Timor Sea

Part of the Pacific Ocean, SE of Timor, Indonesia, and NW of Northern Territory, Australia; lies over a wide continental shelf, with depths down to 110 m/360 ft, but deepens off Timor.

Portuguese: Mar Timor) is an arm of the Indian Ocean situated between the island of Timor, now split between the states of Indonesia and East Timor, and the Northern Territory of Australia. The Timor Sea has two substantial inlets on the north Australian coast, the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and the Van Diemen Gulf. Its deepest point is the Timor Trough in the northern part of the sea, which reaches a depth of 3,300 m (10,800 ft).

A number of significant islands are located in the sea, notably Melville Island off Australia and the Australian-governed Ashmore and Cartier Islands. It is thought that early humans reached Australia by "island-hopping" across the Timor Sea.

Beneath the Timor Sea lie considerable reserves of oil and gas. The Greater Sunrise gas field is the largest in the Timor Sea and is expected to earn East Timor a total of $4 billion.

Australia and East Timor have had a lengthy dispute over exploitation rights in an area known as the Timor Gap. Australia's territorial claim extends to the bathymetric axis (the line of greatest sea-bed depth) at the Timor Trough. It overlaps East Timor's own territorial claim, which follows the former colonial power Portugal in claiming that the dividing line should be midway between the two countries.