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The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about 200 kilometres (124 mi) east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about 2,550 km (1,580 mi) in length and 69 km (43 mi) in width.
The greatest ocean depth measured is in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench, at a depth of 10,994 m (36,070 ft) below sea level. Oceanic trenches are a feature of the Earth's distinctive plate tectonics .
The Mariana Trench is the deepest known submarine trench, and the deepest location in the Earth's crust itself. [38] It is a subduction zone where the Pacific Plate is being subducted under the Mariana Plate. [3] At the deepest point, the trench is nearly 11,000 m deep (almost 36,000 feet).
Location Depth Depth Depth 1 Challenger Deep: Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc, Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean 11,034 36,197 6.86 2 Tonga Trench: Pacific Ocean 10,882 35,702 6.76 3 Emden Deep: Philippine Trench, Pacific Ocean 10,545 34,580 6.54 4 Kuril–Kamchatka Trench: Pacific Ocean 10,542 34,449 6.52 5 Kermadec Trench: Pacific Ocean
The Kermadec Trench is one of Earth's deepest oceanic trenches, reaching a depth of 10,047 metres (32,963 ft). [3] Formed by the subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Indo-Australian Plate, it runs parallel with and to the east of the Kermadec Ridge and island arc. The Tonga Trench marks the continuation of subduction to the north.
The outer rim of the trench is at a depth of 2,700 m (8,900 ft) and contains about 600 km 2 (230 sq mi) inside the rim, descending to approximately 5,550 m (18,210 ft) at its greatest depth. The basin floor measures about 220 km 2 (85 sq mi) and is the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean.
In 2010 a UK team from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton (NOCS), equipped with an autonomously controlled robot submarine, began mapping the full extent of the trench and discovered black smokers on the ocean floor at a depth of 5 km (16,000 ft), the deepest yet found.
The Yap Trench, also known as the West Caroline Trench, is an oceanic trench near Yap Island in the western Pacific Ocean. The trench is roughly J-shaped and is 650 kilometres (400 mi) long and 8,527 metres (27,976 ft) deep at its deepest point. [ 1 ]