Eight Degree Channel

Topic: Structure and Physiography of India: Himalayas, Plains, Peninsula, Coasts and Islands · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Structure and Physiography"

Meaning

The Eight Degree Channel is a stretch of sea along about 8°N in the Arabian Sea. It separates Minicoy, India's southernmost Lakshadweep island, from the Maldives.

• It marks the southern sea edge of the Lakshadweep group and lies between India and its closest foreign neighbour in the Arabian Sea.
• It also lies on busy Arabian Sea trade routes, so it matters for India's sea security.

Explanation

What a channel is and where this one sits

• A channel is a stretch of sea between two land masses.
• The Eight Degree Channel is named after the line of latitude it follows, about 8°N.
• North of it: Minicoy (India), the last island of Lakshadweep.
• South of it: the Maldives, a separate island country.
• Lakshadweep lies at 8°–12°N, so this channel sits at the very southern end of the group.

How the gap comes about (cause → process → result)

• Cause: the islands on both sides are coral islands. Corals are tiny sea animals that build hard skeletons of lime. They grow only in warm (about 20°C or more), clear, shallow and salty water.
• Process:
• Coral reefs grow around raised parts of the sea floor or around old volcanic islands.
• The base slowly sinks, but the corals keep growing up towards sunlight.

• This leaves an atoll: a ring of coral around a lagoon (a shallow body of sea water cut off by the reef).

• Result:

• Islands form only where reefs could grow.
• Where no reef grew, open water is left between the island groups.
• The Eight Degree Channel is one such open-water gap, between the Minicoy atoll and the Maldives atolls.

Its place in the chain of Lakshadweep channels (north to south)

• Amindivi (Amini) islands: the northern group.
• Cannanore islands: further south.
• Nine Degree Channel (about 9°N): separates the Amindivi and Cannanore islands from Minicoy.
• Minicoy: the southernmost Lakshadweep island.
• Eight Degree Channel (about 8°N): separates Minicoy from the Maldives.

Why it matters

• Boundary marker: it separates Indian islands from Maldivian islands.
• Trade routes: together with the Nine Degree Channel, it lies on Arabian Sea shipping routes. Lakshadweep watches over both channels.
• Sea reach: Minicoy, on the channel's northern side, pushes India's Exclusive Economic Zone (the sea area where a country has rights over fish, oil and other resources) further south.

Where it occurs

• Ocean: Arabian Sea, off the south-west coast of India.
• Latitude: about 8°N, at the southern end of Lakshadweep (8°–12°N, 71°–74°E).
• Northern shore: Minicoy Island, part of the UT of Lakshadweep (capital Kavaratti). Lakshadweep lies 220–440 km off the Kerala coast.
• Southern shore: the Maldives, which is also made of coral atolls.
• About Minicoy:
• It is the southernmost island of Lakshadweep.
• It is the second largest island (about 4.4 sq km). Andrott (about 4.9 sq km) is the largest.
• It is one of the four islands where most Lakshadweep people live: Andrott, Kavaratti, Minicoy and Amini [3].

Don't confuse with

• Nine Degree Channel: also in the Arabian Sea, but along about 9°N. It separates the Amindivi and Cannanore islands from Minicoy. The Eight Degree Channel separates Minicoy from the Maldives.
• Ten Degree Channel: in the Bay of Bengal, not the Arabian Sea. It is about 150 km wide and separates Little Andaman from Car Nicobar.
• Six Degree Channel: in the Bay of Bengal region. It separates Great Nicobar from Sumatra (Indonesia) and links to the Strait of Malacca route.
• Duncan Passage: lies inside the Andaman group, between South Andaman and Little Andaman. It is not along a degree line and is not a border with another country.

Prelims Hooks

• Eight Degree Channel: Minicoy (India) ↔ Maldives, along about 8°N, Arabian Sea.
• Nine Degree Channel: Amindivi and Cannanore islands ↔ Minicoy, along about 9°N, Arabian Sea.
• Trap: the Eight and Nine Degree channels are in the Arabian Sea (Lakshadweep). The Ten Degree and Six Degree channels are in the Bay of Bengal (Andaman and Nicobar).
• Order of Lakshadweep features, north to south: Amindivi islands → Cannanore islands → Nine Degree Channel → Minicoy → Eight Degree Channel → Maldives.
• Minicoy: the southernmost Lakshadweep island, but not the largest. Andrott is the largest. NCERT's "453 sq km" figure for Minicoy is wrong, because all of Lakshadweep has only about 32 sq km of land [2].
• Origin: the islands on both sides of the channel (Minicoy and the Maldives) are coral atolls. They are not tectonic islands like the Andamans.

Mains Points

• Strategic value (GS-I/III):
• Lakshadweep watches over the Eight and Nine Degree channels on Arabian Sea trade routes.
• Minicoy, at the channel, stretches India's Exclusive Economic Zone and naval reach towards the Maldives.

• The Andaman and Nicobar Islands do the same job in the east, at the Six Degree Channel and the Malacca route.

• Fragile islands at the channel (GS-III, disasters and environment):

• Minicoy and the Maldives are low, flat coral islands, only a few metres above the sea.
• So they are at high risk from sea-level rise and coral bleaching (corals losing colour and dying when the water gets too warm).
• Ways to adapt: protect reef health, protect freshwater lenses (thin layers of fresh groundwater floating on salt water under the island), and regulate building on the coast.

Related concepts

• Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• Saddle Peak
• Ten Degree Channel
• Lakshadweep Islands
• Nine Degree Channel
• Minicoy Island

Read more

• The Islands: Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep