Deepest Part Of The Ocean

The deepest part of the ocean is a trench in the Pacific ocean. The Mariana Trench is not only the deepest part of the ocean, it is also the deepest point anywhere on Earth. It is far deeper than the Grand Canyon and reaches a depth of 35,840 feet, or 10,925 meters, below sea level. The deepest part of the ocean is so deep that if Mount Everest was thrown into the trench, it would have more than a mile of water on top of it.

The depth of the deepest part of the ocean was created by the collision of two plates. One of these plates is pushed downward into the mantle at the collision point. The area of contact between both plates forms a trough that is the trench. The trough that is the Mariana Trench is so deep that the water exerts 16,000 pounds of pressure per square inch.

The trench has been explored several times. The first time, in 1960, it was explored by two American oceanographers. They traveled 35,814 feet into the trench in the research bathyscaphe Trieste. This record-setting depth was only explored for 15 minutes, however, because of problems with the Trieste. In 2009, the deepest part of the ocean was explored by a robotic exploration vehicle. On the 50th anniversary of the original manned exploration, the X Prize Foundation proclaimed that a new X Prize of $10 million would go to a craft that could descend twice to the bottom of the deepest part of the trench- Challenger Deep.