The Mindoro Strait ( tgl, Kipot ng Mindoro) is one of the straits connecting the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

with the Sulu Sea in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It separates Mindoro Island from

Busuanga Island Busuanga, is the largest island in the Calamian Group of islands in the province of Palawan in the Philippines. Busuanga Island is the second largest island in the province after Palawan island itself. The island is located halfway between the ...

(one of the

Calamian Islands The Calamian Islands or the Calamianes is a group of islands in the province of Palawan, Philippines. It includes: * Busuanga Island * Coron Island * Culion Island * Calauit Island * Malcapuya Island * Banana Island * Pass Island * Calumbuyan I ...

of Palawan Province). Located between the two islands is the

Apo Reef Apo Reef is a coral reef system in the Philippines situated in the western waters of Occidental Mindoro province in the Mindoro Strait. Encompassing , it is considered the world's second-largest contiguous coral reef system, and is the largest in ...

, the largest coral reef system in the Philippines. The reef divides the strait into the Apo East Pass and the Apo West Pass.U.S. Corps of Engineers (1954)
"San Jose (topographical map)"
University of Texas in Austin Library. Retrieved on 2014-09-24. The Mindoro Strait is part of an alternate route for ships passing between the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

s and a common one for those exceeding the

Malaccamax Malaccamax is a naval architecture term for the largest tonnage of ship capable of fitting through the Strait of Malacca. Bulk carriers and supertankers have been built to this tonnage, and the term is chosen for very large crude carriers (VLCC). ...

size and therefore being incapable of using the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

. Modern

bathymetric Bathymetry (; ) is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors (''seabed topography''), lake floors, or river floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry or topography. The first recorded evidence of water d ...

soundings have shown that the centers of the Mindoro Strait and the

Sibutu Passage Sibutu Passage is a deep channel some 18 miles (29 km) wide that separates Borneo from the Sulu Archipelago. It has a deep sill allowing entry of deep water into the Sulu basin while connecting the Sulu Sea with the Sulawesi Sea that feeds ...

are both deep enough that they probably existed during the last ice age, thus contradicting the favored H. Otley Beyer's theory that the first settlers of the Philippines came through

land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regression, in which sea leve ...

s around that period. If verified, the earliest people of the country would have needed boats to cross the open sea to reach the islands.

References

External links

A nautical chart of the area
(soundings in fathoms) Straits of the Philippines Landforms of Occidental Mindoro Landforms of Palawan Straits of the South China Sea Bodies of water of the Sulu Sea {{Philippines-geo-stub

See also

References

External links