Encyclopedia

Marianas trench

Marianas trench, Marianas trough,or Marianas deep (mâr"ēăn'uz) [key], elongated depression on the Pacific Ocean floor, 210 mi (338 km) SW of Guam. It is the deepest (35,798.6 ft/10,911.5 m at the Challenger Deep) known depression on the earth's surface. A U.S. navy bathyscape reached its bottom in 1960; a 1995 Japanese probe made what is probably the most accurate measurement of its depth.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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