Thailand island tour, Phuket, Samui, Samet, Phi Phi, Lanta, Kho Chang, hotels and travel guide |
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
Gulf of Thailand
The Gulf of Thailand is a gulf that borders but is not part of the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean), surrounded by the countries Cambodia Thailand and Vietnam. The north tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, near Bangkok. The gulf covers
roughly 320,000 km². The boundary of the gulf is defined by the line from Cape Bai Bung in southern Vietnam (just south of
the mouth of the Mekong river) to the city Kota Baru on the Malayian coast. The Gulf of Thailand is relatively shallow, the mean depth is 45 m, and themaximum depth only 80 m.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 This makes water exchange slow, and thestrong water inflow from the rivers make the Gulf lower in salinity
(3.05-3.25%) and also rich in sediments. Only at the higher depths water witha higher salinity (3.4%) flows into the gulf from the South China sea and fills the central depression below a depth of 50 m. The main rivers which empty into the gulf are the Chao Phraya (including its distributary
Tha Chin River) and the Maeklong at the Bay of Bangkok, and to a lesser degree the Tapi River into the Bandon Bay in the southwest of the gulf. At the height of the last ice age the Gulf of Thailand did not exist at all due to the lower sea level, but did instead continue the Chao Phraya river valley. Due to the tropical warmth of the water the Gulf of Thailand harbours many coral reefs, and thus several divingresorts. The most popular places to visit are Sihanoukville in Cambodia and the island Ko Samui in the Thailand, with Sihanoukville the center of the diving tourism.
The gulf also contains some oil and to a larger degree natural gas resources in Cambodian territorial water.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
