•Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - Countries with coastline have a fixed area earmarked exclusively for exploration and exploitation. Islands help increase a country's EEZ area.

•The Lakshadweep are a group of 36 low-lying coral islands, 10 of which are inhabited.

•The Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, comprises 554 islands, some of which are merely large rocks, of which 36 are inhabited.

The Oceans: size, shape and basinsThe Oceans: size, shape and basins

The oceans cover about 71% of the Earth's surface. Average depth of the oceans is 3,700 m, and they contain 97% of the Earth's water. The remaining 3 percent is freshwater: of this one third is in liquid form, and the remaining is frozen in glaciers and in polar icecaps.

The oceans have been conveniently divided into the Indian, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Southern (Antarctic) Oceans. The Indian Ocean extends between the continents of Africa (to the west) and Australia (to the east), and south Asia (to the north) and the Southern Ocean (to the south). The North Indian Ocean includes the Arabian Sea (to the west of India) and the Bay of Bengal (to the east).

Earths water

Earth's Ocean

North Indian Ocean with Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. The dashed lines demarcate India’s EEZ, which covers about 2 million sq. km, which is roughly 60% of India’s land area. India’s coastline including islands is about 7000 km long.

Fresh Water 1%

Frozen WaterGlaciers andIce caps 2%

Ocean Salt Water97%

A rtic Oc ean

North A tlantic Oc ean

S outh A tlantic Oc ean

North P ac ific Oc ean

North P ac ific Oc ean

S outh P ac ific Oc ean

Indian Oc ean

S outhern Oc ean

Arabian

B ay of B engal

S ea Andaman &Nicobar Is .

65°E 70° 75° 80° 85° 90° 95°E

25°

20°

15°

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5°

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L A NK AS R I