Sunda Shelf

The Sunda Shelf is the shallow continental shelf linking western Indonesia with mainland Southeast Asia. During low sea levels, it formed a broad land bridge between these regions.

Sunda Sea: A shallow sea covering much of the submerged Sunda Shelf between mainland Southeast Asia and western Indonesia. This sea occupies the shelf when rising water submerges its low-lying terrain.
Sunda Plate: A tectonic plate carrying much of Southeast Asia and parts of the western Indonesian archipelago. The shelf lies on the continental margin associated with this plate.
Wallace Line: A biogeographic boundary separating Asian-affiliated fauna from Australasian-affiliated fauna across the Indonesian archipelago. The shelf’s former land connections help explain why this boundary lies east of western Indonesia.
Sunda Shelf archaeology: Archaeological investigation of human activity on and around the submerged Sunda Shelf. Sea-level rise submerged potential sites, making evidence of past occupation difficult to locate.
Sunda River: A proposed ancient river system that drained parts of the exposed Sunda Shelf during low sea levels. Its reconstructed channels show how rivers crossed the shelf when it was dry land.
Sundaland: The biogeographic region encompassing the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and nearby islands. Sundaland names the broader region whose landforms include the shelf and its islands.
Sundaic region: A biogeographic region of Southeast Asia characterized by species shared across the Malay Peninsula and western Indonesian islands. Shelf connections helped species disperse across the region during periods of exposed land.
Paleoenvironmental reconstruction: The inference of past environments from geological, biological, and chemical evidence. Researchers use sediment and fossil records to reconstruct the shelf’s changing landscapes.
Eustatic sea-level change: Global changes in sea level caused chiefly by shifts in ocean-water volume and the capacity of ocean basins. Glacial sea-level falls exposed the shelf; subsequent rises drowned it.
Southeast Asia: A region of Asia comprising mainland countries and the islands between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The shelf forms the shallow marine connection between its mainland and insular parts.

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