The or Ulleung Basin (울릉분지 ulleung bunji) is an

oceanic basin In hydrology, an oceanic basin (or ocean basin) is anywhere on Earth that is covered by seawater. Geologically, ocean basins are large  geologic basins that are below sea level. Most commonly the ocean is divided into basins fol ...

located where the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

meets the

Korea Strait The Korea Strait is a sea passage in East Asia between Korea and Japan, connecting the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The strait is split by the Tsushima Island into the Western Channel and ...

. It lies immediately south of Ulleung-do and

Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, also known by their Korean name of Dokdo or their Japanese name of Takeshima,; ; . form a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The Liancourt Rocks comprise tw ...

, in the eastern end of the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

n EEZ and the western end of the Japanese EEZ. In 1978, the Japanese government registered the name "Tsushima Basin" with the

International Hydrographic Bureau The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States. A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters a ...

. In April 2006, Japan's plans to survey the region and South Korea's plans to register the name "Ulleung Basin" with the International Hydrographic Bureau resulted in a diplomatic standoff between the two countries. The two countries later agreed to address the issue "at an appropriate time." The first exploratory drilling for gas was in 1972, but gas discoveries have drawn regional interest since the late 1980s. The first commercial gas discovery was reported in 1998. Nine of 15 exploratory wells have contained gas, a rate indicating high potential prospects. The

East Korea Warm Current The East Korea Warm Current(EKWC) (동한난류(東韓暖流),동한해류(東韓海流),東韓鮮流), is an ocean current in the Sea of Japan (East Sea). It branches off from the Tsushima Current at the eastern end of the Korea Strait, and flows ...

, Ulleung Warm Eddy, and Offshore Branch interact within this basin.Decadal Current Variations in the Southwestern Japan/East Sea
/ref> A feature of the southwestern Sea of Japan is a deep, developing continental shelf. The eastern

Oki Islands The is an archipelago in the Sea of Japan, the islands of which are administratively part of Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The islands have a total area of . Only four of the around 180 islands are permanently inhabited. Much of the ...

, a big ridge of three rows lines up in parallel to the Japanese archipelago, and it connects with a Yamato Basin which has expanded from Oki Islands and offshore of the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku reta ...

to the south in between those. The vast Tsushima Basin has extended on the tip of the Oki offshore that expands from Oki Islands on the north side.

References

External links

Current velocities graphs

Oceanic basins of the Pacific Ocean Landforms of Japan Landforms of South Korea