Editing Bass Strait (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Shortest distance between coasts of Bass Strait.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Shortest distance between the coasts of Bass Strait: South West Point on Wilsons Promontory to the northern tip of the [[Stanley, Tasmania|Stanley]] peninsula]]
Bass Strait is approximately {{cvt|250|km|-1}} wide and {{cvt|500|km|-1}} long, with an average depth of {{cvt|60|m|-1}}. The widest opening is about {{cvt|350|km}} between Cape Portland on the northeastern tip of Tasmania and [[Point Hicks]] on the Australian mainland.

Jennings' study of the submarine topography of Bass Strait<ref>Jennings, J. N. (1958). The submarine topography of Bass Strait. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 71, 49–71.</ref> described the bathymetric Bass Basin, a shallow depression approximately {{cvt|120|km|-1}} wide and {{cvt|400|km|-1}} long (over {{cvt|65000|km2|disp=sqbr}} in area) in the centre of Bass Strait, a maximum depth is the channel between [[Inner Sister Island]] and [[Flinders Island]], which navigation charts indicate reaches {{cvt|155|m|-1}}. Two [[oceanic plateau|underwater plateau]]s, the ''Bassian Rise'' and ''King Island Rise'' located on the eastern and western margins of Bass Strait, respectively, are composed of a basement of [[Paleozoic]] [[granite]]. These features form [[sill (geology)|sill]]s separating Bass Basin from the adjacent ocean basins. Associated with the less than {{cvt|50|m|-1}}-deep Bassian Rise is the [[Furneaux Islands]], the largest of which is Flinders Island (maximum elevation {{cvt|760|m|-1|disp=sqbr}}). The surface of the King Island Rise also occurs in water depths of less than {{cvt|50|m|-1}}, and includes the shallow ({{cvt|40|m|-1|disp=sqbr}}) ''Tail Bank'' at its northern margin as well as [[King Island (Tasmania)|King Island]] itself. [[Dune#Sub-aqueous dunes|Subaqueous dune]]s (sandwaves) and [[ripple marks|tidal current ridges]] cover approximately {{cvt|6000|km2}} of the seabed in Bass Strait.<ref>Malikides, M., Harris, P. T., Jenkins, C. J., & Keene, J. B. (1988). Carbonate sandwaves in Bass Strait. Australian Journal of Earth Science, 35, 303–311</ref>

During [[Pleistocene]], low sea level stands the central basin of Bass Strait was enclosed by raised sills forming a large shallow lake. This occurred during the [[last glacial maximum]] (18,000&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]]) when the basin was completely isolated. Sea level rise during the marine transgression flooded the basin, forming a westward [[embayment]] from 11,800&nbsp;BP to 8700&nbsp;BP, and the basin rim was completely flooded by about 8000&nbsp;BP, at which point Bass Strait was formed and Tasmania became an isolated island.<ref>{{cite q|Q123699106}}</ref>

Like the rest of the waters surrounding Tasmania, and particularly because of its limited depth, it is notoriously rough, with many [[shipwreck|ships lost]] there during the 19th century. A [[lighthouse]] was erected on [[Deal Island (Tasmania)|Deal Island]] in 1848 to assist ships navigating in the eastern part of the Straits, but there were no guides to the western entrance until the [[Cape Otway]] Lighthouse was first lit in 1848, followed by another at [[Cape Wickham]] at the northern end of King Island in 1861.