Union Banks (Pagkakaisa Banks and Reefs) is a large drowned

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

in the center of Dangerous Ground in the

Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands (; zh, s=南沙群岛, t=南沙群島, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; ; ) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed of islands, islets, cays, and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atoll ...

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

, west of the

Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

coast, containing

islands This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water, and by other classifications. For rank-order lists, see the #Other lists of islands, other lists of islands below. Lists of islands by count ...

and

reefs 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 (non-living) processes such as deposition of sand or wave eros ...

whose ownership remains disputed and controversial. The closest atoll is

Tizard Bank The Tizard Bank, is a partially sunken atoll and one of the significant maritime features of the north-western part of the list of maritime features in the Spratly Islands, Spratly Islands. It is claimed by Vietnam, China, and Taiwan, and various ...

, due north of Union Banks. There are only two natural islands on the rim of the reef,

Sin Cowe Island Sin Cowe Island , also known as Sinh Ton Island (); Rurok Island (); Mandarin , is an island in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. With an area of , it is the seventh largest Spratly island and the third largest of those occupied by Vie ...

and Sin Cowe East Island. The atoll is long from

Johnson South Reef Johnson South Reef, also known as Chigua (Chih-kua) Reef (), Gạc Ma Reef (), or Mabini Reef (), is a reef in the southwest portion of the Union Banks in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. It is controlled by the People's Republic of Ch ...

in the southwest to Whitson Reef in the northeast, and up to wide. Its total area measures . The central lagoon is up to deep.

Islands and reefs comprising Union Banks

Union Banks consists of the following islands and reefs, clockwise starting in the southwest corner:
- Version dated 19 August 2011 is available at: Key: yellow = occupied by PRC; violet = occupied by Vietnam

References

{{South China Sea Banks of the Spratly Islands

Islands and reefs comprising Union Banks

See also

References