Have you heard of Bangladesh’s Swatch of No Ground?

Bay of Bengal
One particular area in the Bay of Bengal (under Bangladesh) is shrouded in mystery. It is called the Swatch of No Ground. Some say there are sunken treasure ships here, but we’ll get to that when somebody finds it!

As of now, the area in its entirety remains unexplored. However, a small part of it is Bangladesh’s first Marine Protected Area, as declared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest.

Swatch of No Ground is a trough-shaped marine canyon that is on the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. Also known as the Ganga Trough, it is one of the largest sediment fans in the world. Sediment fan, what is that? A sediment fan forms when sediments from surrounding areas accumulate in an area by means of rivers and its tributaries and distributaries. This one’s such submarine sediment fan, forming a canyon in the Bay of Bengal, and it is a part of the Bengal Fan, world’s largest underwater ravine.



The 163,600 ha Swatch of No Ground Marine Protected Area was declared a protected area on 26 October 2014. It is an approximately 14 km deep underwater trench, home to a number of globally threatened species of marine animals. Most important ones being the endangered dolphins and eight species of whales including the fin whale, hunchback whale, common sperm whale, killer whale and Bryde's whale.


The Swatch of No Ground is located very close to the Sundarban area, just about 30 km from the Dublar Char Islands. Studies have shown that apart from the recorded marine species, there are still many undocumented species that are endemic to this region.

1. Swatch of No Ground lies in which country?
   Swatch of No Ground falls in Bangladesh, in the Bay of Bengal sea.
2. What is a submarine canyon?
   A submarine canyon is an underwater valley with steep sides, formed on the seabed. They always occur around the mouths of big rivers.
3. Is Swatch of No Ground a valley?
   Yes, it is one of the largest underwater valleys in the world.