Sunda Strait - Geography

Geography

The strait stretches in a roughly north-east/south-west orientation, with a minimum width of 24 km (15 mi) at its north-eastern end between Cape Tua on Sumatra and Cape Pujat on Java. It is very deep at its western end but as it narrows to the east it becomes much shallower, with a depth of only 20 m (65 feet) in parts of the eastern end. This makes it notoriously difficult to navigate, with sandbanks, very strong tidal flows and man-made obstructions such as oil platforms off the Java coast. It has been an important shipping route for centuries, especially during the period when the Dutch East India Company used it as the gateway to the Spice Islands of Indonesia (1602-1799). The strait's narrowness, shallowness and lack of accurate charting make it unsuitable for many modern large ships, most of which use the Strait of Malacca instead.

The strait is dotted by a number of strait islands, including Sangiang (Thwart-the-Way), Sebesi, Sebuku, Panaitan (Prince's) and most notably, the Krakatau Islands: Lang (Panjang or Rakata Kecil), Verlaten (Sertung), Krakatau, and Anak Krakatoa. Many of these (including Sebesi and Panaitan) are volcanic in origin, but the best known volcano is Krakatau. The islands in the strait and the nearby surrounding regions of Java and Sumatra were devastated by the eruption of Krakatau in 1883, primarily due to intense pumice fall and huge tsunamis caused by the collapse of the volcano. The eruption drastically altered the topography of the strait, with as much as 18-21 km³ of ignimbrite being deposited over an area of 1.1 million km² around the volcano. Some areas have never been resettled (such as the coastal region of Java now incorporated into the Ujung Kulon National Park), but much of the coastline is now very densely populated.