Macclesfield Bank

Macclesfield Bank

Macclesfield Bank or Zhongsha Islands (Chinese 中沙群島 Pinyin: Zhongsha Qundao; Vietnamese: "Quần đảo Trung Sa", literally "Central Sand Islands") is an elongated sunken atoll of underwater reefs and shoals in South China Sea and part of the disputed South China Sea Islands, centered around coord|16|00|N|114|30|E|name=South China Sea Islands center, east of the Paracel Islands. Its length exceeds 130 km southwest-northeast, with a maximal width of more than 70 km. With an area of 6448 km² within the outer rim of the reef [ftp://rock.geosociety.org/pub/reposit/2001/2001075.pdf] , although completely submerged without any emergent cays or islets, it is one of the largest atolls of the world.

The broken coral reef rim of Macclesfield Bank, with a width of up to 8 km, has depths of 11.8 m at Pygmy Shoal on the northeast end of the bank and depths of 11.6 to 18 m elsewhere. Within the lagoon, Walker Shoal marks the least known depth of 9.2 meters. In general, the central lagoon is very deep, with depths up to 100 meters [ftp://rock.geosociety.org/pub/reposit/2001/2001075.pdf] .

Macclesfield Bank is claimed by the People's Republic of China , Republic of China (Taiwan) and Philippines. It is located east of the Paracel Islands, distantly southwest of the Pratas Islands and north of the Spratly Islands.

There are no military stations there. It is a rich fishing ground and difficult to navigate due to the shallow submerged reefs.

The elongated atoll consists of:The Chinese term for the Macclesfield Bank has a wider meaning than the geographic feature or atoll; it includes some geographically separate features:

To the east, near the Philippines are
* Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal), (Nanyan Dao, Huangyan Dao), 南巖島, 黃岩島, coord|15|11|N|117|46|E|name=Scarborough Shoal), is occupied by the Philippines
* Truro Shoal (Sianfa Ansha, Shianfa Ansha, 特魯暗沙, coord|16|20|N|116|44|E|name=Truro Shoal)

Far to the north is
* Helen Shoal (Itung Ansha, Yitong Ansha, 一統暗沙, coord|19|12|N|113|53|E|name=Helen Shoal) is only a few kilometers south of Hong Kong

See also

* South China Sea
* South China Sea Islands

External links

* [http://vm.nthu.edu.tw/southsea/english.mid.htm ROC's page]
* [http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/websites/pollux/pollux.nss.nima.mil/NAV_PUBS/SD/pub161/161sec01.pdf Nautical Information]
* [http://sowf.moi.gov.tw/stat/year/y05-19.xls Taiwanese List]
* [http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%8D%97%E6%B5%B7%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6 Chinese page with coordinates]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Macclesfield Bank — Südchinesisches Meer Südchinesisches Meer mit der Zhongsha Inselgruppe Die Zhongsha Inseln (chin. 中沙群島 / 中沙群岛, Zhōngshā Qúnd …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Macclesfield (disambiguation) — Macclesfield is a market town in Cheshire, England. It may also refer to: * Macclesfield (UK Parliament constituency) mdash; a constituency represented in the British House of Commons * Macclesfield (borough) mdash; a local government district… …   Wikipedia

  • Bank (topography) — A bank is a shoal mdash;a comparatively shallow area or an underwater hill on the continental shelf mdash;surrounded by deeper water. It may be of volcanic nature. Banks may be carbonate or terrigenous. As they are not associated with any… …   Wikipedia

  • Macclesfield Town F.C. — Macclesfield Town F.C. Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Macclesfield Nombre completo Macclesfield Town F.C. Apodo(s) The Silkmen Fundación 1874 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Macclesfield Town Football Club — Macclesfield Nombre completo Macclesfield Town F.C. Apodo(s) The Silkmen Fundación 1874 Estadio Moss Rose Macclesfield …   Wikipedia Español

  • Macclesfield (borough) — For the principal settlement of this borough, see Macclesfield. Infobox UK District name = Borough of Macclesfield status = Non metropolitan district, Borough region = North West England admincounty = Cheshire area = Ranked 95th 524.97 km²… …   Wikipedia

  • Macclesfield Town F.C. — Football club infobox clubname = Macclesfield Town fullname = Macclesfield Town Football Club nickname = The Silkmen founded = 1874 (as Macclesfield) ground = Moss Rose Macclesfield capacity = 6,335 chairman = flagicon|England Mike Rance mgrtitle …   Wikipedia

  • Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway — The Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway (MB MR) was a railway line, 16 km long, linking Macclesfield with Marple in east Cheshire, England, opened in 1869 by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS LR) and the North… …   Wikipedia

  • Ocean bank (topography) — See also: Sandbank Marine habitats Georges Bank in the Gulf of Maine is a large elevated area of the sea floor, shown in this map as the light blue region at the bottom centre …   Wikipedia

  • Dogger Bank — Location of the Dogger Bank Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about 100 km (62 mi) off the east coast of England. It extends over approximately 17,600 km2 (6,800 sq mi), with its… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”