Gulf of Oman

Gulf of Oman
Gulf of Oman
خليج عمان (Arabic)
Coordinates	25°N 58°E / 25°N 58°E
Type	Sea
Ocean/sea sources	Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea
Basin countries	List Oman; Pakistan; Iran; United Arab Emirates;
Max. width	340 km (210 mi)
Surface area	115,000 km2 (44,000 sq mi)
Max. depth	3,700 m (12,100 ft)

The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman (Arabic: خليج عمان khalīj ʿumān; Persian: دریای عمان daryâ-ye omân), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran (Arabic: خلیج مکران khalīj makrān; Persian: دریای مکران daryâ-ye makrān), is a gulf in the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, which then runs to the Persian Gulf. It borders Iran and Pakistan on the north, Oman on the south, and the United Arab Emirates on the west.

Satellite view of Iran, Pakistan and the Gulf of Oman.

Khor Fakkan, a city in the Emirate of Sharjah, has one of the major container ports in the eastern seaboard of the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. Navy, French Navy, and Italian Navy aircraft carriers conduct operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility in the Gulf of Oman.

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Gulf of Oman as follows:^[1]

On the Northwest: A line joining Ràs Limah (25°57'N) on the coast of Arabia and Ràs al Kuh (25°48'N) on the coast of Iran (Persia).

On the Southeast: The Northern limit of the Arabian Sea [A line joining Ràs al Hadd, East point of Arabia (22°32'N) and Ràs Jiyùni (61°43'E) on the coast of Pakistan].

Exclusive economic zone

Exclusive economic zones in Gulf of Oman:^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Number	Country	Area (Km²)
1	Oman	108,779
2	Iran	65,850
3	United Arab Emirates	4,371
4	Pakistan	2,000
Total	Gulf of Oman	181,000

Bordering countries

Coastline length of bordering countries:

Iran - 850 km coastline
Oman - 750 km coastline
United Arab Emirates - 50 km coastline
Pakistan - 50 km coastline

Alternative names

The western part of the Indian Ocean, by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, 1693 from his system of global gores the Makran coast

Paths that Alexander the Great took

The Gulf of Oman historically and geographically has been referred to by different names by Arabian, Iranian, Indian, Pakistani, and European geographers and travelers, including Makran Sea and Akhzar Sea.^[8]^[9]

Makran Sea
Akhzar Sea
Persian Sea (consists of the whole of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman)

Until the 18th century, it was known as Makran Sea and is also visible on historical maps and museums.^[10]

Major ports

Port of Fujairah, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates
Port of Chabahar, Chabahar, Iran
Port Sultan Qaboos, Muttrah, Oman

International trade

The Western side of the gulf connects to the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic route through which a third of the world's liquefied natural gas and 20% of global oil consumption passes from Middle East producers.^[11]

Ecology

In 2018, scientists confirmed the Gulf of Oman contains one of the world's largest marine dead zones, where the ocean contains little or no oxygen and marine wildlife cannot exist. The dead zone encompasses nearly the entire 165,000-square-kilometre (63,700 sq mi) Gulf of Oman and equivalent to the size of Florida, United States of America. The cause is a combination of increased ocean warming and increased runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers.^[12]

International underwater rail tunnel

In 2018, a rail tunnel under the sea was suggested to link the UAE with the western coast of India. The bullet train tunnel would be supported by pontoons and be nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in length.^[13]^[14]

Pop culture

In the Battlefield video game series, the Gulf of Oman is a map used in Battlefield 2, Battlefield 3, Battlefield Play4Free and Battlefield 4 with the United States Marines Corps (USMC) invading the shore of Oman with the fictional Middle Eastern Coalition (MEC) defending it in Battlefield 2, and with Russian Ground Forces defending it in Play4Free, Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4.

References

^ "Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition" (PDF). International Hydrographic Organization. 1953. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
^ "Sea Around Us | Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity". www.seaaroundus.org.
^ "Sea Around Us | Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity". www.seaaroundus.org.
^ "Sea Around Us | Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity". www.seaaroundus.org.
^ "Sea Around Us | Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity". www.seaaroundus.org.
^ "Sea Around Us | Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity". www.seaaroundus.org.
^ "Sea Around Us | Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity". www.seaaroundus.org.
^ "Makran Sea/Gulf of Oman|Mokran Sea or Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, Pars sea". www.persiangulfstudies.com.
^ Nicolini, Beatrice (1 January 2004). Makran, Oman, and Zanzibar: Three-Terminal Cultural Corridor in the Western Indian Ocean, 1799-1856. BRILL. ISBN 9004137807.
^ Esmaeili, H.; Mehraban, Hamidreza (2017). "New geographical record of the lined rockskipper, Istiblennius lineatus (Valenciennes, 1836) from the Iranian coast of the Makran Sea (Teleostei, Blenniidae)". Check List. 13 (6): 743–746. doi:10.15560/13.6.743. S2CID 90093756.
^ "2 oil tankers were damaged in possible attacks in the Gulf of Oman". Vox. 13 June 2019.
^ "Scientists Confirm Florida-Sized Dead Zone in the Gulf of Oman". Yale Environment 360. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
^ "A 2,000-km-long underwater rail will connect Mumbai to the UAE very soon!", Times of India, 30 November 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2021
^ "The UAE Wants an Underwater Bullet Train to India", Futurism.com, 5 December 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2021