Savu Sea

▪ sea, Pacific Ocean

Indonesian  Laut Sawu , Dutch  Savoe-zee 

      portion of the Pacific Ocean surrounded by the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. It is bounded by the volcanic inner Banda Island arc (Flores, Solor, Lomblen, Pantar, and Alor) on the north and by the nonvolcanic outer arc (Sumba, Roti, Sawu, and Timor) on the south.

      The Savu Sea is about 400 miles (650 km) wide. It occupies a total surface area of 41,000 square miles (105,000 square km) and opens to the Banda Sea (northeast), Flores Sea through the Sumba Strait (northwest), Timor Sea (southeast), and the Indian Ocean (southwest). The sea basin is a northward-tilting abyssal plain unmarked by distinctive escarpments or trenches. The deepest point (11,385 feet [3,470 m]) is south of Pantar.

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