It’s beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean to the southeast of Japan. There, you’ll find a deep, crescent-shaped trench. This is called the “Mariana Trench.” Near the southern tip of the crescent, there is a small slot-shaped area. This is the deepest point on Earth—Challenger Deep.
The bottom of Challenger Deep is about 36,000 feet below sea level. That’s nearly seven miles! This makes it the deepest known place on Earth.
The Challenger Deep is named after a British Royal Navy ship called the HMS Challenger. It was the first ship to measure the depths of what is now known as the Challenger Deep. The Marianas Trench in the western Pacific is 11,030 m deep.
The trench was measured by “sounding.” This involves dropping a very long line with a weight at the end into a body of water. Today, scientists and researchers use sonar to study ocean depths.
Only four descents into the Challenger Deep have ever been achieved. The first was in 1960 by a vessel called the Trieste. The Trieste was a special kind of ship called a “bathyscaphe,” invented by Jacques and Auguste Piccard. The name “bathyscaphe” is taken from the Greek words for “deep” and “ship.”
Credit: WONDEROPOLIS
Picture Credit : Google
