The Tsushima Basin () or Ulleung Basin () is an

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

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, it ...

meets the

Korea Strait The Korea Strait is a strait, sea passage in East Asia between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It connects the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean. The strait is split by Tsushima Island into two par ...

. It lies immediately south of

Ulleung-do Ulleungdo (), also spelled Ulreungdo, is a South Korean island east of the Korean Peninsula in the Sea of Japan. It was formerly known as Dagelet Island or Argonaut Island in Europe. Volcanic in origin, the rocky steep-sided island is the top o ...

and

Liancourt Rocks The Liancourt Rocks, known in Korea as Dokdo () and in Japan as Takeshima (), are a group of islets in the Sea of Japan between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago administered by South Korea. The Liancourt Rocks comprise two ...

, in the eastern end of the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n EEZ and the western end of the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese EEZ. In 1978, the Japanese government registered the name "Tsushima Basin" with the International Hydrographic Bureau. 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, Ulleung Warm Eddy, and Offshore Branch interact within this basin.{{Cite web , url=http://www.stormingmedia.us/06/0620/A062034.html , title=Decadal Current Variations in the Southwestern Japan/East Sea , access-date=2006-06-06 , archive-date=2007-09-28 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928030139/http://www.stormingmedia.us/06/0620/A062034.html , url-status=live A feature of the southwestern Sea of Japan is a deep, developing

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

. 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 (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

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