Torres Strait Islands - Geography

Geography

The islands are distributed across an area of some 48 000 km². The distance across the Strait from Cape York to New Guinea is approximately 150 km at the narrowest point; the islands lie scattered in between, extending some 200–300 km from furthest east to furthest west. The total land area of the islands is 566 km². 21,784 ha of land are used for agricultural purposes.

The Torres Strait itself was formerly a land bridge which connected the present-day Australian continent with New Guinea (in a single landmass called Sahul or Australia-New Guinea). This land bridge was most recently submerged by rising sea levels at the termination of the last ice age glaciation (approximately 12,000 years ago), forming the Strait which now connects the Arafura and Coral seas. Many of the western Torres Strait Islands are actually the remaining peaks of this land bridge which were not submerged when the ocean levels rose.

The islands and their surrounding waters and reefs provide a highly diverse set of land and marine ecosystems, with niches for many rare or unique species. Saltwater crocodiles inhabit the islands along with neighboring Queensland and Papua New Guinea. Marine animals of the islands include dugongs (an endangered species of sea mammal mostly found in New Guinean waters), as well as Green, Hawksbill and Flatback Sea turtles.

The Torres Strait Islands may be grouped into five distinct clusters, which exhibit differences of geology and formation as well as location. The Torres Strait is home to numerous birds, including the Torresian Imperial-pigeon, which is seen as the iconic national emblem to the islanders.

These islands are also a distinct physiographic section of the larger Cape York Platform province, which in turn is part of the larger East Australian Cordillera physiographic division.