Tasman Sea

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Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, approximately 2000 kilometre

Kilometre

The kilometre , symbol km is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres.Slang terms for kilometre include click and kay ....
s (1250 mile

Mile

A mile is a Units of measurement of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems. In contemporary English contexts, mile most commonly refers to the statute mile of 5,280 Feet or the nautical mile of 1,852 meters ....
s) across. It extends 2800 km (approx.) from north to south.

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Encyclopedia

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia

Australia

New Zealand

Kilometre

The kilometre , symbol km is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres.Slang terms for kilometre include click and kay ....
s (1250 mile

Mile

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer

List of explorers

This list of explorers is sorted by surname. See also the links #See also.A B C D E F G ...
Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European to encounter New Zealand and Tasmania. The British explorer Captain James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook Royal Society Royal Navy was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy....
later extensively navigated the Tasman Sea in the 1770s as part of his first voyage of exploration.

The Tasman Sea is deemed by the International Hydrographic Organisation

International Hydrographic Organization

The International Hydrographic Organization was originally established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau . The present name was adopted in 1970 as a result of a revised international agreement among member nations....
to include the waters to the east of the Australian states New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....
, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

File:Map Victoria Aboriginal tribes .jpgVictoria is a States and territories of Australia located in the southeastern corner of Australia. It is the smallest mainland state in area but the most Population density and urbanised....
and Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and States and territories of Australia of the same name. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, being separated from it by Bass Strait....
. The northern state of Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
neighbours the Coral Sea

Coral Sea

The Coral Sea is a marginal sea off the north-east coast of Australia. It is bounded in the west by the east coast of Queensland, thereby including the Great Barrier Reef, in the east by Vanuatu and by New Caledonia, and in the north approximately by the southern extremity of the Solomon Islands....
, and the boundary between New South Wales and Queensland is also used as the boundary between the two seas.

The Tasman Sea had a mid-ocean ridge

Mid-ocean ridge

A mid-ocean ridge or mid-oceanic ridge is an underwater mountain range, typically having a valley known as a rift running along its spine, formed by plate tectonics....
about 85-55 million years ago as Australia and Zealandia

Zealandia (continent)

Zealandia , also known as Tasmantis or the New Zealand continent, is a nearly submerged continent or microcontinent that sank after breaking away from Antarctica between 85 and 130 million years ago, and then from Australia 60-85 million years ago....
broke apart during the breakup of supercontinent

Supercontinent

In geology, a supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. The assembly of cratons and terrane that form Eurasia qualifies as a supercontinent today....
Gondwana

Gondwana

Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland is the name given to a southern precursor-supercontinent and then as a remnant separated from Laurasia 180- during the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed about 500 to 200 Annum ago into two large segments..

The Tasman Sea features a number of mid-sea island groups, quite apart from coastal islands located near the Australian and New Zealand mainlands:

Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island

Lord Howe Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean east of the Australian mainland. Along with Ball's Pyramid, it is administered by the Lord Howe Island Board, one of 175 local authorities in the state of New South Wales, and is part of the Mid-North Coast Statistical Division....
(part of New South Wales)
Ball's Pyramid
Ball's Pyramid

Ball's Pyramid is an volcanic plug of a shield volcano and caldera that formed about 7 million years ago. Ball's Pyramid is 20 km southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean....
(part of New South Wales)
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. It and two neighbouring islands form one of Australia's external Territory ....
, in the extreme north of the Tasman Sea, on the border with the Coral Sea
Coral Sea

The Coral Sea is a marginal sea off the north-east coast of Australia. It is bounded in the west by the east coast of Queensland, thereby including the Great Barrier Reef, in the east by Vanuatu and by New Caledonia, and in the north approximately by the southern extremity of the Solomon Islands....
(External Territory)
Middleton Reef
Middleton Reef

Middleton Reef is a coral reef in the Tasman Sea. It is separated by a deep oceanic pass some 45 km wide from nearby Elizabeth Reef, forming part of the Lord Howe Rise underwater plateau....
(part of Coral Sea Islands Territory)
Elizabeth Reef
Elizabeth Reef

Elizabeth Reef is a coral reef in the Tasman Sea. The reef is separated by a deep oceanic pass, some 45 km wide, from nearby Middleton Reef, both of which are part of the underwater plateau known as the Lord Howe Rise....
(part of Coral Sea Islands Territory)

The Tasman Sea is nicknamed The Ditch, eg crossing the ditch means going to Australia from New Zealand or vice versa.