The Living and Non-Living Resources in Indian Ocean

By : Vartul Dixit

Page No: 367-374

Abstract
Indian Ocean is full of living and non-living resources. Indian Ocean, the third largest Ocean of the world, stretches in length from Bay of Bengal to Antarctica (9,600 km), width from the Cape Town to the western coast of Australia (7,660 km), an area of 70.56 million sq. km and average depth of 3897 meters. With about 264 million cubic kilometres of water, it occupies around 20% of the Earth’s surface. It is abundant in oil and gas reserves, minerals and is rich in seafood in the sea-bed. It is important to explore this ocean for obtaining of these resources. Indian Ocean contains one of the most important energy and food resources of the world. Development of life and humanity flourished on the lap of Indian Ocean from the time of creation of Earth. It is strongly acknowledged that Indian Ocean is a treasure of enormous wealth. Many minerals like Gold, Silver, Copper, Manganese, Nickel, Cobalt, Chromium, Lead, Zinc, Iron, Titanium and Tin are found in the Indian Ocean bed. In this article, we will discuss the availability and exploitability of various resources in the Indian Ocean, primarily oil and gas resources, minerals and ocean fauna.

Author : Captain Vartul Dixit, is an associate professor Nautical Science in the Indian Maritime University, Mumbai Port Campus.
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/JIOS.2024.32.03.8