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Oceanic crust is formed at an oceanic ridge, while the lithosphere is subducted back into the asthenosphere at trenches. Oceanic trenches are prominent, long, narrow topographic depressions of the ocean floor. They are typically 50 to 100 kilometers (30 to 60 mi) wide and 3 to 4 km (1.9 to 2.5 mi) below the level of the surrounding oceanic ...
An oceanic trench is a type of convergent boundary at which two oceanic lithospheric slabs meet; the older (and therefore denser) of these slabs flexes and subducts beneath the other slab. Oceanic lithosphere moves into trenches at a global rate of about a tenth of a square meter per second.
The hadal zone, also known as the hadopelagic zone, is the deepest region of the ocean, lying within oceanic trenches.The hadal zone ranges from around 6 to 11 km (3.7 to 6.8 mi; 20,000 to 36,000 ft) below sea level, and exists in long, narrow, topographic V-shaped depressions.
At the deepest point, the trench is nearly 11,000 m deep (almost 36,000 feet). [38] [3] This is further below sea level than Mount Everest is above sea level, by over 2 kilometers. Volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin form the so-called Pacific Ring of fire, a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
It is the region of open sea beyond the edge of the continental shelf and includes 65% of the ocean's completely open water. The oceanic zone has a wide array of undersea terrain, including trenches that are often deeper than Mount Everest is tall, as well as deep-sea volcanoes and basins. While it is often difficult for life to sustain itself ...
In these trenches, the temperature is just above freezing, and the water pressure is enormous. For example, the hadopelagic zone extends into the ocean's deepest trench, the Mariana Trench, located in the western Pacific Ocean basin, with a maximum depth of nearly 11,000 meters.
Depending on how it is defined, the aphotic zone of the ocean begins between depths of about 200 m (660 ft) to 800 m (2,600 ft) and extends to the ocean floor. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The majority of the ocean is aphotic, with the average depth of the sea being 4,267 m (13,999 ft) deep; the deepest part of the sea, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana ...
The abyssal zone or abyssopelagic zone is a layer of the pelagic zone of the ocean. The word abyss comes from the Greek word ἄβυσσος (ábussos), meaning "bottomless". [1] At depths of 4,000–6,000 m (13,000–20,000 ft), [2] this zone remains in perpetual darkness. [3] [4] It covers 83% of the total area of the ocean and 60% of Earth's ...