Palk Strait is a

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 ...

between the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It connects the Palk Bay in the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

in the north with the Gulf of Mannar in the Laccadive sea in the south. It stretches for about and is wide. It is named after Robert Palk, who was a governor of

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

(1755–1763) during the

Company Raj Company rule in India (also known as the Company Raj, from Hindi , ) refers to regions of the Indian subcontinent under the control of the British East India Company (EIC). The EIC, founded in 1600, established its first trading post in India ...

period. Several rivers including the Vaigai flow into the strait. The strait consists of many islands and is interspersed with a

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

of low islands and

reef 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 component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

shoals that are collectively called Ram Setu or Adam's bridge. The shallow waters and reefs make it difficult for large ships to pass through, although fishing boats and small craft navigate the waters.

Dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

the sea to make it deeper for navigation and plans for a bridge over the waters have been proposed.

Geography

The Palk strait extends between Pamban island in the south eastern tip of the

and Thalaimannar in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It connects the Palk Bay in the

in the north with the Gulf of Mannar in the Laccadive sea in the south. It stretches for about and is wide. Several rivers including the Vaigai flow into the strait. The strait consists of many islands and is interspersed with a

of low islands and

shoals that are collectively called Ram Setu or Adam's bridge. As per the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

'', the bridge was purportedly constructed by the

vanara In Hinduism, Vanara () are either monkeys, apes, or a race of forest-dwelling people. In the epic the ''Ramayana'', the Vanaras help Rama defeat Ravana. They are generally depicted as humanoid apes, or human-like beings. Etymology There ...

army of

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

to rescue Rama's wife

Sita Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is t ...

from the

Asura Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the wor ...

king

Ravana According to the Mahakavya, Hindu epic, ''Ramayana'', Ravana was a kingJustin W. Henry, ''Ravana's Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below'', Oxford University Press, p.3 of the island of Lanka, in which he is the chief antag ...

. The strait is relatively shallow with the region around the shoals typically around deep, while the central part of the strait is typically around deep. The strait reaches a maximum depth of .

Geology

Due to lowered sea levels during the Last Glacial Period (115,000-11,700 years

Before Present Before Present (BP) or "years before present (YBP)" is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Because ...

) where sea levels reached a maximum of below present values, the entirety of the relatively shallow strait was exposed as dry land. Following the rise to present sea levels during the

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

, by around 7,000 years ago, the strait became submerged. The

waves United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, ...

around it, to its north and south are of high contrast. To the north, the waves in the Bay of Bengal are mostly swells while that on the south, in the Palk Bay, the waves are mostly smaller wind waves. The

significant wave height In physical oceanography, the significant wave height (SWH, HTSGW or ''H''s) is defined traditionally as the mean ''wave height'' (trough (physics), trough to crest (physics), crest) of the highest third of the ocean surface wave, waves (''H''1/ ...

s is relatively low with an average of around close to the Ram Setu.

Transport and navigation

The shallow waters and reefs make it difficult for large ships to pass through, although fishing boats and small craft navigate the waters.

the sea to make it deeper for navigation and plans for a bridge over the waters have been proposed. Construction of a shipping canal through the strait was first proposed to the British government of India in 1860, and a number of commissions have studied the proposal. The latest of which was the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project was commissioned by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

in 2005. However, the plan encountered opposition on religious grounds. The island of Rameswaram is linked to the Indian mainland by the Pamban Bridge, which was opened for traffic on 24 February 1914. A new railway bridge was completed near the old Pamban Bridge in 2024 after rail transportation on the old bridge was suspended permanently in February 2023 due to concerns on stability of the bridge. An adjacent road bridge was opened in 1988. Trains used to traverse from

Dhanushkodi Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town at the south-eastern tip of Pamban Island of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is south-east of Pamban and is about west of Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The town was destroyed during the 1964 Rameswaram cy ...

at the southern tip of the Pamban island and a ferry connected to Talaimannar on the Mannar Island, before a train carried passengers to

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. The railway line to Dhanushkodi was destroyed during 1964 Dhanushkodi cyclone along with the Pamban-Dhanuskodi passenger train, killing around 200 people. The ferry service continued till the 1970s between Rameswaram and Talaimannar, but was discontinued, and was reopened in 2011. Palk Strait bridge, was an undersea tunnel linking India and Sri Lanka proposed to be constructed across the Palk Strait.

References

External links

Photo essay on the Palk Strait.
{{Authority control Bodies of water of Jaffna District India–Sri Lanka border International straits Landforms of Tamil Nadu Straits of India Straits of Sri Lanka

Geography

Geology

Transport and navigation

See also

References

External links