Template for Submission of Scientific Information to Describe Areas Meeting Scientific Criteria for Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas Title/Name of the area: Indus delta and Indus Canyon

in less than 150 words) The Indus Fan with its 1500 Km length, 960 Km maximum width, and 1.1 x 10 (power of 6) sq. Km. area, is the most extensive physiographical province of the Arabian Sea in the northwest Indian Ocean. It is bounded by the continental margin of India-Pakistan and ChagosLaccadive ridge on the east, by the Owen and Murray ridges on the west and north and by the carslberg ridge in the south. The shelf-break occurs at about 100 m depth along the IndiaPakistan margin. The Indus River system has been the dominant supplier of sediments in the Indus Fan. The Indus Canyon or the Swatch area is productive in its nature and lacks qualifying data. However through observer program reports run by WWF-Pakistan it has been reported that the area is rich in Tuna, Billfish, forage fish, Cetaceans and Sharks. Introduction (To include: feature type(s) presented, geographic description, depth range, oceanography, general information data reported, availability of models) The patterns of sedimentation and morphologic development of a delta result primarily from the interaction of fluvial and marine processes. Historically, the Indus River delta has formed in and arid climate under conditions of high river discharge (400 x 10 to the 6th metric tons of sediment/year), moderate tide range (2.6m), extremely high wave energy (14 x 10 to the 7th ergs/sec) and strong monsoon winds from the southwest in summer and from the northeast in the winter. The resulting sandy, lobate delta, lacking in luxuriant vegetation and dissected by numerous tial channels, has prograded seaward during the last 5000 years at an average rate of perhaps 30m/year. Morphology of the Indus Delta lies midway between that of a fluvially dominated delta (elongate, protruding distributaries) and a high energy wave dominated delta (beach beachridge, and downdrift deposits) (Wells and Coleman, 1983). The Indus Fan with its 1500 Km length, 960 Km maximum width, and 1.1 x 10 (power of 6) sq. Km. area, is the most extensive physiographical province of the Arabian Sea in the northwest Indian Ocean. It is bounded by the continental margin of India-Pakistan and ChagosLaccadive ridge on the east, by the Owen and Murray ridges on the west and north and by the carslberg ridge in the south. The shelf-break occurs at about 100 m depth along the IndiaPakistan margin. The Indus River system has been the dominant supplier of sediments in the Indus Fan. The Pakistan-India margin and the adjacent Arabian sea have evolved through a two stage evolutionary process, rifting and sea floor spreading (V. Kolla and F. Coumes, 1985). High-resolution seismic (Parasound) profiles, multibeam bathymetry (Hydrosweep), underwater photography and sediment cores are used to map the morphology and echo-facies distribution, and to describe the late Quaternary sedimentation on the outer shelf and slope off the Indus delta (Pakistan).