Geography[change | change source]
The waters to the east are known as the Arafura Sea. The Timor Sea is next to three large inlets on the north Australian coast, the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Beagle Gulf and the Van Diemen Gulf. The Australian city of Darwin is the only large city by the sea. The small town of Wyndham is on the west arm of Cambridge Gulf, an inlet of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf.
Rivers that enter the Timor Sea from the Northern Territory include Fish River, King River, Dry River, Victoria River and the Alligator Rivers. Rivers in the Kimberley region that flow into the Timor Sea include the Ord River, Forrest River, Pentecost River and Durack River.
The sea is about 480 km (300 statute miles) wide, covering an area of about 610,000 km². (235,000 square miles). Its deepest point is the Timor Trough in the northern part of the sea, which reaches a depth of 3,300 m (10,800 ft). The rest of the sea is much shallower, much of it averaging less than 200 m (650 ft) deep.
In May 2010, it was said that a crater about 50 km wide has been found on the seabed of the Timor Sea.
Reefs and islands[change | change source]
A number of important islands are in the sea. Two of the islands are Melville Island, part of the Tiwi Islands, off Australia and the Australian-governed Ashmore and Cartier Islands. It is thought that early humans reached Australia by "island-hopping" across the Timor Sea.
References[change | change source]
- Andrew Burrell (29 April 2011). "Montara oil spill firm seeks permission for more drills". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
- Jess Teideman (21 May 2010). "Vast asteroid crater found in Timor Sea". Australian Geographic. Archived from the original on 24 May 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
Other websites[change | change source]
Media related to Timor Sea at Wikimedia Commons