The Mariana Trench: Mysteries, The Monster, And The New Sound We Found

By | July 27, 2020

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Jacques Piccard in Trieste, the bathyscaphe designed by his father Auguste Piccard. Jaques and Lt. Don Walsh reached a record depth of 11521 metres in the Mariana Trench on 23rd January 1960. Photo shows the bathyscaphe at the Krupp factory in Essen. (Get

Scientists are fond of telling us we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the depths of our own planet's oceans. This is particularly true of the Mariana Trench, the deepest trench on Earth. Located in the Pacific Ocean to the east of the Philippines, the Mariana Trench is a place of mystery, with fantastical creatures, sea monsters, and most recently, a bizarre noise.

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The Mariana Trench is more than 1,500 miles long. (Planiglobe/Wikimedia Commons)

The Deepest Place On Earth

The Mariana Trench stretches more than 1,500 miles and is, on average, more than 40 miles wide, but its most impressive property is its depth. The deepest point of the Mariana Trench, a spot called Challenger Deep, is almost seven miles below the surface. To put that into perspective, if you could pick up Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, and plunk it into the Mariana Trench, you would have to climb to the top of the mountain and then swim another mile straight up to reach the surface.