50% passes through the Straits of Malacca, the Sunda Strait, and the Lombok Strait. Over 10 million barrels of crude oil a day are shipped through the Strait of Malacca, where there are regular reports of piracy, but much less frequently than before the mid-20th century. Click HERE for a list of some of the islands in the South China Sea! |
