The Falkland Sound () is a sea

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

. Running southwest-northeast, it separates

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and

East Falkland East Falkland () is the largest island of the Falkland Islands, Falklands in the South Atlantic, having an area of or 54% of the total area of the Falklands. The island consists of two main land masses, of which the more southerly is known as L ...

Name

The sound was named by John Strong in 1690 for

Viscount Falkland Viscount Falkland is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The name refers to the royal burgh of Falkland in Fife. History The title was created in 1620 by King James VI for Sir Henry Cary, a member of the Cary family. He was born in Her ...

, the name only later being applied to the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

and its two largest islands. The Spanish name "Estrecho de San Carlos" refers to the ship ''San Carlos'' which visited in 1768; confusingly the English name "

San Carlos Water San Carlos Water is a bay/fjord on the west coast of East Falkland, facing onto the Falkland Sound. Name Despite its Spanish language, Spanish-sounding name, there is a wide discrepancy with the Spanish usage, for in Spanish "Estrecho de San C ...

" is a much smaller inlet on East Falkland - and gives its name to San Carlos, Port San Carlos and the San Carlos River. Captain John Strong of the ''Welfare'' made the first recorded landing on either of the main islands (West and East Falkland) on 29 January 1690, at Bold Cove (near Port Howard) just off Falkland Sound.

Geography

Islands in the Falkland Sound include Narrows Island, Great Island, the Tyssen Islands and the Swan Islands. Eddystone Rock is at the northern end of the Sound; the Arch Islands are at the southern end. Settlements on it include Ajax Bay,

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

, Port San Carlos, San Carlos on

and Port Howard and Fox Bay on

West Falkland West Falkland () is the second largest of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. It is a hilly island, separated from East Falkland by the Falkland Sound. Its area is , 37% of the total area of the islands. Its coastline is long. Popula ...

. A car ferry goes between Port Howard and New Haven. Inlets and bays on the Sound include: Fox Bay, Port Howard (West Falkland); Grantham Sound, San Carlos Water, Ruggles Bay (East Falkland)

Geology

About 400 million years ago the land that became the Falkland Islands and Antarctica's

Ellsworth Mountains The Ellsworth Mountains are the highest mountain ranges in Antarctica, forming a long and wide chain of mountains in a north to south configuration on the western margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Marie Byrd Land. They are bisected by Minneso ...

, which had been part of

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

, broke from what is now Africa and drifted westwards relative to Africa. During the mid-Jurassic period (about 170 million years ago) the land fragment that was to become East Falkland and the land fragment that was to become West Falkland rotated about 120° relative to each other. As a result, the fold lines in

run almost south-west to north-east, parallel to the Sound. Those in the northern part of

run east-west, forming the eastern part of northern entrance to the Sound and bordering on the northern banks of

. The boundary between these two land fragments, the Falkland Sound Fault, lies close to and parallel with the western shore of the Sound. Lafonia (the southern half of East Falkland), which is a much newer formation, has no folds. It is believed that at times during the Pleistocene era, the seabed was some lower than the present time–sufficient for the sound to be bridged.

Records

On 21st January 2025, Esther Bertram of Stanley and Nuala Knight of Fox Bay swam across Falkland Sound, beginning from Fanning Head, East Falkland. The swimmers reached Jersey Point on West Falkland after 2 hours 37 minutes.

References

* Southby-Tailyour, Ewen - ''Falkland Island Shores'' {{Falkland Islands topics Straits of the Falkland Islands