Mariana Trench with Challenger Deep

Depth: 10,935 m · Hadal Zone

The Mariana Trench is the deepest place on Earth. Its deepest point is called Challenger Deep and sits 10,935 meters below the ocean surface. If you placed Mount Everest inside it, the summit would still be more than two kilometers underwater.

For scientists

The Mariana Trench forms through subduction: the old, heavy Pacific Plate dives beneath the Philippine Plate and drags the seafloor down with it. In the Challenger Deep the pressure reaches about 1,100 bar, roughly a thousand times the pressure at the surface. Even so, single-celled organisms and small amphipods live here, stabilizing their cells with protective molecules against the crushing pressure.

Source: NOAA

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