The Andaman Sea (Burmese: မုတ္တမ; IPA: [moʊʔtəma̰]) is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. The Burmese language (မြန်မာဘာသာ myà̃mà bàθà MLCTS: myanma bhasa) is the official Language of Burma. The Bay of Bengal is a bay that forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar ( pjìdàunzṵ mjàmmà nàinŋàndɔ̀ is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj The Andaman Islands are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal, and are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India. The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface It is roughly 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) long (north-south) and 650 kilometres (400 mi) wide (east-west), with an area of 797,700 square kilometres (308,000 sq mi). The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. Its average depth is 870 metres (2,854 ft), and the maximum depth is 3,777 metres (12,392 ft). The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit

At its southeastern reaches, the Andaman Sea narrows to form the Straits of Malacca, which separate the Malay Peninsula from the island of Sumatra. The Strait of Malacca is a narrow 805 km (500 mile stretch of water between Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) and the Indonesian island of Sumatra The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula (Semenanjung Tanah Melayu (คาบสมุทรมลายู is a major Peninsula located in Southeast Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island in the world (approximately 470000 km² and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two

Ocean floor tectonics

The Andaman Sea, showing tectonic plate boundaries

Running in a rough north-south line on the seabed of the Andaman Sea is the boundary between two tectonic plates, the Burma plate and the Sunda Plate. Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere The Burma Plate is a small Tectonic plate or microplate located in Southeast Asia, often considered a part of the larger Eurasian Plate. The Sunda Plate is a Tectonic plate located in southeast Asia and commonly considered a part of the Eurasian Plate. These plates (or microplates) are believed to have formerly been part of the larger Eurasian Plate, but were formed when transform fault activity intensified as the Indian Plate began its substantive collision with the Eurasian continent. The Eurasian Plate is a Tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional Continents of Europe A transform fault is a fault which runs along the boundary of a Tectonic plate. The India or Indian Plate is a Tectonic plate that was originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwanaland from which it split off eventually A continent is one of several large Landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by Convention rather than any strict criteria with seven regions

As a result, a seafloor spreading centre was created, which began to form the marginal basin which would become the Andaman Sea, the current stages of which commenced approximately 3-4 million years ago(Ma). Seafloor spreading occurs at Mid-ocean ridges where new Oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge Annum is one form of the Latin noun meaning Year, not a form normally used for derivatives in modern languages the accusative singular

Volcanic activity

Within the sea to the east of the main Great Andaman island group is Barren Island, an active volcano (the only presently active volcano associated with the Indian subcontinent). Great Andaman is the main Archipelago of the Andaman Islands of India. For other areas bearing the same name see the disambiguation page Barren Island Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the Its volcanic activity is due to the ongoing subduction of the India Plate beneath the Andaman island arc, which forces magma to rise in this location of the Burma Plate. In Geology, a subduction zone is an area on Earth where two tectonic plates meet and move towards one another with one sliding underneath the other A volcanic arc is a chain of volcanic islands or Mountains formed by Plate tectonics as an oceanic Tectonic plate subducts under Magma (Plurals magmas and magmata) is molten rock that sometimes forms beneath the surface of the Earth (or any other Terrestrial planet The volcanic island of Narcondam which lies further to the north was also formed by this process; however it has not recently been active. Narcondam or Narcondum is a small volcanic island located in the Andaman Sea.

See also

• Andaman Islands
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands