Editing Indian Ocean (section)

===Coasts and shelves===
In contrast to the Atlantic and Pacific, the Indian Ocean is enclosed by major landmasses and an archipelago on three sides and does not stretch from pole to pole, and can be likened to an embayed ocean. It is centered on the Indian Peninsula. Although this subcontinent has played a significant role in its history, the Indian Ocean has foremostly been a cosmopolitan stage, interlinking diverse regions by innovations, trade, and religion since early in human history.<ref name="Prange-2008-p1382">{{Harvnb|Prange|2008|loc=Fluid Borders: Encompassing the Ocean, pp. 1382–1385}}</ref>

The [[active margin]]s of the Indian Ocean have an average width (horizontal distance from land to shelf break<ref>{{Cite web|date=4 March 2011|title=Continental Shelf|url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/continental-shelf/|access-date=5 October 2021|publisher=National Geographic Society|language=en|archive-date=5 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005141557/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/continental-shelf/|url-status=live}}</ref>) of {{Convert|19|+/-|0.61|km|abbr=on}} with a maximum width of {{Convert|175|km|abbr=on}}. The [[passive margin]]s have an average width of {{Convert|47.6|+/-|0.8|km|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Harris|Macmillan-Lawler|Rupp|Baker|2014|loc=Table 2, p. 11}}</ref>
The average width of the [[Continental slope|slopes]] (horizontal distance from shelf break to foot of slope) of the continental shelves are {{Convert|50.4|-|52.4|km|abbr=on}} for active and passive margins respectively, with a maximum width of {{Convert|205.3|-|255.2|km|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Harris|Macmillan-Lawler|Rupp|Baker|2014|loc=Table 3, p. 11}}</ref>

In correspondence of the [[Shelf break]], also known as Hinge zone, the [[Bouguer gravity]] ranges from 0 to 30 [[Gal (unit)|mGals]] that is unusual for a continental region of around 16&nbsp;km thick sediments. It has been hypothesized that the "Hinge zone may represent the relict of continental and proto-oceanic crustal boundary formed during the rifting of India from [[Antarctica#Geography|Antarctica]]."<ref name="1365-246X_208_3">{{cite journal|last1=Damodara|first1=N.|last2=Rao|first2=V. Vijaya|last3=Sain|first3=Kalachand|last4=Prasad|first4=A.S.S.S.R.S.|last5=Murty|first5=A.S.N.|title=Basement configuration of the West Bengal sedimentary basin, India as revealed by seismic refraction tomography: its tectonic implications|journal=Geophysical Journal International|date=March 2017|volume=208|issue=3|pages=1490–1507|doi=10.1093/gji/ggw461|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Australia, Indonesia, and India are the three countries with the longest shorelines and [[exclusive economic zone]]s. The continental shelf makes up 15% of the Indian Ocean.
More than two billion people live in countries bordering the Indian Ocean, compared to 1.7 billion for the Atlantic and 2.7 billion for the Pacific (some countries border more than one ocean).<ref name="KeeIrv-2005" />

====Rivers====
The Indian Ocean [[drainage basin]] covers {{Convert|21100000|km2|abbr=on}}, virtually identical to that of the Pacific Ocean and half that of the Atlantic basin, or 30% of its ocean surface (compared to 15% for the Pacific). The Indian Ocean drainage basin is divided into roughly 800 individual basins, half that of the Pacific, of which 50% are located in Asia, 30% in Africa, and 20% in Australasia. The rivers of the Indian Ocean are shorter on average ({{Convert|740|km|abbr=on}}) than those of the other major oceans. The largest rivers are ([[Strahler number|order 5]]) the [[Zambezi]], [[Ganges River|Ganges]]-[[Brahmaputra]], [[Indus River|Indus]], [[Jubba River|Jubba]], and [[Murray River|Murray]] rivers and (order 4) the [[Shatt al-Arab]], [[Wadi Ad Dawasir]] (a dried-out river system on the Arabian Peninsula) and [[Limpopo River|Limpopo]] rivers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Vörösmarty|Fekete|Meybeck|Lammers|2000|loc=Drainage basin area of each ocean, pp. 609–616; Table 5, p 614; Reconciling Continental and Oceanic Perspectives, pp. 616–617}}</ref> After the breakup of East [[Gondwana]] and the formation of the Himalayas, the Ganges-Brahmaputra rivers flow into the world's largest delta known as the [[Bengal delta]] or [[Sunderbans]].<ref name="1365-246X_208_3" />