Palk Strait Mapping

Subject – Geography

Context – A festering crisis in the Palk Strait

Concept –

The Palk Strait is a strait between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Jaffna District of the Northern Province of the island nation of Sri Lanka.
It connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with Palk Bay in the southwest.
Several rivers flow into it, including the Vaigai River of Tamil Nadu.
The strait is named after Robert Palk, who was a governor of Madras (1755–1763) during the Company Raj period.
The unique feature around Palk Strait is that the waves around it, to its north and south are of high contrast.
- To the north, the waves of Bay of Bengal are mostly swells waves while that on the south, in Palk Bay, are mostly sea waves.
- Despite being a sea dominated area, the significant wave heights in Palk Bay regions are relatively low.
Palk Bay is studded at its southern end with a chain of low islands and reef shoals that are collectively called Adam’s Bridge, it has historically been known in Hindu Mythology as “Ram Setu”, that is, the bridge of Rama.
- This chain extends between Dhanushkodi on Pamban Island (also known as Rameswaram Island) in Tamil Nadu and Mannar Island in Sri Lanka.
- The island of Rameswaram is linked to the Indian mainland by the Pamban Bridge.