Political units bordering the sea—in addition to India, Iran, and Pakistan—are Oman, Yemen, and Somalia. Islands in the sea include Socotra (a part of Yemen) off the Horn of Africa, the Khuriyyā Muriyyā (Khurīyā Murīyā) (Kuria Muria) Islands off the coast of Oman, and Lakshadweep (a union territory of India consisting of the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi islands; the latter constitute a group of coral atolls lying between 100 and 250 miles 【160 and 400 km】) off the southwestern coast of India. The Indus (Indus River) and the Narmada (Narmada River) rivers are the principal waterways draining into the sea.

The Arabian Sea was formed within the past roughly 50 million years as the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia. Stretching southeastward from Socotra is the submarine Carlsberg Ridge, which coincides with the belt of seismic activity in the Indian Ocean that divides the Arabian Sea into two major basins—the Arabian Basin to the east and the Somali Basin to the west. The maximum depth of the sea, 19,038 feet (5,803 metres), occurs at Wheatley Deep. The Carlsberg Ridge is longitudinally split by a central valley that reaches depths of about 11,800 feet (3,600 metres) below the sea's surface. The coastal escarpments of the Gulf of Aden are formed by rift faults that converge toward the southwest to continue into Africa as the boundary scarps of the Eastern, or Great, Rift Valley, which forms part of the East African Rift System. The Arabian Basin is separated from the Gulf of Oman Basin by the Murray Ridge, a narrow, seismically active submarine ridge that extends northeast to southwest to meet the Carlsberg Ridge. West of Murray Ridge is the Malian subduction zone, an area where the ocean floor sinks below the adjacent continental crust.

A deep submarine canyon has been cut by the Indus River, which also has deposited an abyssal (i.e., deep-sea) cone of thick sediments some 535 miles (860 km) wide and 930 miles (1,500 km) long. This cone and an associated abyssal plain in the Arabian Basin occupy much of the northeastern floor of the Arabian Sea. To the east of the Somali coast, the Somali Basin forms another large abyssal plain.

The continental shelf is narrow along the coast of the Arabian Peninsula and is even narrower along the Somali coast. No true coral reefs are found along the Arabian coast. Sediments near Cape al-Ḥadd (the easternmost headland of the Arabian Peninsula), where upwelling of deep water occurs in summer, consist of fine greenish mud with a high organic content containing hydrogen sulfide. The region, which contains many fish remains, is known as a fish cemetery. Terrigenous (i.e., land-derived) deposits cover the major part of the continental slope to a depth of about 9,000 feet (2,700 metres). Below this, deposits consist of the calcareous tests (shells) of Globigerina (a genus of protozoans belonging to the Foraminifera order), while basins below 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) are covered by red clay. Authigenic (i.e., formed in place) ferromanganese nodules have been discovered in the Somali and Arabian basins, and polymetallic sulfides have been found along the Carlsberg Ridge. Sediment thickness decreases from 8,200 feet (2,500 metres) in the north to about 1,600 feet (500 metres) in the south of the Arabian Basin.

The Arabian Sea has a monsoon climate. Minimum air temperatures of about 75 to 77 °F (24 to 25 °C) at the sea's surface occur in the central Arabian Sea in January and February, while temperatures higher than 82 °F (28 °C) occur in both June and November. During the rainy season, which occurs when the southwest monsoon winds blow (April to November), salinities of less than 35 parts per thousand have been recorded in the upper 150 feet (45 metres) of the sea, while during the dry season (November to March), when the northeast monsoon winds blow, salinities of more than 36 parts per thousand have been recorded at the surface over the entire Arabian Sea north of latitude 5° N, except off the Somali coast. Because evaporation exceeds the combined precipitation and riverine input, the sea exhibits a net water loss annually.

The complex Somali Current, which attains speeds of about 7 knots (8 miles 【13 km】 per hour) off the coast of Socotra, becomes part of a clockwise circulation system that in summer continues to the northeast along the coast of Arabia and thence south along the coast of India to 10° N. At that point it merges with the Southwestern Monsoon Current, flowing east between 5° and 10° N. Pronounced upwelling of deeper waters occurs along the Somali and Arabian coasts in summer. The Somali Current weakens and reverses direction during the northeast (winter) monsoon. Of the five water masses that have been distinguished in the upper 3,000 feet (900 metres) of the northern Indian Ocean, three have been identified as originating in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea, respectively. The paths of flow of these water masses are to the south and east.

Petroleum and natural-gas deposits have been discovered in the Arabian Sea on the continental shelf off the coast of India to the west and northwest of Mumbai (Bombay) and have been intensively exploited. High levels of inorganic nutrients, such as phosphate concentrate, which produce a rich fish life, have been observed in the western Arabian Sea and off the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Occurring in the euphotic zone (zone of light, which is found in the upper 450 feet 【140 metres】 of the sea), this fertilizing effect undoubtedly is attributable in part to coastal upwelling, which circulates settled nutrients from the seafloor.

Pelagic fish (i.e., those living at or near the surface far from the land) in the Arabian Sea include tuna, sardine, billfish (a species having a long sharp bill or snout), wahoo (a large, swift game fish), sharks, lancet fish (a large species having daggerlike teeth), and moonfish (a species of silvery fish with thin, deep-chested bodies).

A periodic occurrence in the Arabian Sea, however, is the mass mortality of fish. This phenomenon is attributed to a subsurface layer of water of tropical origin that is poor in oxygen but rich in phosphate. Under certain circumstances this layer is brought to the surface by strong upwelling, resulting in the death of fish from lack of oxygen.

Extensive small-scale fishing is carried on in the Arabian Sea, particularly off the east coasts of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and west coast of the Indian subcontinent. These operations employ dugout and outrigger canoes, dhows, and a variety of other small craft, as well as mechanized trawlers and purse seiners. Commercial fishing also is undertaken by larger vessels. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Oman, Yemen, France, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Japan, and the Maldives are the principal fishing countries.

To medieval Arabs the Arabian Sea was known as the Sea of India or as part of the “Great Sea,” from which smaller gulfs such as the Sea of Faris (Persian Gulf) or Sea of Kolzum (Red Sea) were distinguished. From about the 8th or 9th century onward, Arab and Persian seafarers learned to use the surface currents propelled by the summer and winter monsoon winds. Detailed navigational instructions for sailing between southern Arabian, East African, and Red Sea ports, as well as ports in India, Malaysia, and China, were written down by pilots from Oman and the Hadhramaut (Ḥaḍramawt) region of southern Arabia between the 9th and 15th centuries. Some of these works, entitled in Persian rahmangs (“books of routes”), contain descriptions of coasts, approaches, and islands, as well as useful information on winds, currents, soundings, and navigation by stars. Among the flourishing medieval ports mentioned in these works are Diu and Surat in India, Hormuz in Persia, and Muscat and Aden on the Arabian Peninsula. Landmarks mentioned include Capes al-Ḥadd and Madrakah—both on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula—and Cape Gwardafuy in Somalia, which is the cape of the Horn of Africa.

In contemporary times, the Arabian Sea has been studied by several oceanographic expeditions. Perhaps the most important of these was the Mabahiss (or John Murray) Expedition of 1933–34, which reported findings concerning hydrography, chemistry, currents, water masses, bottom topography, and sediments. Further information was obtained during the International Indian Ocean Expedition (1960–65), in which British, American, Soviet, Indian, and German ships participated, studying currents, biological productivity, seismology, and geology.