Celebes Sea

The Celebes Sea (or the Sulawesi Sea (Indonesian: Laut Sulawesi) of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi, and on the west by Kalimantan in Indonesia . The Sea is in the form of a huge basin, and plunges as deep as 6,200 m. It extends 420 miles (675 km) north-south by 520 miles (837 km) east-west and has a total surface area of 110,000 square miles (280,000 square km). The sea opens southwest through the Makassar Strait into the Java Sea. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Sulu Archipelago is an island chain in the southwest Philippines. ... The Sulu Sea is a large sea in the southwestern area of the Philippines. ... Map of the Philippines showing the island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. ... The Sangihe Islands (or Sangi Islands) is a group of islands in northern Indonesia, northeast of Sulawesi in the Celebes Sea, roughly half way between Sulawesi and Mindanao, in the Philippines. ... Sulawesi (formerly more commonly known as Celebes, IPA: a Portuguese-originated form of the name) is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. ... Kalimantan is the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. ... Makassar Strait is a strait between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi in Indonesia. ... The Java Sea (Jawa Sea) is a large (310,000 km²), shallow sea in the southern Pacific Ocean. ...

The Celebes Sea is a piece of an ancient ocean basin that formed 42 million years ago in a setting far from any land mass. By 20 million years ago, crustal movement had pushed the Celebes basin close enough to the Indonesian and Philippine volcanoes to receive volcanic debris. By 10 million years ago the Celebes Sea was inundated with continental debris, including coal, which was shed from a rapidly growing young mountain on Borneo and the basin had docked against Eurasia. Oceanic basin can also refer to the river basins flowing into an ocean. ... Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska photographed from the International Space Station For other uses, see Volcano (disambiguation). ... Coal Example chemical structure of coal Coal (pronounced ) is a fossil fuel formed in swamp ecosystems where plant remains were saved by water and mud from oxidization and biodegradation. ...

The border between the Celebes and the Sulu Sea is at the Sibutu-Basilan Ridge. Strong ocean currents, deep sea trenches and seamounts, combined with active volcanic islands, result in complex oceanographic features. Ocean currents (1911) Ocean currents (1943) An ocean current is any more or less continuous, directed movement of ocean water that flows in one of the Earths oceans. ... The oceanic trenches are hemispheric-scale long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor. ... A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the waters surface (sea level), and thus is not an island. ... A small island in the Adriatic sea An island is any piece of land smaller than a continent and larger than a rock, that is completely surrounded by water. ... Oceanography (from Ocean + Greek γράφειν = write), also called oceanology and marine science is the study of the earths oceans and their interlinked ecosystems and chemical and physical processes. ...

Celebes Sea pirates

The Celebes Sea has somewhat attained an international notoriety for its pirates who prey not only on small time fishermen but also giant container ships. Nowadays, these pirates have high-tech weapons and equipment like radar and GPS navigation devices and ride on high-speed motorboats. Look up pirate and piracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ...

Celebes Sea on its northern border. Coastal area of Maitum, Sarangani

Maitum coastal area. ... Maitum coastal area. ... Maitum is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Sarangani, Philippines. ...

Marine life

The Celebes Sea is home to a wide variety of fish and aquatic creatures. The tropical setting and warm clear waters permit it to harbor about 580 of the world's 793 species of reef-building corals, which grow as some of the most bio-diverse coral reefs in the world, and an impressive array of marine life, including whales and dolphins, sea turtles, manta rays, eagle rays, barracuda, marlin and other reef and pelagic species. Tuna and yellow fin tuna are also abundant. Extant Subclasses and Orders Alcyonaria    Alcyonacea    Helioporacea Zoantharia    Antipatharia    Corallimorpharia    Scleractinia    Zoanthidea [1][2]  See Anthozoa for details For other uses, see Coral (disambiguation). ... This article is about the animal. ... For other uses, see Dolphin (disambiguation). ... Genera Family Cheloniidae (Oppel, 1811) Caretta Chelonia Eretmochelys Lepidochelys Natator Family Dermochelyidae Dermochelys Family Protostegidae (extinct) Family Toxochelyidae (extinct) Family Thalassemyidae (extinct) Sea turtles (Superfamily Chelonioidea) are turtles found in all the worlds oceans except the Arctic Ocean. ... Binomial name Dondorff, 1798 The manta ray, or giant manta (Manta birostris), is the largest of the rays, with the largest known specimen having been nearly 7. ... Genera Myliobatis Rhinoptera Pteromylaeus Aetobatus Aetomylaeus Manta Mobula Eagle rays (the Myliobatidae family of fish) are a family of mostly large rays living in the open ocean rather than at the bottom of the sea. ... For other uses, see Barracuda (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Marlin (disambiguation). ... The pelagic zone is the part of the open sea or ocean comprising the water column, i. ... For other uses, see Tuna (disambiguation). ...

In addition to high abundance of fish caught in the Celebes sea, this sea also yields other aquatic products like sea tang.

Commercial significance

An important transport route for trade and commerce in the region. It is a popular site for deep sea diving and luxury ocean cruising. For other uses, see Dive. ...

See also

• Davao Gulf
• Moro Gulf
• Coastal areas of Sarangani
• Sarangani Bay
• Maitum, Sarangani

Davao Gulf is a gulf found in Mindanao in the Philippines. ... Moro Gulf is a gulf in Mindanao in the Philippines. ... Sarangani Bay is a bay located in the Philippines. ... Maitum is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Sarangani, Philippines. ...

External links

• Ocean Explorer (www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov) - Public outreach site for explorations sponsored by the Office of Ocean Exploration.
• Exploring the Inner Space of the Celebes Sea 2007 - A rich collection of images, video and audio podcast.
• NOAA, Ocean Explorer YouTube Channel

Coordinates: 3°34′23″N, 121°57′44″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...