• Question: how deep is the mariana trench

    Asked by hi how are ye 8786 to Jake, Amy Heather on 15 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Jake Cunningham

      Jake Cunningham answered on 15 Nov 2019:


      The mariana trench is about 200 kilometers long and varies in depth. The maximum known depth is 10,984 metres and is known as challenger deep. Just as a comparison if Mount Everest were placed into the trench at this point, its peak would still be over two kilometres under water.

    • Photo: Amy Heather Fitzpatrick

      Amy Heather Fitzpatrick answered on 21 Nov 2019:


      The mariana trench is very deep. One estimate said it could be as deep 11,034 metres. The Mariana Trench was created when two tectonic plates collided. So tectonic plates make up the earth’s floor. When the plates collided once plate went under the other plate and into the hot layer of the earth beneath, the mantle. As it is so deep it is always dark and cold. The water pressure at the bottom of the trench is thousand times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. Pressure increases with depth. There are some super strange fish that can survive these depths but as humans cannot go that deep due to the pressure, we have yet to fully understand how life exists in that environment.

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