1. Mariana Trench: 11,034 m
The Mariana Trench, also known as the Mariabena Trench or the Mariana Basin, is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. This trench is located in the northwest region of the Pacific Ocean, east of the island of Mariana. The trench has a length of about 2,550 km extending from the island of Mariana to near Japan. The width is quite modest, only about 69 km.
The deepest point of the Mariana Trench is called the Challenger. (Photo: NatGeo)
The deepest point has coordinates 11°21′ North and 142°12′ East. The deepest point of the Mariana Trench is called the Challenger. It is named after the Royal Navy ship Challenger II, the survey team that first discovered the deepest part of the Mariana Trench in 1951.
In June 2020, scientists used the most modern deep diving equipment to measure the depth of this trench. It is an underwater navigation system using Simrad EM120 sonar, they have determined the maximum depth of the Mariana Trench is 10,935m (nearly 11km).
2. Tonga Trench:10,882 m
The Tonga Trench is an oceanic trench located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is the deepest trench in the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on Earth. The deepest point of the Tonga Trench is named Horizon deep at 23° 15’30” South and 174° 43’36” West. It is named after the Scripps Oceanographic Institution’s research vessel Horizon after its crew discovered the deep area in December 1952.
Tonga is the deepest trench in the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on Earth. (Photo: NatGeo)
On June 5, 2019, the deep-submersible support vessel DSSV with the Kongsberg SIMRAD EM124 multi-beam sonar system made an expedition to the deepest points of the world’s five oceans. This vessel then measured the depth of the deepest point of the Tonga Trench of 10,882 m by direct CTD pressure measurement.
3. Philippine Trench: 10,540 m
The third place belongs to the Philippine Trench located in the center of the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean. The Philippine Trench is also known as the Mindanao Trench, as it lies near the east coast of the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. This trench has a length of nearly 1,320km and a width of about 30km, extending from the center of the island of Luzon to the north of the Moluccas, already in the Indonesian archipelago.
The Philippine Trench is approximately 1,320 km long and about 30 km wide. (Photo: NatGeo)
The deepest point of the Philippine Trench after being measured is 10,540 m. The Philippine Trench is believed by scientists to be less than 8-9 million years old. It was first probed in 1927 by the German ship Emden.
4. Kuril-Kamchatka Trench: 10,500 m
The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench or Kuril Trench in the Pacific Northwest is the fourth deepest point on Earth. The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench is the result of subsidence created by the Kuril Islands arc. Here, the Pacific Plate is subducting beneath the Okhotsk Plate, creating intense volcanic eruptions.
The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench in the Pacific Northwest is the fourth deepest point on Earth. (Photo: NatGeo)
The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench is located in the eastern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands and the island of Hokkaido, Japan. Stretching about 2,900 kilometers north-south, it has a maximum depth of 10,542 meters and covers a total area of 264,000 square kilometers.
5. Kermadec Trench: 10,047 m
The deepest point of the Kermadec Trench, Scholl Deep, lies up to 10,047 m below sea level. (Photo: NatGeo)
The Kermadec Trench is an underground trench in the South Pacific Ocean, more than 1,000 kilometers northeast of New Zealand. This oceanic trench stretches for more than 1,000 kilometers from the Louisville marine mountain chain in the north to the Hikurangi Plateau in the south. Its deepest point, Scholl Deep, lies 10,047 m below sea level. Together with the Tonga Trench to the north, it forms the 2,000 km-long near-linear Kermadec-Tonga subduction system.
6. Japanese trench: 9,000 m
The Japan Trench is an oceanic trench in part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, on the northern bottom of the Pacific Ocean off the northeastern coast of Japan. The Japan Trench extends from the waters off Hokkaido to the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.
The deepest part of the Japan Trench is about 9,000m deep. (Photo: NatGeo)
On August 11, 1989 the 3-person Shinkai 6500 submarine dived to a depth of 6,526 m while exploring the Japanese trench. The deepest part of the trench is about 9,000m deep.
7. Puerto Rico Trench: 8,605 m
The Puerto Rico Trench is known as the deepest oceanic trench in the Atlantic Ocean, with a depth of up to 8,800m. (Photo: NatGeo)
The Puerto Rico Trench is known as the deepest oceanic trench in the Atlantic Ocean, with a depth of up to 8,800 meters and a stretch of more than 800 km. It is located between near Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The Puerto Rico Trench is the deepest trench in the Atlantic Ocean with the deepest point, the Milwaukee Deep (also known as the Brownson Deep) located at the western end of the trench. This place was first explored by French explorer Archimède in 1964.
Source: NatGeo, Oceaninfo, Marineinsight
