Bellingshausen Sea

Bellingshausen Sea as part of the Southern Ocean

The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between 57°18'W and 102°20'W, west of Alexander Island, east of Cape Flying Fish on Thurston Island, and south of Peter I Island (there the southern Vostokkysten).[1] In the south are, from west to east, Eights Coast, Bryan Coast and English Coast (west part) of West Antarctica. To the west of Cape Flying Fish joins Amundsen Sea.

Bellingshausen Sea has an area of 487,000 km2 (188,000 sq mi) and reaches a maximum depth of 4.5 kilometers (2.8 mi).[2] It contains the undersea plain Bellingshausen Plain.

It takes its name from Admiral Thaddeus Bellingshausen, who explored in the area in 1821.

In the late Pliocene Epoch, about 2.15 million years ago, the Eltanin asteroid (about 1-4 km in diameter) impacted at the edge of the Bellingshausen sea (at the South Pacific Ocean). This is the only known impact in a deep-ocean basin in the world.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Antarctic Gazetteer: Bellingshausen Sea
  2. ↑ Gazetteer «About countries»: Bellingshausen (sea)
  3. ↑ Gersonde, Rainer; F. T. Kyte; T. Frederichs; U. Bleil; H.-W. Schenke; G. Kuhn (2005). "The late Pliocene impact of the Eltanin asteroid into the Southern Ocean – Documentation and environmental consequences" (PDF). Geophysical Research Abstracts. 7. 1607-7962/gra/EGU05-A-02449. Retrieved 2008-06-22.


Coordinates: 71°S 85°W / 71°S 85°W / -71; -85

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