Deepest Ocean Trenches

Deepest Ocean Trenches 

Ocean trenches are like hidden secrets beneath the ocean. As secrets are always a thing of great importance to humans, they have searched for the deepest ocean trenches around the world. For sure, the trenches are one of the most impressive tropological features of the Earth. The interesting fact about them is that they include higher mountains and deeper valleys. The magnitude of the mountains and valleys is not usual on the Earth’s surface! We can take the example of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. They are the largest mountains in the world rising from the Hawaiian Trench. They rise some 5,500 meters (18,000 feet) below sea level. But this is only the size of a plateau in comparison to the some deepest ocean trenches. Every time the Earth’s plates are moving. The layers covering the hot and flowing mantle are always vibrating. This vibration of the plates produces these tranches. Sometimes the trenches can be 11 kilometers deep. Although the deepest trench is situated in the Pacific Ocean, all the oceans’ trenches are deep enough.      

The Philippine Trench

The scientists believed that the Philippine Trench was the deepest trench until 1970. The trench is situated southwest from Luzon and stretched to the island of Halmahera in Indonesia. But, later it lost its position to be the deepest point on the Earth. It was produced from the collision of the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine plate. As the Philippine plate is smaller and denser after the collision sinks into the Earth's mantle. This process is known as subduction and forms the V-shape of the trench. The deepest point of the Philippine Trench is 10,540 meters below sea level.

The Tonga Trench

This is situated in New Zealand between the two islands; North Island and the island of Tonga. The distance is about  2,500 kilometers. The subduction between the Pacific Plate and the Tonga plate is the reason behind the formation of the Horizon Deep. It is the second-deepest point on the planet 10,882 meters below sea level. The plate movement in Tonga can cause cataclysms. The recent earthquakes and tsunamis (especially in 2011) in Japan are the result of these cataclysms.

The South Sandwich Trench

It is the second-deepest trench situated in the Atlantic Ocean. The estimated deepest point of this trench is 8,428 meters below sea level. The subduction between the South Atlantic plate and the Scotia plate is the reason behind this trench. The Scotia Arc is an archipelago of islands and it is also the result of the subduction.  

The Puerto Rico Trench

It is the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean. Lying north of the island of Puerto Rico, this trench was formed from the subduction between the North American and Caribbean plates. It is 8,605 meters deep. The interaction between the two plates is responsible for the frequent earthquakes and devastating tsunamis in that region.  

The Eurasian Basin and Molloy Deep

Under the Arctic Sea, the Eurasian and Amerasian Basins are separated by this mountain range. Its depth is 4,400 meters in the Barents Abyssal Plain. As a part of the Fram Basin, this depth lies under the geographic North Pole directly. Unlike the other trenches, the Fram Basin is not V-shaped. Rather, it is vast and flat like a desert. The Arctic Ocean floor is not mapped yet by the scientists. 

The Diamantina Trench

A long time ago, Australia was a part of Antarctica. But after it departed from Antarctica and created the Earth’s crust. Among the several fractures caused in this departure, one of them produced the Diamantina Trench. It is the deepest point in the Indian Ocean and the eleventh in the Earth. The deepest point of this trench is 8,047 meters.  

The Mariana Trench and the Challenger Deep

The first place of the deepest ocean trenches is given to the Mariana Trench. The same two plates that created the Philippine Trench are responsible for creating this huge trench. The Challenger Deep is the deepest point in this trench. It 10,911 meters below sea level. Adventure hunting people from all over the world like to visit this point. This place has an average pressure of water nearly 200000 tons. In 1960 two people touched the bathyscaphe Trieste. One of them is Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard. Another one is Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh.