page_title: Geography of the Falkland Islands
section_title: Seabed
hierarchical_section_title: Geography of the Falkland Islands / Topographical description / Seabed
caption_attribution_description: Bathymetric map of the Scotia Sea.
context_page_description: The Falkland Islands are located in the South Atlantic Ocean between 51°S and 53°S on a projection of the Patagonian Shelf, part of the South American continental shelf. In ancient geological time this shelf was part of Gondwana, and around 400 million years ago split from what is now Africa and drifted westwards from it. Today the islands are subjected to the Roaring Forties, winds that shape both their geography and climate.
  The Falklands comprise two main islands, West Falkland and East Falkland, and about 776 small islands.
context_section_description: The Patagonian Shelf, which in ancient geological time was part of Gondwana and which broke from what is now Africa, drifted westwards relative to Africa. It is now the widest continental shelf in the world covering 1,200,000 km².
  It protrudes some 760 km (470 mi) into the South Atlantic Ocean from the Patagonian coastline and slopes gently to 200 metres (110 fathoms) before falling away; the Falkland Islands being located two thirds of the way along this protrusion. The base of the plateau is about 100 metres (55 fathoms) below sea level to the west of the islands (400 km from the Patagonian coast), sloping to 200 metres (110 fathoms) to the east of the islands where it falls away into the South Atlantic Ocean.  The Falklands Plateau, a slightly shallower stretch of water lies to the immediate east of the Falkland Islands.
  To the immediate south of the islands, the Falklands Plateau is split into two by the Falklands Trough, a submarine valley that separates the plateau proper from the Scotia Arc – an underwater ridge that links Tierra Del Fuego with the Burdwood Bank (where the water is only 20 metres (11 fathoms) deep) and, further into the Atlantic Ocean/Great Southern Ocean, with a number of islands including South Orkneys, South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia.
  Burdwood Bank was the location of several landslides some three million years ago. This in turn produced tsunami like events that hit the Falkland Islands on its southern coast. Estimates of the size of the waves vary from up to 40 metres (130 ft) at the southern coast and up to 10 metres (33 ft) where the capital, Port Stanley, is located.
  Licences to harvest the large variety of fish that live on the shelf provides a major source of income for the islands as does the licensing of oil exploration.
caption: Bathymetry of the Scotia Arc and Falklands plateau
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