The Andaman Sea (Burmese: မုတ္တမ; IPA: [moʊʔtəma̰]) is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly 1200 kilometres long (north-south) and 650 kilometres wide (east-west), with an area of 797,700 km². Its average depth is 870 meters, and the maximum depth is 3,777 meters. Image File history File links LocationAndamanSea. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... A map showing the location of the Bay of Bengal. ... This article or section may be confusing for some readers, and should be edited to be clearer or more simplified. ... km redirects here. ... Square kilometre (US spelling: Square kilometer), symbol km², is an SI unit of surface area. ... The metre, or meter (U.S.), is a measure of length. ...

At its southeastern reaches, the Andaman Sea narrows to form the Straits of Malacca, which separate the Malay Peninsula from the island of Sumatra. The Straits of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water between Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. ... The Malay Peninsula (Malay: Semenanjung Tanah Melayu) is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia. ... Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island of the world (approximately 470,000 km²) and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneo and New Guinea, are partially in Indonesia). ...

Ocean floor tectonics

The Andaman Sea, showing tectonic plate boundaries

Running in a rough north-south line on the seabed of the Andaman Sea is the boundary between two tectonic plates, the Burma plate and the Sunda Plate. These plates (or microplates) are believed to have formerly been part of the larger Eurasian Plate, but were formed when transform fault activity intensified as the Indian Plate began its substantive collision with the Eurasian continent. Image File history File links Neic_slav_fig72narrow. ... Image File history File links Neic_slav_fig72narrow. ... The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... The Burma Plate, showing boundaries with the India Plate (the Sunda Trench) and the Sunda Plate (through the Andaman Sea) The Burma Plate is a small tectonic plate or microplate located in Southeast Asia, often considered a part of the larger Eurasian Plate. ... Sunda Plate ...  The Eurasian plate, shown in green The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate covering Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the continents Europe and Asia) except that it does not cover the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Verkhoyansk Range in East Siberia. ... A transform fault is a geological fault that is a special case of strike-slip faulting which terminates abruptly, at both ends, at a major transverse geological feature. ... The India or Indian Plate is a minor tectonic plate. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

As a result, a seafloor spreading centre was created, which began to form the marginal basin which would become the Andaman Sea, the current stages of which commenced approximately 3-4 million years ago (Ma). [[Image:Earth seafloor crust age 1996. ... Annum is a Latin noun meaning year. ...

Volcanic activity

Within the sea to the east of the main Great Andaman island group is Barren Island, an active volcano (the only presently active volcano associated with the Indian subcontinent). Its volcanic activity is due to the ongoing subduction of the India Plate beneath the Andaman island arc, which forces magma to rise in this location of the Burma Plate. The volcanic island of Narcondam which lies further to the north was also formed by this process; however it has not recently been active. Great Andaman is the main archipelago of the Andaman Islands of India. ... For other areas bearing the same name, see Barren Island (disambiguation) An eruption column rises over Barren Island in 1991. ... Active volcanoes are volcanoes constantly erupting, including Pompeii and Krakatoa. ... Volcano 1. ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir) South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is a southern geopolitical region of the Asian continent comprising territories on and in proximity to the Indian subcontinent. ... The Juan de Fuca plate sinks below the North America plate at the Cascadia subduction zone. ... An island arc is a type of archipelago formed by plate tectonics as one oceanic tectonic plate subducts under another and produces magma. ... Magma is molten rock located beneath the surface of the Earth (or any other rocky planet), and which often collects in a magma chamber. ... Narcondam Island is a small volcanic island located in the Andaman Sea. ...

See also

• Andaman Islands
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands