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Great Barrier Reef

(Encyclopedia)Great Barrier Reef, largest complex of coral reef in the world, c.1,250 mi (2,000 km) long, in the Coral Sea, forming a natural breakwater for the coast of Queensland, NE Australia. Composed of more t...

Southern Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Southern Ocean or Antarctic Ocean, name sometimes given to those parts of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans that surround Antarctica S of roughly 60°S. These waters are marked by the Antarctic...

Ayeyarwady

(Encyclopedia)Ayeyarwady ĭrəwŏdˈē [key], chief river of Myanmar, c.1,000 mi (1,600 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Mali and Nmai rivers in N Myanmar. The combined stream flows south through gorges st...

Magellan, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Magellan, Strait of, c.330 mi (530 km) long and 21⁄2 to 15 mi (4–24 km) wide, separating South America from Tierra del Fuego and other islands south of the continent. Except for a few miles at its...

Mersey

(Encyclopedia)Mersey mûrˈzē [key], river, c.70 mi (110 km) long, formed at Stockport, W England, by the confluence of the Etherow and Goyt rivers. It flows east to the Irish Sea near Liverpool. The estuary of th...

Bonneville Salt Flats

(Encyclopedia)Bonneville Salt Flats bŏnˈəvĭl, bŏˈnēvĭl, bŏnˈvĭl [key], desert area in Tooele co., NW Utah, c.14 mi (22.5 km) long and 7 mi (11.2 km) wide. The smooth salt surface of the Flats is ideal fo...

Stewart, Martha

(Encyclopedia)Stewart, Martha, 1941–, American entrepeneur and tastemaker, b. Jersey City, N.J., as Martha Helen Kostyra, grad. Barnard College (1963). Moving to Westport, Conn., she started (1976) a successful c...

Port Royal

(Encyclopedia)Port Royal, former coastal city and port, S Jamaica. Situated on a deepwater harbor on the Caribbean shipping lanes between Spain and Panama, a settlement was established in the 1th cent. by Spain at ...

Grand Banks

(Encyclopedia)Grand Banks, submarine plateau rising from the continental shelf, c.36,000 sq mi (93,200 sq km), off SE Newfoundland, N.L., Canada. It is c.300 mi (480 km) long and c.400 mi (640 km) wide; depths rang...

compass

(Encyclopedia)compass. 1 In mathematics, an instrument for making circles and measuring distances. Frequently called a pair of compasses, it consists of two metal legs with one end of each attached to a pivot to fo...
 

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