1. Nusa Tenggara Archipelago = Nusa Tenggara is also known as the Lesser Sunda Islands and they are a chain of volcanic islands. Nusa Tenggara is not an old group of islands. The islands are from 1 to 15 million years old and one of the islands is Bali. There are approximately 23 islands and the islands are located in the middle–south part of Maritime Southeast Asia which is in the north of Australia. All the islands are distinct, with a number of islands having dry forests rather than the rainforest that covers much of Indonesia. All the islands have unique plants and animal, and there are some animals which are larger mammals like the Balinese Tiger. These islands have the driest climate in Indonesia. - Sely Park and Tamarind Cottew
2. Ring of Fire = a chain of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that goes through Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand, Russia, Canada, United States, Mexico, Chile, and Antarctica. The Ring of fire is home to 75% of the world’s active volcanoes and has 452 volcanoes that roughly resemble the shape of a ring. There are 4 active volcanoes in Bali – Agung, Batur, Bratan & Merbuk. An eruption on Mt. Batur 30,000 years ago was one of the largest known volcanic events on Earth. The ring of fire was caused by subduction of plates. That basically means that the one earth plate went under another plate, which causes all of the other plates to do the same (think of it as the domino effect). About 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. - Arick Admadjaja & Lisa Krebelder
3. Wallace Line = The Wallace line is a boundary that splits the ecozones (plant & animal life) of Asia and Australia. It divides Indonesia into two different parts, one in which animals closely related to those of Australia are common, and one in which the species are largely of Asian origin. For example, Bali has over 300 animals while Lombok has only about 200 animals. The line is located between Bali and Lombok, and is named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who noted this dividing line during his travels through the East Indies in the 19th century. The full Wallace Line winds through Indonesia, between Borneo and Sulawesi (Celebes), and through the Lombok Strait between Bali in the west and Lombok in the east.
– Hwa Jin Cho & Andrew Choo
4. Bali Sea = The Bali Sea is divided into three areas of water, the North Bali Sea is about 3,168km2, the East is about 3.350km2, and the West is about 2,982km2. The Bali Sea has an area of 9,500km2.. There have been four tsunamis recorded in the Bali Sea in 1815, 1818, 1857 and 1917. In 1942 ABDA (American British Dutch Australian) fleets went to intercept a Japanese invasion convoy but were ambushed by Japanese bomber planes in the Bali Sea. In World War 2 when Australian ships brought supplies to the Australian armies in the pacific they had to go around Bali but were sunk because the Japanese had installed cannons on the shores of Bali to sink these ships. There are many shipwrecks in the Bali Sea and it is a very popular diving site. There are a lot of hotels along Bali’s beaches because huge amount of tourists are visiting Bali. The sand by the Bali Sea is black because of volcanoes erupting by the north shore. There are also popular fishing sites along the north beaches. - Aleksi Oksanen and Yoon Woo Yang
