Mariana Trench: The Deepest Depths

The Mariana Trench is a crescent-shaped trench in the Western Pacific, just east of the Mariana Islands near Guam. The region surrounding the trench is noteworthy for many unique environments. The Mariana Trench contains the deepest known points on Earth, vents bubbling up liquid sulfur and carbon dioxide, active mud volcanoes and marine life adapted to pressures 1,000 times that at sea level.

The Challenger Deep, in the southern end of the Mariana Trench (sometimes called the Marianas Trench), is the deepest spot in the ocean. Its depth is difficult to measure from the surface, but modern estimates vary by less than 1,000 feet (305 meters).

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(Image: NASA/UNH Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center)

This image of the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on Earth, was made using sound waves bounched off the sea floor. Darker blues represent deeper spots.

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The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world’s oceans, with depths reaching close to 36,000 feet. The deepest part of the Mariana Trench is called the Challenger Deep.

If you had to take Mount Everest and turn it upside down into the Mariana Trench, the tallest part of Everest would be shy of the bottom by 7,000-feet! It’s not until fairly recently that we’ve been able to learn about what lies at those insane depths.

Telescope octopus was spotted tucked under an overhang during exploration of the outer slope of the Esmeralda Seamount, a submarine volcanic complex to the west of Saipan.

These bizarre looking deep-sea dwellers don’t flit across the ocean floor like regular octopi, but rather drift through the waters at around 6,500-feet.

They also don’t swim horizontally, but suspend themselves vertically, possibly to distract predators.

The telescope octopus is almost see-through, and there’s a delicate webbing between it’s tentacles, giving it a ghostly shape.

Two protruding eyeballs providing the octopus with ultra-wide peripheral vision so it can see predators and prey and helping it make its way through the murky, dark depths.

This crazy looking shark has said to be around for 80 million years, and little has changed in its appearance. The shark has 6 rows of frilly gills which can reach up to 6-feet long.

The shark also has over 20 rows of sharp teeth that will do severe damage to anything that dares cross its path.