Indian Ocean Facts for Kids

A Map of the Indian Ocean
  • Ocean Name: Indian Ocean
  • Location: Between Southern Asia and Africa, Australia
  • Average Depth: 12,273 feet
  • Total Surface Area: 27.2 million mi2
  • Total Coastline: 41,337 miles
  • Total Volume of Water: 63.3 million mi3

19 Indian Ocean Facts for Kids

  1. The Indian Ocean is one of the world’s five oceans.
  2. The Indian Ocean is between southern Asia, Africa and Australia.
  3. The total volume of the Indian Ocean is 63.3 million mi3 of water.
  4. The Indian Ocean contains 19.8% of all the world’s ocean water.
  5. The Indian Ocean is the third largest of all five oceans.
  6. The total surface area of the Indian Ocean is 27.2 million mi2.
  7. The average depth of the Indian Ocean is 12,273 feet.
  8. The deepest part of the Indian Ocean is 23,596 feet in the Java Trench.
  9. The Indian Ocean is the third deepest ocean in the world.
  10. The total coastline of the Indian Ocean is 41,337 miles.
  11. The Indian Ocean has the third most coastline out of the five major oceans.
  12. The range of temperature for the Indian Ocean is between 66 and 82 °F.
  13. The Indian Ocean is the warmest of the five major oceans.
  14. The warmer temperatures of the Indian Ocean cause it to have a higher rate of evaporation.
  15. The natural resources found in the Indian Ocean include oil, gas, fish and various minerals.
  16. There are only two known trenches in the Indian Ocean, the Java Trench and the Makran Trench.
  17. There are four critical waterways in the Indian Ocean, and they are the Bab el Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), Strait of Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia) and the Suez Canal (Egypt).
  18. The Indian Ocean was the epic center of the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, which was the event that created the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and killed over 220,000 people.
  19. Allied and Axis navies fought several naval battles in the Indian Ocean during World War 2.

Additional Resources on the Indian Ocean

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