Benares Shoals, or Benares Shoal, is a submerged

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

, an isolated patch located at , just west-northwest of Île Pierre, the closest island of

Peros Banhos Peros Banhos, Pedro dos Banhos or Baixos de Pêro dos Banhos in old maps, is a formerly inhabited atoll in the Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory, also claimed by Mauritius. Île Yeye, located at the northeastern corner of ...

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

in the northern

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archi ...

. It measures about east–west, with a width of about and an area of . The least depth at the western end is . The Benares Shoals were first surveyed in 1837 by Commander

Robert Moresby Robert Moresby (15 June 1794 – 15 June 1854Some sources mention that he is thought to have died in 1863.) was a captain of the East India Company's Bombay Marine/Indian Navy who distinguished himself as a hydrographer, maritime surveyor a ...

of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

on HMS ''Benares''. Moresby's survey produced the first detailed map of this submerged reef, which was subsequently named after his ship.Searight, Sarah, ''The Charting of the Red Sea.'' History Today, 2003

References

External links

Indian Ocean Pilot
Chagos Archipelago Coral reefs {{BritishIndianOcean-geo-stub

See also

References

External links