How many kilometers is mozambique channel?

Mozambique channel is a waterway in the western Indian Ocean, bordering Madagascar in the east, Mozambique in the west, Comoros Islands in the north, Indian Reef and Europa in the south.

Mozambique channel runs from northeast to southwest, with a total length of 1 1,670 km. The overall shape is wide on both sides and narrow in the middle, with an average width of 450 kilometers, 960 kilometers at the widest point and 386 kilometers at the narrowest point. The water depth of the canyon is generally not less than 2000 meters, even more than 3000 meters at the north and south ends, and about 2400 meters in the middle. The deepest part of the entire strait is over 3,500m, second only to the Drake Strait and bashi channel. The annual average temperature of seawater surface is not lower than 20℃. Generally speaking, the climate tends to be hot and rainy, and there will be hurricane weather caused by airflow convergence in summer. Mozambique channel is wide and deep, and it is very suitable for the navigation of giant ships all year round. Supertankers sailing from the Persian Gulf to western Europe, southern Europe and North America have to pass through this strait and then sail around the world through the Cape of Good Hope, so it is the main shipping route between the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. The strait is also rich in lobster, prawn, sea cucumber and other seafood, which is famous for its tender and plump meat. There is a warm current from Mozambique going south, and the climate is hot and humid. Many coral reefs. Zambezi River is injected from the west bank. It is an important waterway in East Africa, with Majunga, Touryal, Maputo, Mozambique and Beira as its main ports. The northern coast of Mozambique is a dog-tooth erosion coast. From here to the south, both sides of the Taiwan Province Strait are sandy alluvial coasts, with sandbars and estuary deltas. Only the banks of the Zambezi River estuary are covered with mangroves.

Mozambique channel has always been coveted by colonists because of its important geographical position. Portugal, Netherlands, France and Britain have been involved in this field since16th century. Later, Mozambique and Madagascar became colonies of Portugal and France. Portugal and France also built a large number of ports in Mozambique and Madagascar in order to effectively expand their colonial interests. Majunga and Turea on the east coast and Maputo, Mozambican City, Beira and quelimane on the west coast were all ports built at that time. Among them, Mozambique has a long history and has made important contributions to maritime traffic. Its function cannot be ignored. The railway starts from this port, connects with the railway network in the interior of Africa, traverses the southern part of the African continent, and reaches the Angolan port on the Atlantic coast. This geographical advantage made mozambique channel the most convenient sea passage connecting the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, which facilitated the invasion and expansion of colonists to East Africa and Asia.

However, the people of mozambique channel longed for independence, so they fought tenaciously for centuries. Finally, Madagascar declared its independence on June 26th, 1960, the Mozambican People's Republic was formally established on June 25th, 1975, and the Northern Comoros Islands became independent on July 6th, 1975. At this point, the strait region finally got rid of colonial rule and made efforts.

Nowadays, the economies of mozambique channel countries are developing rapidly, and their beautiful scenery attracts tourists from all over the world, which also increases the economic benefits of mozambique channel.

Geological landform

Geologists believe that Madagascar was connected with the African continent about 6,543.8 billion years ago. Due to the change of the earth's crust, the western part of the island sank, forming the mozambique channel. The continental shelf on both sides of the strait is narrow and steep. The seabed consists of David Ridge, Mozambique Basin, Madagascar marginal platform and Comoros Basin. David Ridge runs through the middle of the Strait. The southwest of the ridge is the Mozambique basin. Due to the barrier of David Ridge, the sediments in the north of the basin are thicker and those in the south are shallower. The east and west sides are dominated by sand, mainly silt from the shelf to the 2000-meter isobath, and the deep sea above 2000 meters in the middle is mainly silty clay. The sediments at the bottom of the strait vary according to the topography.

Climatic condition

Mozambique channel has a tropical climate, which is controlled by the southeast trade winds and influenced by the North Indian Ocean monsoon. The southeast wind is stable all year round in the south, with an average wind speed of 6m/s, and the north is influenced by the winter wind in the North Indian Ocean. The northeast wind prevails in12-2, with an average wind speed of 5-6m/s; 165438+1March, with changeable wind direction; It reaches 7 ~ 8m/s from July to August, and there are few strong winds in the Strait all year round. The frequency of strong winds above magnitude 6 is less than 10% and magnitude 8 1%. There will be a few tropical cyclones in June 5438+February-March. The temperature is high in the north and low in the south, 28℃ and 27℃ in February and 25℃ and 22℃ in August. The annual temperature in Nantah (above 5℃) is higher than that in the north (below 4℃). The annual precipitation is more in the north and less in the south. Malenga on the northeast coast is 1553mm, and Yuropa Island in the south of the Strait is 553mm. The precipitation in quelimane on the west bank is 3000mm, and that in Maputo is 750mm. Relatively speaking, the precipitation in1~ February is the most, accounting for about 30% of the total annual precipitation, while the precipitation in August is the least ~ 1 1.

natural resource

Phytoplankton is mainly diatoms, but there are also many dinoflagellates and coccolith, which are distributed at the north and south ends of the canyon. From July to September, the biomass of zooplankton is generally less than 10 ml/m, and it is10 ~1in central and northwest China. Its main species are copepods and platypoda, as well as krill, pteropods with shells and gastropods. The biomass of benthos is 15 ~ 20 and 3 ~ 5g/m, which is more in the north than in the south. Mozambique channel is an offshore fishing ground with high tuna yield.

Important communication line

/kloc-before the 0 th century, Arabs first went to Mozambique for trade activities. As the traffic artery from the South Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, most of the oil in the Persian Gulf is transported to Europe and North America through this strait, which makes it one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and has an important strategic position. Especially before the Suez Canal was dug, it was the only way for the European continent to reach the east through the Atlantic Ocean, the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean. When the Suez Canal is dug, when some giant oil tankers can't pass through it, they will pass through it, because mozambique channel is wide and deep enough to pass through giant ships.